I’m a firm believer in the power of a simple, flavorful sauce to take food — especially vegetables — from “ho hum” to “holy cow!” With this type of buy-in from the whole family, I know I can get more produce (and all the vitamins, minerals, and fiber built into them) into our diets, and that’s something I feel really good about.
One of my favorite sauces, a two-ingredient concoction of browned butter and oyster sauce, is one I’ve long leaned on to zhuzh up all manner of green vegetables. But I began to regret how this method took vegetables out of the vegetarian realm by introducing a shellfish component. Well, luckily there’s an equally delicious sauce I make now that relies on a fabulous, new-to-me ingredient: vegetarian oyster sauce.
What Makes My 2-Ingredient Browned Butter Umami Sauce So Great
My go-to sauce requires only two ingredients, takes just a few minutes to make, can be prepared ahead in a large batch and stored in the fridge, and simply turns everything into a far more delicious version of itself. It’s an easy combination of browned butter and vegetarian oyster sauce. The resulting medley ends up with enough body to cling beautifully to any food. The browned butter gives it deeply nutty, buttery, and caramel-like notes, while the vegetarian oyster sauce lends savory, umami-rich depth with a hint of sweetness. I love this sauce most on green vegetables — especially spring vegetables like roasted or steamed asparagus, peas, radishes, artichokes, baby carrots, and baby zucchini. It’s also a knockout on broccoli, green beans, baby bok choy, and Brussels sprouts.
Though I use it mostly on vegetables, its applications go well beyond that. Because it has such great clinging properties, it’s also fantastic on noodle dishes — whether it’s an Asian noodle-veggie combo like lo mein or chow fun or a take on American-style buttered noodles. I even use it to flavor seared tofu cubes or a breakfast scramble made with crumbled silken tofu (the latter of which is absolutely scrumptious). And if you’re a pescatarian or omnivore, the sauce can transform salmon, shrimp, chicken, and pork into a wow-worthy dinner.
