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Made With Lau
姜葱酱

Ginger Scallion Sauce

👍 79.3K likes
✍️ Published Apr 2021, Updated Oct 2026
Prep
5 min
Cook
5 min
Total
10 min
Serves
4

This addictive dipping sauce pairs well with everything!

Ginger Scallion Sauce (姜葱酱)

Cooking Summary

Ingredients: (detailed list)

  • Main Ingredients: green onion, ginger, corn oil, sesame oil, salt

Steps:

  1. Mince scallions & ginger
  2. Heat oil, cook ginger scallions
  3. Season the sauce

Top 3 Mistakes:

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Overview

Today, Daddy Lau will be teaching us his recipe for his deliciously addictive ginger scallion sauce.

This sauce is one of my all time favorites, and it’s commonly paired with bak chit gai, a classic Cantonese chicken dish. It goes well with meats, tofu, leafy green vegetable stir fries, rice or noodles, and basically everything. 

Why this recipe

The story
Ginger Scallion Sauce (姜葱酱) — Daddy Lau
Daddy Lau

Most ginger scallion sauce recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.

I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 2.3M views, 79.3K likes on YouTube.

Ingredients

Serves4
Main Ingredients

Finding Asian Ingredients

Some of these ingredients are hard to find in a typical grocery store.

If you don't live near an Asian market, most or all of what my dad uses in this recipe can be found on Amazon:

I've also included some other Chinese kitchen essentials, used in many of my dad's other recipes.

These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!

Other Notes

In our video, I mentioned that we have an industrial grade infrared thermometer. Ken, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, also an engineer, got one for me for Christmas because he kept watching me ask my dad how hot his wok gets. Thanks Ken!

If you want to nerd out like us, here's a link to get your own: https://amzn.to/3bSkebB​

How to make Ginger Scallion Sauce

3 steps
1

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We'll start by mincing our green onions (2 oz) and ginger (1½ oz)​.

My dad said the exact ratio and raw amounts don't really matter too much. Most recipes I've seen use more green onion than ginger.

Having a surplus of sauce is a great problem to have, since you can use it on pretty much everything. (I LOVE dousing my rice and vegetables in this addictive sauce)

For the green onions, we'll be using the white stems (about 4 stems at the default serving size). Cut each stem in half, length-wise, and then into strips. Then, mince the strips into fine pieces.

For the ginger, we'll be cutting them into thin slices, strips, and then fine pieces.

One little detail is that my dad is using separate plates to hold the green onions and ginger. The ginger will be cooked first in the next step, so this makes it easier to just pour all of the ginger in at once.

Also, feel free to use a food processor here instead of mincing.

How each knife cut changes your food
LESSON 3.3
How each knife cut changes your food
Dive Deeper →
2

scroll to play this step

We'll heat up our wok on high heat and add corn oil (5 Tbsp).

The oil should be around 350-400F before we add the ginger.

This is where my infrared thermometer really shines, but a good visual cue is to wait until the oil starts "shimmering", or forming ripples across the surface due to the heat.

Why do we do this? By cooking everything in oil, we unlock the aromatics of the ginger and green onion.

Once the oil is hot enough, add the ginger and cook for about 15 seconds before adding the green onions. Cook everything for another 20-30 seconds before transferring the sauce to a bowl.

3

scroll to play this step

We'll add salt and sesame oil (1 Tbsp) to the bowl, and mix for 30-60 seconds.

Do a taste test. If it's not salty enough, feel free to add more.

My dad emphasized multiple times how important it is to add sesame oil here, so make sure you don't skip it.

Top 3 Mistakes

  • Processing aromatics together:

    Mince the ginger and scallions separately, even if you use a food processor. They enter the oil at different times, so combining them during prep removes that control later.

  • Skipping the sesame finish:

    Add the sesame oil at the seasoning stage rather than leaving it out. Dad emphasizes this finishing ingredient because the sauce needs that flavor as well as ginger, scallion, and salt.

  • Ignoring the oil temperature:

    Check the oil using the recipe’s heat guidance before adding the ingredients. Oil that is too cool or too hot changes how quickly the food cooks and how evenly the surface browns.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you eat ginger scallion sauce with?

It's the classic condiment to serve with Chinese poached chicken, or White Cut Chicken, but it also goes amazingly on top of meats, tofu, vegetable stir-fries, rice or noodles. It's also the classic condiment for Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Do you use the whole scallion for making ginger scallion sauce?

You can, but we choose to use only the whites. The flavor is more concentrated at the base of the stalk, and using only the palest section means that the sauce will be a beautiful, pale color. Save the greens for garnishing your other dishes.

Do you have to mince ginger and scallion by hand?

For our recipe for ginger scallion sauce, because it'll be a dipping sauce, you can definitely use a grater or a food processor to save time. My dad's used to chopping things, so he doesn't mind chopping everything by hand.

Just make sure to process them separately, because we add them to the oil separately.

Do you pour the oil over the ginger, or put the ginger in oil?

Restaurants have the ability to heat the oil really hot, so they'll pour the hot oil over the ginger and scallions. At home, we prefer to add the ingredients to the oil in the wok over heat, so they have a better chance of cooking through.

How do you season ginger scallion sauce?

Other than oil, ginger, and scallions, don't forget to season with salt and a touch of sesame oil. Check out the ingredient list above for our ratios, but don't be afraid to adjust everything to your taste.