If You Want To Thicken Hoisin Sauce In A Flash, Reach For One Thing

Hoisin sauce is a popular condiment in Chinese cooking. It's a sweet-meets-savory flavor that pairs well with all kinds of food, from Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls to meat and noodle dishes. That being said, it's traditionally a pretty thick sauce, with a consistency that makes hoisin resemble oyster sauce or even ketchup. If you're making your own, you'll likely want to thicken it up a bit, and all you have to do is add a little cornstarch.

Cornstarch's structure helps it easily absorb moisture. So when you add it to a thin sauce, cornstarch quickly takes in that excess moisture, turning the sauce into a thick, paste-like substance. For the correct hoisin consistency, you might need up to 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per 1 cup of sauce. Combine the cornstarch with equal parts cold water to form a slurry, then add that to the sauce, mix well, and let them combine over heat. If you prefer a slightly thinner sauce, start with one tablespoon of cornstarch and add more to thicken as needed.

Hoisin gets its umami flavor from fermented soybean paste, but other ingredients are used to build it, too, such as sugar and salt. Chili pepper, sweet potato, and sesame seeds are often added as well, but the thickening ingredient is essential for the right consistency. Cornstarch can do many things and has plenty of uses, so it's great to keep in your pantry, but if you don't have any at home, you can also thicken hoisin sauce with all purpose flour.

To thicken with flour, just use twice the amount of all purpose flour as you would cornstarch — in this case, about two to four tablespoons depending on how thick you want the sauce to be. Mix the flour well with water to eliminate any lumps — you want the sauce to remain as smooth as possible — before combining it with the sauce over heat. You can also use a gluten-free flour, such as arrowroot or tapioca flour. Heat naturally helps moisture evaporate, too, so if you don't want to add a thickener and have the extra time, you can just let the sauce simmer on low heat until it reaches your preferred consistency.