Our Favorite Store-Bought Stir Fry Sauce Is A Trader Joe's Classic

In Tasting Table's ranking of eight store-bought stir-fry sauces, Trader Joe's General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce dominated the competition. As diehard food enthusiasts (it's literally our whole thing), we'd love to explain why.

TJ's sprawling selection of store-brand offerings has long captured our hearts and appetites, and this tangy, sweet, spicy, thick sauce is a fantastic representative of the appeal. Noting that the original General Tsao's Chicken was hatched in the 1970s, a description on TJ's website declares, "Trader Joe's General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce is a nod to this sweet and lightly spicy comfort food favorite, bringing you the same bright flavors and satisfying heat that have delighted diners on crispy chicken for nearly 50 years." Right out of the gate, the store sets bar pretty high for its product. Luckily, the sauce rules.

Unlike many other one-note grocery store stir-fry sauces, Trader Joes' General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce is dotted with visible chili flakes for a sweet, slow-burning heat on the back end. Texturally, it's rich and sticky enough to coat veggies and meats in a lush, flavorful draping. It makes a great glaze, a zingy dipping sauce, and (of course) takes any homemade stir-fry to the next level. Plus, as $3.49 for a 12.35-ounce bottle, this impressive condiment is as convenient as it is affordable — a one-stop shop for recreating your go-to takeout meal at home.

The dimensionality of TJ's General Tsao's Stir Fry Sauce is all about the interplay of its ingredients. Umami soy sauce and oysters meet acidic white vinegar and tomato paste, sweet sugar, and sophisticated spice from the ginger and red chile garlic blend. Dedicated fan site What's Good at Trader Joe's? rates the General Tsao's sauce 9.5/10, specifically mentioning the "combination of garlic and red pepper that gave off a lot of heat and flavor without overpowering the rest." Considering this rave review was written all the way back in 2011, it's easy to imagine that Trader Joe's has been dominating the stir-fry sauce game for over a decade and certainly hasn't lost its edge.

With this one sauce, you don't have to hit up your tried-and-true local Chinese takeout joint to chow down on restaurant-worthy homemade General Tso's chicken. In addition to using it as a stir-fry base, the Trader Joe's website recommends pairing its General Tsao's Stir Fry sauce with fried chicken, using it to marinate beef and pork, or using it as a dipping sauce for dumplings. We love TJ's frozen steamed pork and ginger soup dumplings, but we advise skipping the brand's lackluster vegetable and chicken versions. We also dig Trader Joe's frozen pork gyoza, vegetable spring rolls, and chicken cilantro mini wontons, all of which would incidentally benefit from a dunk in the brand's stir-fry sauce.