Food Lust People Love: Homemade XO Sauce

Rich, decadent and luscious, homemade XO sauce with dried scallops, dried shrimp and dried ham isn’t cheap to make but it sure is delicious. Well worth the cost and time!

Food Lust People Love: Rich, decadent and luscious, homemade XO sauce with dried scallops, dried shrimp and dried ham isn’t cheap to make but it sure is delicious. Well worth the cost and time!

XO sauce was reportedly created in Hong Kong back in the 1980s in Spring Moon, an upscale restaurant in the five-star luxury hotel, The Peninsula Hong Kong, as a symbol of wealth and decadence. The name XO was taken from the very best extra old cognac, to indicate that the sauce was also of the highest caliber.

It caught on and became popular over all of Asia, and now the jarred condiment is available on store shelves worldwide. Sometimes the ingredients aren’t actually extra special and that’s why homemade is often best. They tend to skimp on the scallops.

I totally get that because I couldn’t find dried scallops in a local shop. I considered my options and decided I couldn't skimp so I went one extra step and dried some fresh Channel Island scallops as my first step. Seven ounces yielded only 2 oz when dried. The recipe below assumes you are able to find some!

Homemade XO Sauce

If you would rather your XO sauce not be quite as spicy, you can remove the seeds from the chili peppers. We love spicy so I leave ours in. This makes about 2 1/4 cups or 475g. Start this recipe early in your day. It can take up to five hours to make.

Ingredients

2 oz or 57g dried scallops

2 oz or 57g dried shrimp

2 oz or 57g Jinhua or Yunnan ham, or prosciutto

6 large garlic cloves

4 large red or golden shallots

6 large red chili peppers

2 cups or 480ml peanut oil

1 tablespoon cayenne

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Method

Soak the scallops and shrimp separately each in 1 cup or 240ml of hot water for at least 1 hour. Drain well, reserving the strained liquid from the scallops.

Peel your shallots and garlic and chop them roughly. Destem the peppers and chop them as well. (See note above ingredient list.) Put all three into your food processor and chop them finely with a few quick zaps

You are looking for finely minced, not puréed.

Use your clean hands to pull the ham apart into fine shreds.

Shred the drained scallops by pounding them a few at time in a mortar to separate the fibers.

Roughly grind the drained shrimp in a mortar and pestle as well or cheat like I do by using a food processor. The shrimp are tough to grind and after pounding the scallops, who even has the energy?

Preheat your oven to 212°F or 100°C. (If your oven won’t go this low, you can continue on the stovetop but you will have to watch the sauce very carefully and keep the fire very low so it doesn’t burn.)

Heat 1/3 cup or 80ml of the peanut oil in a medium, oven-proof pan or pot over low heat and fry the garlic, shallots and chili peppers for about 10 minutes until they are fragrant and softened.

Add the shredded scallops, shrimp, ham or prosciutto, salt, sugar, cayenne powder, soy sauce and about a 1/4 cup or 60ml of the soaking liquid from the scallops.

Bring to a simmer and cook over a low flame until the liquid is evaporated or absorbed, stirring often. Make a space in the middle of the sauce with a spatula or wooden spoon and wait a minute or so to see if liquid fills the hole. (Left photo below,) If it does, stir again and cook a little longer to dry the mixture a little more. (Right photo below.)

Add the remaining oil and stir well.

Put the pot in your low oven and cook uncovered for 3-4 hours until the color of the sauce intensifies and it becomes thick, oily and jammy. Stir the mixture occasionally.

Transfer the XO sauce to clean jars and top with any oil left in the cooking pan.

Seal and refrigerate until ready to use. The sauce will keep for about 6 months.

Homemade XO sauce is excellent stirred through steamed rice or egg noodles, as part of a dipping sauce for dumplings or as a topping for stir-fried greens or a fried egg. In fact, it’s good with just about anything savory!

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 24th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter X. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the X recipes below: