Condiments & seasonings

Soy sauce

Also called shoyu, ganjang, jiangyou and soya sauce

Soy sauce is a condiment made with soybeans, salt and water; it may also contain wheat, shrimp or molasses. It tastes salty and savory, with some sweetness and a slight bitterness. Cooks use it to season rice and noodles, and pair it with wasabi.

May contain shellfish
Gluten depends on the product

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Condiments & seasonings
Cooked most in: Asia, The Americas
Top country: Indonesia
Dishes: 23 in the catalogue

Photo: Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use soy sauce

Typical ways to cook or use it

Season

Made from

soy bean
table salt
water
wheat (sometimes)
shrimp (sometimes)
molasses (sometimes)

Goes well with

rice
noodle
wasabi

If you don’t have soy sauce

fish sauce · Works in a pinch
A fermented fish sauce called eo-ganjang can stand in for soy sauce.

Flavour

Taste and texture

Taste, raw profile of soy sauce

Sweet2

Sour0

Salty5

Bitter1

Umami3

Around the world

Where soy sauce is cooked

23 dishes in the catalogue use soy sauce. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Asia20
The Americas1

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list soy sauce among their ingredients.

Origins

The 600s · China and Japan
Buddhist practitioners brought soy sauce from China to Japan.
1613 · Philippines
A record of adobo probably provided the first documented mention of soy sauce in the Philippines.
1905 · United States
Soy sauce production began in Hawaii.

On the table

Dishes made with soy sauce

22 of the 23 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

Caluk noodles
Indonesia
Goulash
Jiangguotou
China
Lomo saltado
Peru
Xian doujiang
Humba
Philippines
Sapo tahu
Indonesia
Tongseng
Indonesia
Selat Solo
Indonesia
Tahu campur
Indonesia
Maranggi satay
Indonesia
Soto Kudus
Indonesia
Timlo
Indonesia
Jengkol stew
Indonesia
Lalat satay
Indonesia
Soto Jepara
Indonesia
Ketoprak
Indonesia
Pork satay
Indonesia
Rabbit satay
Indonesia
Pempek panggang
Indonesia
Snail Satay
Indonesia
Sate kambing
Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include soy sauce.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: soy sauce in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Animal origin: Sometimes shellfish (only when the optional ingredient is used)
Gluten: Depends on the product (only when the optional ingredient is used)

Family

Related forms

Kinds: kecap manis

Around the world

What soy sauce is called

Names in 84 languages, from Wikidata.

Spanish
salsa de soya · Ganjang · Sho yu · Sillau
French
sauce soja · shôyu · soyu · shoyu
Italian
salsa di soia · Shoyu · ganjang · jiangyou
Portuguese
molho de soja
German
Sojasauce · Sojasoße
Dutch
sojasaus · sojasauzen
Greek
σάλτσα σόγιας
Turkish
soya sosu
Russian
соевый соус
Polish
sos sojowy
Arabic
صلصة الصويا · صوص الصويا · الشويو
Persian
سس سویا · شویو · سویا سس

Show all 84 languages

Afrikaans
sojasous
Albanian
salcë soje
Aragonese
salsa de soya
Armenian
սոյայի սոուս
Asturian
mueyu de soya
Azerbaijani
soya sousu
Bangla
সয়া সস
Basque
soja · soja saltsa · soja-saltsa
Belarusian
соевы соус · соевая падліва · соевая падліўка
Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)
соевая падліва · соевая падліўка · соевы соўс
Betawi
kécap asin
Bikol
tawyo
Brazilian Portuguese
molho de soja
Breton
chaous soja · hilienn soja
Bulgarian
соев сос
Burmese
ဆော့ပြုတ်
Cantonese
豉油
Catalan
salsa de soia · salsa de soja
cdo
siê-iù
Chinese
酱油 · 酱油酿造技艺 · 醬油膏 · 醬油
Croatian
umak od soje
Czech
sójová omáčka
Danish
sojasovs
Esperanto
sojsaŭco · sojo
Estonian
sojakaste
Filipino
toyo · xoysauce
Finnish
soijakastike
Galician
mollo de soia
Gan Chinese
醬油
Gan Chinese (Simplified)
酱油
Gan Chinese (Traditional)
醬油
Georgian
სოიას სოუსი
Hakka Chinese
pha̍k-mi
Hebrew
רוטב סויה
Hindi
सॉय सॉस
Hungarian
szójaszósz
Icelandic
sojasósa
Ido
soyo-sauco
Iloko
toyo
Indonesian
kecap asin
Irish
anlann soighe
Japanese
醤油 · さいしこみ醤油 · 再仕込醤油 · 濃口醤油
Javanese
saos kedhelé
Kazakh
соя соусы
Kazakh (China)
جياڭيۋ
Khmer
ទឹកស៊ីអ៊ីវ
Korean
간장 · 장
Korean (North Korea)
간장
Ladino
salsa de soja
Latin
soia
Latvian
sojas mērce
Lithuanian
sojų padažas · sojos padažas
Macedonian
соин сос · соја-сос · соја сос
Malay
sos kicap
Malayalam
സോയാ സോസ്
Maltese
zalza tas-soja
Marathi
सोया सॉस
Min Nan Chinese
tāu-iû
Norwegian Bokmål
soyasaus
Norwegian Nynorsk
soyasaus
Occitan
saussa de sòja
Piedmontese
sàussa 'd sòja
Punjabi
ਸੋਇਆ ਸੌਸ
Romanian
sos de soia
Serbian
soja sos
Simplified Chinese
酱油
Simplified Chinese (China)
酱油
Simplified Chinese (Singapore)
酱油
Slovak
sójová omáčka
Slovenian
sojina omaka · Tamari
Sundanese
nyegat
Swedish
sojasås · xoyasås
Tamil
சோயா சுவைச்சாறு
Thai
ซีอิ๊ว · ซอสถั่วเหลือง
Traditional Chinese
醬油
Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
醬油
Ukrainian
соєвий соус · соус соєвий
Uyghur
تېتىمسۇ
Vietnamese
xì dầu · tàu vị yểu · nước tương
Võro
sojakastõq
Waray
tuyo
Wu Chinese
酱油
Zhuang
ciengqyouz

Sources and credits

Data

GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
Wikimedia Commons: photos
Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q229385

Photos

Photo: Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons