The Viral Wet-Wet Sauce That's Been Spicing Up Everyone's Kitchen

If you're looking for an all-purpose sauce that'll instantly upgrade any protein, starch, or veggie, the viral wet-wet sauce is the only recipe you need. Since sauces are wet by definition, wet-wet sauce might sound redundant. But the name alludes to adding two rounds of liquid ingredients to dry seasonings all in one heat-safe bowl.

Wet-wet sauce is an Asian-inspired recipe that's a hybrid between chili oil and stir-fry sauce. You start making it by adding all the dry ingredients to a glass or metal bowl, throwing in diced green onions, grated garlic and ginger, sesame seeds, and Korean chili flakes, also known as gochugaru. Then, comes the first round of wet ingredients in the form of bubbling hot oil. Pouring sizzling oil over the aromatics and spices will simultaneously bloom their flavors while infusing the oil, effectively combining the ingredients into fortified chili oil. After waiting a minute or two for the oil to stop bubbling, the sauce is ready for its second wet ingredients: rice vinegar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.

Stir the liquid ingredients into the chili oil, and voila, you have a highly complex savory-and-spicy condiment for everything from dumplings to stir-fried eggplant to fried chicken. Plus, you can pour leftovers into a mason jar to store in your refrigerator for months.

Wet-wet sauce became a viral sensation a year ago thanks to a TikTok video from creator and foodie influencer Cassie Yeung. In it, she recommends using a blend of neutral vegetable oil with a dash or two of sesame oil for added nuttiness. She also shows us how to serve it by pouring the sauce into the bottom of a serving dish, then placing the main dish ingredients on top. Yeung uses shrimp dumplings, garnished with black sesame seeds and the green parts of the scallions she reserved after adding their white parts to the sauce. You could apply this serving technique to spaghetti, flat rice noodles, or even over coconut sticky rice.

While the recipe went viral a year ago, its popularity hasn't waned. In fact, it's spawned a new round of viral TikTok videos over the past couple of months with even more tips and dish pairings. One video recommended cutting down on preparation time by using a microplane instead of a kitchen knife to mince the aromatics. Another suggested using red pepper flakes if Korean chili flakes are hard to find. You can also serve wet-wet sauce as a dipping sauce to accompany potstickers, egg rolls, spring rolls, or skewered chicken satay. If you wanted to use it as a sauté sauce, you could add a quarter of a cup to a wok with a few tablespoons of honey and cornstarch slurry before stirring in your favorite vegetables and proteins.