Learn how to make homemade paleo hoisin sauce recipe with natural, gluten-free, sugar-free ingredients. It’s perfect for duck pancakes, ribs, marinades, stir-fries and more.
What Is A Hoisin Sauce?
Hoisin sauce is a Chinese version of a barbecue sauce. It’s thick, dark, sweet and salty and is used as a glaze on meat and poultry, especially pork ribs, chicken wings and duck; in stir-fries; and, as a condiment to Chinese duck pancakes.
Paleo Hoisin Sauce
Commercially available hoisin sauce is often loaded with colouring, preservatives and wheat or corn flour as a thickening starch. This is a more natural version made with cleaner ingredients and is a little bit lighter in colour. I find that it’s even more flavourful than the traditional hoisin sauce.
Dietary Notes
Tamari is a sauce made from fermented soybeans and the process of fermentation removes a lot of the anti-nutrients found in them. Using this as a condiment in a paleo diet is okay as you’re consuming a very small amount, just like people in Asia have done for centuries, rather than eating slabs of tofu and drinking cups of soy milk. This is a big difference and is often forgotten. For those who want to avoid soy altogether, use coconut aminos instead and it will still taste hoisin delicious.
This hoisin sauce goes with my Paleo Peking Duck Pancakes.
More Homemade Condiments
Full Recipe
Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.
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Ingredients
- Juice of 1 orange remove any pits
- 2 tablespoons almond butter or sunflower butter
- 1 teaspoon grated garlic about 1 large clove
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger thumb size knob of fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 5 tablespoons Tamari gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes or powder
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to very low, whisk and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. The mixture will thicken and darken. Remove to a ramekin and set aside. Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Thank you for the recipe and a wonderful site! I will have to try this. I loved using prepared asian sauces pre-paleo. Can you make a paleo friendly oyster sauce?!! 🙂
I will try although I am not sure where i’d get oyster juice 😉
a jar of oysters in their juice –
Yes!
I made this on Sunday, loved it! It was very easy and tasty! I needed it for an Americas Test Kitchen… Cooks Country Aug/Sept 2012 Chinese Style Glazed Pork Tenderloin.
I have a post on my blog with the recipe YUM! ~ Chinese-Style Glazed Pork Tenderloin http://wp.me/p3djVT-gJ
The marinade was great! (I may make up a batch for stir-frying this spring)
Darn, you got my hopes up (soy is not paleo, at least not to me).
Fermented soy in a form of a condiment vs soy as a food are quite different. I agree that Tamari doesn’t fit the 100% paleo food list but it’s actually a lot less sinister than people assume it is. I’ve made a note about Tamari in the post. Coconut aminos will work instead as well.
This site is about “Paleo” but really not fitting it! Soy will never be Paleo, as it is a Legume, an AntiNutrient, Phytic Acid and Lectins!
Hey Ole, your feedback is appreciated. You seem to feel very strongly about what paleo is and isn’t and that’s cool. We all have our opinions and we all have a different approach to paleo. Let’s place together nicely and remember the overall message we’re trying to send to people: eat less crap! Agreed? Agreed.
Please also read my cook’s notes in the post: “For those who want to avoid soy all together, use coconut aminos instead and it will still taste hoisin delicious.”
If you’re new to my website and my personal approach to paleo (which is more gentle than the strict paleo you might be used it), please read this post http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/how-to-do-paleo-practical-human-approach/ and then you can also read this post on why I personally include things like miso http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/why-miso-is-part-of-my-paleo-diet-and-my-favourite-way-to-use-it/
Thanks,
Irena
Exactly, it ain’t Paleo at all!
Ole…Dude, you need to chill. Be polite or leave.
THANK YOU, Eat Drink Paleo for this recipe, can’t wait to try it! Since I don’t do soy I will have coconut aminos and not freak out like everyone else.
hi….may i suggest using coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce? soy is technically not paleo-friendly. the coconut aminos are way less harsh and less salty than the soy sauce as well, they are sweet and tangy. thank you for this recipe!
Fermented soy is perfectly acceptable for those on a paleo diet. So long as you find a non-GMO tamari, you’re fine.
No it’s not, Soy is no where near Paleo! Soy = Legume = AntiNutrient = Phytic Acids and Lecins! Don’t give people bad advice!
Loved this! My partner (who didn’t know that it was Paleo lol) loved it even more! I have been asked to make lots more next time! I did put a tbpn of coconut sugar (as well as the honey) in extra as I felt that it needed it to balance the saltiness of the tamari – maybe I will try coconut aminos next time – or reduce the tamari. Now I am on the lookout for a char Sui sauce
Is that hint for me to make some Char Sui? I can try 😉
It isn’t Paleo…
Wow this sounds great, I really miss hoisin. Just one problem for me, I’m allergic to oranges, go figure. I can handle all other citrus though, which do you think would be the best replacement.
Oh and I second the Char Sui please 😉
Thanks!
You want a sweet juice so not lemon or lime. I would try apple juice or pineapple juice instead.
Thanks so much Irena, I’ll let you know how I go.
You can aslo make a suitable alternative using Peanut butter (with no added anything!) sesame oil and soy sauce. You can add other things if you like to make it more to your taste like chilli or five spice.
Does cashew butter work the same as almond??
I reckon that will work as well.
This is delicious! I’m so happy that there is a Paleo friendly recipe for hoisin, and it taste good too 🙂
Thanks Irena for a delicious recipe. It is very close tasting to the Vietnamese hoison sauce I used to eat. You saved our spring roll dinner! My tens loved too.
Thanks Thuy, glad you enjoyed it. Irena
Thanks for the recipe! Have you tried freezing this? Do you think it would freeze well?
I don’t see why you couldn’t freeze it and then defrost it. I would say it would keep well in the fridge too.
Good tip re: tamari!
Not really, still Soy Based = Legume = AntiNutrient, Phytic Acids and Lectins!
Yes, he said that! But he also said a little bit like in a condiment wasn’t going to wreck your diet.
Why is removal of anti-nutrients bad in paleo diets. Fermentation and soaking are very old ways of dealing with seeds and beans. Don’t you want to be able to absorb the iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium that you eat? Anti-nutrients reduce your body’s ability to absorb these.
Not trying to offend you, but NO! Sunflower (Sunflower Oil, extracted by extreme temperatures and Chemical use like Hexane!), White Vinegar (From Corn, 96% of all Corn are GMO), Tamari (Still from Soy Beans = Legume) is NOT Paleo either, there is way too many recipes here, that has nothing to do with Paleo at all!
The irony about your profile text:
“Hello! My name is Irena. I cook delicious paleo and gluten-free recipes. Sometimes I eat cheese. And, I certainly enjoy a glass of wine. ”
Both ARE Paleo, as Alcohol is a Natural process, just not in the high percentage we tend to make Alcohol these days, but Wine if perfectly Natural!
Cheese is also Paleo! In case you don’t really care for History, Science, Biology, i can tell you, old Bathtub lookalikes found, with small holes in the bottom, tested to be over 9.000 Years old, determined after a DNA test, they were used to create Cheese in huge amounts, and the small holes in the bottom, was to drain Whey and Lactose! You can read the Article in the time magazine “Nature” 😉
thanks for the recipe – and you’ve got some ads on here that play unbidden, and no way to turn them off, loud and going on and on.
Thanks for letting me know. I can’t really control what goes on sometimes as the ads are automatically served but I will check about the ‘turning off’ option with the publishers. That’s really annoying indeed!
this Hoisan sauce is delicious…I made PF CHANG lettuce wraps and used this and everyone LOVED it!
Thanks Dinah! Lettuce wraps with this sauce sound awesome, I’ll have to make some.
If anti-nutrients inhibit your ability to absorb certain minerals, why is it bad that fermentation removes them? Many websites devote a lot of space to the different ways of removing anti-nutrients. Don’t you want to be able to absorb the minerals you eat?
OLE – Yes, he said that! But he also said a little bit like in a condiment wasn’t going to wreck your diet.
Why is removal of anti-nutrients bad in paleo diets. Fermentation and soaking are very old ways of dealing with seeds and beans. Don’t you want to be able to absorb the iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium that you eat? Anti-nutrients reduce your body’s ability to absorb these.
Followed the recipe using coconut aminos. It was delicious! We used it in a paleo chicken wrap recipe and we all loved it!
Thanks, Sukie. Glad you enjoyed it! Irena