My Trials and Tribulations with Oyster Sauce

I have always used House of Tsang Oyster Sauce when making stir fry’s, lo mein and literally all Asian recipes. It’s delicious Umami flavor takes every Asian recipe over the top. 
But…not all oyster sauce is the same… In 2020 when food supplies were hard to get because of Covid, I couldn’t find the House of Tsang brand I love. I frantically started trying various brands still on the shelf at my market. Brands like Lee Kum Kee, Kikkoman, Sun Luck, Dynasty and God knows what other brands. All were quickly thrown in the trash can. I can’t tell you how many I tried. I found nothing that had the flavor of House of Tsang. So I had to go without until it came back in stock.

Recently, I got a ton of orders on Amazon for House of Tsang Oyster sauce. When I went to reorder, I quickly found I couldn’t find it anywhere. I contacted Hormel who makes it, and was told it was discontinued. Great…now what?



I found an article in Food and Wine magazine on oyster sauce and it basically said the same think I experienced. The brands sold in markets are horrible. Then it said Megachef brand was the real deal.

I had to try it. What did I have to lose?

I found it on Amazon and ordered.

Lo and behold…on first taste, it is very close to the House of Tsang product that I loved. I made my stir fry sauce with the Megachef and a recipe using the last of the House of Tsang. On the taste test the House of Tsang was a little sweeter. So, I put a little more brown sugar in the Megachef recipe. All told, it was pretty hard to tell the difference. So, at least I have something to substitute for my fav sauce that was discontinued.

If you use oyster sauce and like it as much as I do, try out Megachef Oyster Sauce.

Some great recipes that use Oyster Sauce:



Stir Fry Sauce



Beef Noodle Bowl



Beef and Broccoli



Stir Fry with Chicken and Crispy Noodle Cake



The Best Fried Rice You Will Ever Eat



Pork Stir Fry