15 Best Soy Sauce Options for Your Pantry: 2022 Edition

This best-selling product is the best soy sauce brand to get for your all-around needs. With only four ingredients, this Kikkoman product manages to strike a balance between flavors. It has a salty and umami quality, but with hints of sweetness, bitterness, and a bit of tang. It’s carefully brewed using the traditional “hojonzo” Japanese method. Also, since it isn’t infused with coloring agents unlike other sauces, it has a naturally clear and reddish-brown hue. 

This Lee Kum Kee product is the best dark variant that you can get for fried rice and dips like an Asian soy mirin marinade perhaps. It’s a mixture of soybeans and wheat flour, but with a caramel color additive, flavor enhancers, and preservatives to extend its shelf life. All in all, it has a rich color and a full-bodied flavor that you’d want from a black soy sauce.

If you’re looking for the best light variant for stir fry and other recipes, you don’t need to go further than this product by Pearl River Bridge. Naturally produced in the Southern part of China, this condiment doesn’t contain any artificial colors and it only has a minimal amount of preservative. As a result, it has a deep savory flavor with intense saltiness and a sweet finish.

Trying to limit your salt intake? That’s not a problem with this low-sodium product: Kikkoman Lite. It undergoes the same brewing method as the regular kind, but roughly 40 percent of salt is taken out of the condiment before bottling. You can expect a somewhat similar profile, but with less guilt. It’s the best brand to use for whipping up miso salmon with sake butter and other Asian (or Western) dishes.

Dark sweet soy sauce is a staple in Indonesian cuisine, and kecap manis produced by the ABC brand is a tough one to beat. Compared to the regular kind, the ingredients of this product are pretty much the same (with the addition of palm sugar). As a result, it has a thicker consistency and a sweet and salty flavor. It’s the best sweet type to use for these sticky and saccharin honey sesame chicken wings.

This Yamaroku condiment called “Tsuru Bishio” is an aged shoyu that is carefully produced by artisans on the Japanese island of Shikoku. What is shoyu sauce, you ask? It’s actually just an umbrella term for soy sauce in Japan. This particular one comes with a hefty price tag since it’s considered as one of the best Japanese soy sauce types in the world. Reserve this luxurious condiment for special occasions, or use it to make the tastiest shoyu ramen. Its full-bodied umami flavor makes it the best kind for sushi too! 

This premium Lee Kum Kee condiment is the best Chinese soy sauce for cooking a batch of pork lo mein. Made from premium ingredients, this mellow-tasting brew is an elevated and unique rendition of the brand’s traditional flavor. In terms of appearance, its reddish-amber hue sets it apart from the rest.

Tamari is a type of Japanese soy sauce that is also very popular among Asian cuisine enthusiasts. The main difference between tamari and the regular soy sauce is in the brewing process and overall flavor. Since it doesn’t contain wheat, it’s gluten-free. It also tastes less salty with a heightened umami quality. Use this tamari soy sauce brew for dipping, marinating, and even as a dressing for a bowl of healthy kale salad!

Have a full-blown Korean gastronomic experience by using this Sempio product in making this Korean ground beef recipe. Compared to others, this product uses soybeans that have been drained of fat. It also contains additional ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, so you can expect that this condiment has a different flavor overall. Give your dishes a rich umami boost that isn’t overly salty with this Korean soy sauce.

This Thai soy sauce is light, dark, and the perfect accompaniment to your favorite Thai recipes. Since this is a low-sodium version, you can already expect that this condiment won’t be very salty. It also contains additional ingredients like vinegar that impart a more-than-welcome tangy quality. These Best of Thailand sauces are best for marinades because they are more viscous than the regular kind.

Would you like to use something more viscous for your best chicken recipe? You might appreciate this thick soy sauce produced by Kimlan! Aside from the basic ingredients, this soy paste also contains sugar as an additional flavoring ingredient. Naturally sticky rice and starch are stirred into the sweet and savory mixture, giving this soy glaze just the right amount of thickness.

This Kikkoman product is the best organic variant that you can use for this grilled portobello mushroom dish. First of all, it contains nothing more than the four basic ingredients: organic soybeans and wheat, water, and salt. Naturally fermented for six months, the mixture achieves a full-bodied umami flavor that would work well with any dish that calls for the ingredient.

Like other types produced by the brand, this Pearl River Bridge mushroom variant is naturally produced in the south of China. What truly sets it apart from the rest is the addition of mushroom extract to the mixture. On the whole, it has a deep reddish-brown color, a sweet and salty taste, and an umami finish.

You don’t have to sacrifice your gluten-free diet for flavor with this Lee Kum Kee sauce. Despite not containing wheat, it still has the same full-bodied salty and umami kick that’s present in regular kinds. This feat puts it on top of our best gluten-free soy sauce options this year. Use it for stir-fried recipes or experiment with other dishes, like in this broccoli salad with peanut butter sauce.

For a soy-free condiment with a similar flavor profile, this best-selling coconut amino product is the best dark soy sauce substitute to get. Made of coconut blossom nectar and Himalayan salt, you can guarantee that it’s organic, vegan-friendly, and non-GMO. You can also use this sweet and briny soy-free soy sauce alternative in chicken-asparagus stir fry and other recipes you’re looking to cut down on your sodium intake.