What is XO sauce? The popular Chinese condiment explained

Chefs talk about the sauce’s ingredients, uses, how to make it and why it’s called ‘XO’, plus its Hong Kong origins and link to Lee Kum Kee

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XO sauce is typically made with expensive ingredients such as dried scallops, shrimp roe, dried shrimps and Jinhua ham. Photo: Catty & Tael

Published: 7:45am, 26 Oct 2024Updated: 7:54am, 8 Nov 2024

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You see XO sauce on menus all over Hong Kong. It is a common addition to noodles and fried rice in local eateries, but it is also served as a condiment or packaged as luxury gifts at high-end restaurants.

So popular is XO that it has also been featured as a flavour of crisps and cup noodles, and was even once the hero ingredient in a cocktail at Argo, the bar at the Four Seasons Hong Kong.

But what exactly is XO sauce? And why is it called XO, a term usually used to describe the “extra old” class of cognac?

A jar of XO sauce from Hong Kong restaurant Ming Court. Photo: Ming Court

According to Li Yuet-faat, executive chef of Chinese cuisine at Ming Court in Mong Kok, the condiment existed long before it was widely known as XO sauce.

“It originated in the 1970s and 1980s, crafted from premium ingredients like dried scallops, ham and shrimp roe. It is widely recognised as a creation of high-end Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong during that era,” he says.