XO sauce
A sauce invented in Hong Kong restaurants in the 1980s and named after XO cognac — not because it contains any, but to signal luxury. Dried scallops are among the most expensive items in the Chinese larder and they give this sauce its character: concentrated, almost meaty umami. The technique is simple but demands patience: everything is fried separately, slowly, in a lot of oil.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking 60 min
- Shredding 20 min
- Frying 35 min
- Potting 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneSoak the scallops and shrimp separately
Cover the dried scallops and shrimp with warm water in separate bowls for an hour. Keep the scallop water — it is a concentrated stock that goes into the sauce and deepens the umami. Meanwhile soak the dried chillies (stems removed) in a third bowl.
Ingredients: 60 g dried shrimp · 80 g dried scallops · 80 g Jinhua ham
Separately, for an hour — the scallop water stays.Pull the scallops into threads
Rub the soaked scallops between your fingers into fine threads. They come apart along their natural fibres, which no knife reproduces. Chop the shrimp and ham very finely. All of this takes about 20 minutes.
Ingredients: 60 g dried shrimp · 80 g dried scallops · 80 g Jinhua ham
Threads by hand — a knife cannot do this.Chop the base fine, not to a paste
Pulse the shallots, garlic, ginger and soaked chillies into small pieces, not a purée. A purée fries unevenly and scorches; small pieces brown evenly and stay perceptible in the finished sauce.
Ingredients: 8 pcs shallots · 12 cloves garlic · 8 pcs dried chillies · 30 g ginger · 350 ml oil
Fry the shallot and garlic slowly
Heat the oil and fry the base 15 minutes over low heat, stirring, until golden brown. Slowly, because that is the whole point — fast frying gives raw garlic inside and burnt garlic outside.
Ingredients: 8 pcs shallots · 12 cloves garlic · 8 pcs dried chillies · 30 g ginger · 350 ml oil
Add the seafood and keep frying
Add the scallops, shrimp and ham and fry another 15 minutes, until everything darkens and crisps at the edges. The oil should stay above the solids throughout — it is confiting them rather than frying them.
Ingredients: 60 g dried shrimp · 80 g dried scallops · 80 g Jinhua ham
Oil covering the solids — confiting rather than frying.Season and drive off the liquid
Carefully, as the hot oil will spit: pour in the Shaoxing, soy sauce, half a cup (125 ml) of the scallop water and the sugar, add the chilli flakes and cook about 5 minutes, until the liquid has fully evaporated and the oil sizzles gently again. The sauce should return to an oily paste — any residual water shortens its life.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp soy sauce · 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp chilli flakes · 1 tbsp sesame oil
Pot under a layer of oil
Stir in the sesame oil, transfer to a sterilised jar and make sure the oil covers the paste — it stops it drying out. Once cool, keep the XO sauce in the fridge only and eat it within a month, using a clean spoon; garlic and seafood in oil must never sit at room temperature (risk of botulism). For longer storage, freeze it in portions.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp soy sauce · 3 tbsp Shaoxing wine · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp chilli flakes · 1 tbsp sesame oil
Before you start
Dried scallops are expensive
Conpoy is the costliest item here and has no full substitute — the scallops give XO its character. You can halve the quantity and add more dried shrimp; the sauce will be simpler but still good.
What to use it for
A spoonful of XO goes into fried rice, into noodles, over braised tofu, onto fried eggs or straight onto hot rice. In Hong Kong it is also served alongside dim sum in a small dish.
The oil is a product too
The aromatic oil at the top of the jar is as valuable as the paste — use it for frying vegetables or as a finish for soup. Top the oil up so the paste always stays covered.