Best Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce in India – We Reviewed 4 Brands

Schezwan Sauce is a popular Indo-Chinese sauce made using three primary ingredients – chilies, garlic, and oil. Ingredients like salt, shallots, and ginger may or may not be added as per recipe modifications.

Schezwan sauce is widely used to make desi Chinese recipes like schezwan chicken, schezwan fried rice, schezwan noodles, and schezwan paneer and vegetables. Schezwan sauce can also be used as a dip with momos, wontons, and spring rolls. While this sauce is easy to make at home, multiple brands have ready-to-use schezwan stir fry sauces that pack in a lot of flavor and convenience. 

We reviewed four popular brands of schezwan stir fry sauce to check them for their authentic flavor and texture. After using them extensively for home-cooked desi-Chinese meals, we can confidently say that the Veeba Schezwan Dip and Stir Fry sauce is the best schezwan stir fry sauce in India. 

Here is why we chose Veeba’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce as our Top Pick!

Schezwan sauce is lip-smackingly spicy with a bold garlic hit. Add it to a bowl of plain vegetables or some leftover rice, and you have a delicious meal. This section will discuss the different schezwan stir fry sauce brands in India, their main ingredients, price range, food pairings, shelf life, and availability.

1. Available Brands

The following brands have a schezwan stir fry sauce which is popular and readily available offline and on a few online grocery shopping portals as well – 

• Ching’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce
• Veeba Dip And Stir Fry Schezwan Sauce
• Del Monte Schezwan Sauce
• Chef Boss Schezwan Cooking Sauce
• Dr Oetker Funfoods Schezwan Sauce
• Swad Schezwan Pan Fry Sauce

2. Main Ingredients

The main ingredients of a packaged schezwan stir-fry sauce are – 

• Chilies
• Tomato paste
• Garlic
• Oil
• Vinegar

Apart from these, brands can choose to tweak their sauces with other ingredients like soya sauce, liquid glucose, ginger, spices, and condiments. The quantity/ratio of all ingredients differs in all brands.

3. Price Range

On average, the price range of a 250 gram packaged schezwan stir fry sauce can be anywhere between Rs  65/- to Rs 85/-. The price difference varies from brand to brand. 

4. Best Pairings and Recipes

A schezwan stir-fry sauce is very versatile and can be used as a base for multiple gravies and stir-frys. Some recipes that world beautifully with schezwan sauce are – 

• Chicken in schezwan sauce
• Fish in schezwan sauce
• Shrimp in schezwan sauce
• Mixed vegetables in schezwan sauce
• Tofu in schezwan sauce
• Paneer in schezwan sauce
• Schezwan noodles
• Schezwan fried rice
• Dry chilli paneer
• Dry chilli chicken
• Dry chilli gobhi
• Dry chilli tofu
• Chilli potatoes

5. Shelf life

The shelf life of a packaged schezwan stir fry sauce can vary between 8 months to 18 months, depending on the addition of preservatives (natural or artificial). Read the label carefully before purchasing.

6. Availability

With online grocery shopping becoming more common in urban India, most of these schezwan sauce brands are available online and offline.

Our testing process is thorough and gauges all the parameters that are required for the product in that particular category. 

For example – we will test an appliance for its features and design, a pot/pan is tested for its sturdiness and ease of use and so on. For our review of the best Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce Brands in India, we set out the following parameters –

1. Flavor

Our gustatory and olfactory senses team up together to give us the enhanced experience of what we eat. So when we say flavor, we don’t just mean what we can taste through our taste buds. We also mean the aroma of the prepared dish and the presence of aromatics we can smell while eating it.

Our benchmark for comparing these sauces was what we usually eat at quality restaurants. Does the sauce have a distinct chilli-garlic flavor and aroma? How well is the sauce seasoned? Any aftertaste? Could we detect any synthetic flavors? Is there too much vinegar in the stir-fry sauce? Does it add a well rounded, robust heat to a dish? Does the tomato tang feel too overpowering or is it underwhelming? 

2. Visual Appearance  (Texture and color)

Typically a freshly made schezwan dipping sauce has a vibrant red color, with lots of oil floating on top and visible red chilli flakes. This is used as a chutney with momos, spring rolls, and other deep-fried snacks. A packaged schezwan stir-fry sauce, on the other hand, is a more delicate paste in comparison to what is used for cooking and making bases for gravies, rice, or noodles.

We wanted to check for the texture – How fine or granular is the paste? Could we see any chilli specs or garlic bits? We also checked the vibrancy of the color. What shade of red is this? Does it have any added colors or is this the natural color of the sauce? 

3. Consistency

Was the schezwan stir-fry sauce thick and gloopy, or was it a paste-like consistency? Does the sauce mix well with the rice when we made several batches of fried rice? 

4. Spice Levels

Schezwan means SPICY! Schezwan sauces have high heat levels that often hit the back of your throat. We were looking for the schezwan cooking sauce with the most balanced amount of heat that makes the flavors of the gravy/cooked dish more enhanced and delicious.

High spice levels do not promise better-tasting schezwan sauce. The heat needs to be well-rounded for any sauce to be qualified a genuinely flavorful schezwan sauce.

5. Ease Of Cooking

How easy or complicated are the instructions given at the back of the pack to follow? Is the cooking sauce easy to use? How well does the cooking sauce coat the rice, veggies, or protein of choice?

6. Price

Is the schezwan stir fry sauce priced competitively? Is it overpriced? Is the pricing justified for the quality of the product? 

Who Is This Review For?

This review is for everyone who loves cooking Indianised Chinese dishes at home. If you want to spruce up your desi chilli chicken, fried rice or a simple bowl of vegetables and noodles, this schezwan sauce stir fry review will help you.

How Did We Pick Brands? 

There are many other brands that offer a schezwan sauce or a ‘chutney’ that is mainly used for dipping and not for cooking. So keeping that in mind, we did not pick those dipping schezwan sauces. If the label specified that it could be used in multiple ways, as a stir fry sauce as well as a dipping sauce, then we picked it up. 

We picked brands that were easily available online and offline. Brands that required too much waiting period to order or did not show any major presence online, we dropped them from the review. We did this because availability plays a big role in packaged products.

The Brands We Picked

The brands we picked are – 

• Ching’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce
• Veeba Dip And Stir Fry Schezwan Sauce
• Chef Boss Schezwan Cooking Sauce
• Dr Oetker Funfoods Schezwan Sauce

Our Review Process 

Our best schezwan sauce stir fry review was divided into three stages – 

Stage 1 – Dry inspection of the stir fry sauces. This included us noting down what all we could see in the schezwan sauce. Could we see the characteristic oil-chili combination? Any distinct aromas? 

Stage 2 – Tasting the stir fry sauce as it is after cooking it slightly in a frypan. No vegetables or other additions were made during this stage. This stage was crucial as we wanted to check the heat and intensity that comes from the chillies.

Stage 3: Mishry Secret Sauce – For this stage, we made schezwan fried rice using the schezwan sauces. This helped us gauge the flavor of the stir fry sauces in the end-product. We tasted the fried rice twice. First we tasted them blind and eliminated the least impressive contender. 

 The three remaining brands were re-tasted, and we chose our Top Pick.

Why did we choose to test it with a fried rice recipe? Why not a form of protein, vegetables or noodles?

We did this because rice makes for a perfectly plain base on which all other flavors shine immensely. We did add vegetables (carrots, onions, beans and spring onion greens for garnishing) to this bowl of fried rice, along with a splash of soy sauce. But other than this, we added no extra spice or herb. If necessary we added a some salt. This helped us test the actual flavor of the schezwan sauce. We followed the same recipe for schezwan fried rice for all.

This section will discuss the price, net weight, shelf life,, and key ingredients of the schezwan stir fry sauces. Here is a comparison table of our schezwan stir fry sauce brands review.

Veeba Schezwan Dip and Stir Fry Sauce comes in a glass jar. A 320 gm stir fry sauce is priced at Rs 109/-. We could see a lot of red chilli seeds, ginger strands and flakes in this sauce. The color of the sauce is bright red. The consistency is thick. Upon opening the bottle, we could smell a lot of ginger. As this is dipping and a stir-fry sauce, we could see a lot of oil within the sauce. 

During our first tasting session, we tasted this in two ways – as it is (as this is also a dipping sauce, cooking it was not essential), and again after cooking it in a frypan (this was done to standardise the procedure). 

We then moved onto the Mishry Secret Sauce stage and made fried rice with this stir fry sauce. 

What we noticed during our dry tasting is that the ginger flavor and aroma is very dominant which is refreshing. The heat and sourness is very well rounded that hits the back of your throat. This is very spicy but doesn’t burn up your palette. 

The Veeba Dip and Stir Fry Sauce is very easy to cook with, and when tossed with veggies and boiled rice, the coating is very uniform. The sauce does not make the rice damp or too oily. 

The bowl of fried rice made using the Veeba Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce was delicious. In some sauces, the ginger-garlic aroma subsides after cooking, but this wasn’t the case here. The garlic and ginger flavor was very well pronounced. This sauce provides the typical schezwan sauce heat and flavor that you expect from a quality restaurant. 

This sauce is multipurpose and can be used as a dipping sauce as well. 

During our pizza sauce review too, Veeba’s Pasta And Pizza Sauce emerged as a winner for its balanced taste of tomatoes and herbiness. 

Features

• The MRP for a 320 gm pack of Veeba Schezwan Dip And Stir-fry Sauce is Rs 109/-.
• Shelf life –  8 months
• Ingredients – Synthetic vinegar, Liquid glucose, Garlic, Water, Refined soyabean oil, Ginger, Red chillies, Iodised salt, Spices and condiments, Sugar, Permitted stabilisers, Onions, Soyabean sauce, Tomato paste, Permitted flavor enhancer, Permitted preservative, Permitted antioxidant.

Pros

• It is multipurpose. This can be used as a sip and a stir-fry sauce. 
• The consistency is not gloopy.
• The vibrant red color is visually appealing.
• We could see a lot of red chilli flakes and seeds. 
• Well rounded sourness and spiciness of the sauce is appreciated. 

Cons

• There are no cons, making the Veeba Stir Fry Sauce our Top Pick.

Best Suited For

The Veeba Dip and Stir-Fry Sauce is for all those who like the spicy Indo-Chinese flavors in their meals. This can be used as a dip for your momos, spring rolls, wontons, and even salt and pepper vegetables.

You can also use it to make gravies like chilli paneer, chicken, vegetables in schezwan sauce, and even dry snacks like chilli potatoes.

The Ching’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce comes in a glass jar. A 250 gm stir fry sauce is priced at Rs 85/-. We could see a lot of red chilli seeds and flakes in this sauce. The color of the sauce is dark brownish-red in color. The consistency is semi-thick and is a little lumpy, almost gelatinous. When we opened the bottle, we got a whiff of a sour vinegary aroma. 

We tasted all the stir-fry sauces twice. Once, we tasted them by cooking as it is for dry tasting and once after making a bowl of fried rice with it. We noticed that the Ching’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce is extremely sour. There is no relief from the sourness at all. The heat anticipated from the red chilies and black pepper in a typical schezwan sauce was also milder. We do expect a mild sweetness from a schezwan sauce which could not be detected in our taste test. 

The sauce is easy to cook with, and coats the rice wonderfully. We prepared our dish as per the instructions given at the back of the pack. 

The fried rice made using this stir-fry sauce tasted very average. In fact, Ching’s was voted out after our first blind tasting session. The unbalanced sourness that comes from the tomato and acetic acid was not appetizing. We did not re-taste this.

We were surprised at the Ching’s Schezwan Sauce failing during our taste test as the Ching’s Schezwan Chutney we reviewed earlier was a massive hit among our team members!

Features

• The MRP of a 250-gram jar of Ching’s Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce is Rs 85/-.
• Shelf life – 18 months
• Ingredients – Water, Sugar, Red chilli, Garlic, Sunflower oil, Tomato paste, Salt, Cornstarch, Acetic acid, Sesame seeds, Xantham gum, Sodium benzoate, Spices. 
• Contains added flavors
• Contains permitted class II preservatives. 
• The Ching’s sauce comes in a glass jar.
• Color of the sauce is a dark mix of brown and red.
• Keep refrigerated after opening. 

Pros

• Easy to cook and coats the rice evenly.

Cons

• Unbalanced seasoning. The sourness of the stir-fry sauce was unappealing.
• There was no relief from the unidimensional sourness.
• The schezwan heat we expected was also much milder.

The Chef Boss Schezwan Cooking Sauce is a relatively new brand in this section. We added this to our review due to the prominent presence on a few grocery shopping portals. 

The Chef Boss Schezwan Cooking Sauce comes in pouch packaging. A 175 ml pack is priced at Rs 75/-. The color of the sauce is dark red and we could see a few red chilli seeds. The texture of the uncooked sauce is very gelatinous. 

When we tasted the stir-fry sauce after cooking in a frying pan, we thought of this sauce as a well-rounded, spicy, and sour schezwan sauce. Sadly, the flavors reduced considerably once we added it to the rice. As there are no measurements given at the back of the pack, we added it as per taste. 

Could we add more sauce to the rice if we just wanted to increase the intensity? Well, no! If we added more sauce to the rice while cooking, the rice grains would have become wet. The standard ‘khila-khila’ texture of fried rice would have been compromised. 

While this sauce has a nice garlicky aroma and flavor with a good overall flavor, it lacked the spiciness we look for in a schezwan sauce. 

Features

• The MRP for a 175 gm pack of Chef Boss Schezwan Sauce is Rs 75/-.
• Shelf life –  9 months
• Ingredients – Water, Liquid glucose, Chili paste, Tomato paste, Sugar, Salt, Garlic paste and powder, Edible vegetable oil – Soyabean oil, Ginger paste, Soy sauce, Cornstarch, Onion powder, Spices and condiments, Yeast extract powder, Preservatives, Stabilisers, Flavor enhancer, Anticaking agent
• Contains permitted natural food colors and added flavors.
• Allergen advice – Contains gluten and soya.

Pros

• We liked the overall balanced flavor of the sauce. 

Cons

• The spiciness of a typical schezwan sauce is extremely mild.
• There is no set of instructions given at the back of the pack. While this is not a big issue for seasoned cooks, it can pose a problem for novices. 

A 230 gm pack of Dr. Oetker Funfoods Chinese Schezwan Sauce is priced at Rs 69/-. This comes in a glass jar. The color of the sauce is extremely dark due to which we could not see anything that is added in the sauce. No red chilli seeds or flakes could be seen, but we could see specs of black pepper after cooking. This is a very pasty sauce and not flowy or gelatinous. 

When we tasted this after cooking we noticed that this has the most sour flavor out of all the sauces. The spice levels are appropriate but the sourness takes away so much from the overall flavor. This has a very acidic aroma which does not lower after cooking also. 

When we cooked rice using this sauce, the rice turned a deep red in color. 

The flavor of garlic, red chilli or any other herb/spice could not be detected as it all paled in front of the sourness.

Features

• The MRP of a 230 gram jar of Funfoods Chinese Schezwan Sauce is Rs 69/-.
• Shelf life – 12 months
• Ingredients – Tomato paste, Water, Garlic, Refined soyabean oil, Sugar, Soyabean extract, Iodized salt, Ginger, Mixed spices, Herbs.
• Contains added flavors
• Contains permitted class II preservatives. 

Pros

• It cooks well and coats the rice nicely.

Cons

• The aroma and taste of the schezwan sauce is very acidic.
• The sourness is very unidimensional.
• The spice levels get camouflaged under the extreme sourness.

Why did we choose Veeba Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce as our Top Pick?

A typical schezwan sauce needs to have a balance of spiciness and sourness. It should also have a mild sweetness that lingers and adds to the overall mouthfeel. We chose Veeba Schezwan Stir Fry Sauce as our Top Pick because it excelled in balancing all these flavors. 

Not only that, the robust aroma and flavor of garlic-ginger were appreciable. Even after cooking the sauce and mixing it with rice, it did not dilute. We liked the well-rounded, balanced flavors of the Veeba Schezwan Sauce. 

Here are some interesting FAQs on schezwan stir fry sauces.

1. Which schezwan sauce is best?

As per our review, Veeba schezwan stir-fry sauce is the tastiest schezwan sauce. The balanced heat and beautiful ginger-garlic flavor is wonderful. 

2. How is schezwan chutney eaten?

Schezwan chutney can be eaten with various starters like momos, wontons, spring rolls, salt and pepper vegetables, and baos. This can also be served with frozen snacks that aren’t spicy.

3. What is the difference between the flavor of a schezwan chutney and schezwan stir-fry sauce?

Schezwan chutney is spicy with a slight sweetness that vanishes when the sauce hits the back of your throat. On the other hand, a schezwan stir-fry sauce is a mix of sour and spicy. This is due to the presence of tomato paste. 

4. Can we make schezwan sauce at home?

Yes. Making schezwan sauce is easily possible at home. You would need red chillies, garlic, oil, salt as the base ingredients. 

5. Is schezwan sauce supposed to be spicy?

Yes! Typically a schezwan sauce is supposed to be spicy as the core ingredient used to make it is red chillies.

Toss and serve! Cooking Indianised Chinese dishes has become that easy. Thanks to these packaged schezwan stir fry sauces.

After three tasting sessions and carefully marking the four brands of schezwan stir-fry sauces for all the given parameters, we chose Veeba Schezwan Dip and Stir-fry sauce as our Top Pick. It was definitely the most delicious and well-rounded schezwan stir-fry sauce amongst all the contenders. 

Do you love cooking desi-Chinese meals? If yes, have you used a packaged schezwan stir fry sauce? Tell us about your favorite brand in the comment section below.

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