I know I’m not the only one looking for gluten free oyster sauce. There are a handful of Asian ingredients I used to cook with that, despite all logical reasoning, contain gluten. These include:
- Shaoxing Rice Wine
- Dark Soy Sauce
- Sichuan Chili Bean Paste
- Oyster Sauce
I’d all but written these ingredients off, along with their accompanying dishes, until a recent conversation with my wonderful hair stylist, Lillian. As someone who recently discovered she has a gluten intolerance, Lillian was lamenting how hard it was to cook without oyster sauce in her culinary arsenal. “How the hell am I supposed to cook?” she mused out loud. “I mean, I’m Chinese! I need oyster sauce!”
She then went on to tell me about how she’d downloaded an iPhone app that helped her to shop for gluten free groceries. This app has informed her about a gluten free oyster sauce, which she tracked down at her local grocery store. She tried it, and yes! It was good! It tasted just like she’d hoped! AND – it was ok to eat!
Finding Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
I checked out the website for the brand she’d named, Lee Kum Kee, and it did appear that they made a gluten free oyster sauce. According to the website, it was their “panda” green label oyster sauce. I looked in all of my local large-scale grocery stores and couldn’t find it anywhere, so started hitting the tiny Asian grocery stores – and I finally found it:
That, right there, is what you need to look for. There’s a larger photo at the beginning of this post so that you can get an overall idea of what the bottle looks like.
While I couldn’t find it anywhere but my local Chinatown, Lillian was able to find it at her neighborhood Lucky’s, in the Asian food section.
Now, go forth and dig out your Chinese and Thai cookbooks, my gluten-free brothers and sisters!
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We’re still looking for a vegetarian AND gluten free oyster sauce!!! I don’t think it’s out there. I am GF and my husband is veggie. I have searched every Asian or international market as well as the web. All the veggie oyster sauces are made using regular soy sauce – but mushrooms instead of the oysters…if only…
Argh, I know what you mean. It’s really frustrating to need a perfect ingredient and have it not exist. I’ll keep digging until I find a recipe!
Holy cannoli! I love oyster sauce. I made up a recipe to replace it using fish sauce, fresh Ginger, and sweet rice flour (to thicken)…but to use the ‘real’ thing would be divine. Thanks for the update.
Have you ever tried Bragg sauces? I don’t think they have oyster sauce, but I know they have vinegars and soy sauce. Just a thought.
Ok, so you need gluten-free; I need SALT-free. But in Chinese condiments like soy or oyster sauce, does it exist??
I don’t know that I’ve EVER cooked with oyster sauce, gluten-free or otherwise. But it’s so weird how many unexpected ingredients are in sauces and salad dressings. My take-home message from this post is READ THE LABELS AND KNOW THE INGREDIENTS.
Thank you for this! Do you know which iPhone app Lillian used to find this?