Discover the differences between light, dark, and thick soy sauce and how they are used in Chinese cooking. Liv Wan is a former professional chef seafood boil dipping sauce has published three cookbooks about Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine.
While it is possible to make quick, low-cost soy sauce using a chemical process, real soy sauce is cooked, aged, and processed over the course of months. The soybeans, wheat, and water are cooked into a mash. Light, dark, and thick soy sauces are all based on the same recipe. Extra processing produces different flavors and consistencies. Chinese and Taiwanese people usually use light soy sauce for dips, marinating ingredients, dressings and stir-fry food.
Light soy sauce is used for enhancing the flavor of any dish. But light soy sauce alone can be very strong and salty, but adding a little dark soy sauce can result in beautiful color and perfect seasoning. Dark soy sauce is aged longer than light soy sauce and is often mixed with molasses or caramel and a bit of cornstarch. The resulting sauce is much darker than light soy sauce. The texture is thicker, and it tastes less salty but sweeter than light soy sauce.
Chinese and Taiwanese people usually use dark soy sauce in stew types of dishes, like red-braised pork. The dark soy sauce gives the dish a nice caramel color and provides a little sweetness. Please don’t use too much dark soy sauce in dips, dressings or stews, though, as it can dye your ingredients a dark brown color. Thick soy sauce is made with sugar, more wheat in the fermentation process, and sometimes, a starch thickener. It tastes sweet and is usually used in stir-fry foods and dips. If you can’t find thick soy sauce in your local supermarket, then you can use oyster sauce as a substitute. Add soy sauce into a small saucepan along with the brown sugar and half the amount of water.
Bring it to the boil then turn down the gas power to it’s lowest setting. Mix potato starch or corn flour with the other half amount of the water and slowly stir it into the mixture on the stove. The soy sauce should be getting thicker and thicker during cooking as the potato starch or corn flour will enhance the density of the soy sauce. Once it has reached the right density, turn off the stove immediately and taste it to check the flavor.
You can add a little bit of salt if you like it a bit stronger. After the sauce has cooled down keep it in a clean and dry container or bottle and store it in the fridge. Make your favorite takeout recipes at home with our cookbook! Get it free when you sign up for our newsletter.
We’ve updated our Privacy Policy, which will go in to effect on September 1, 2022. Click here to scroll down to the next section on this page. Hand Pattied Chuck, Brisket and Sirloin Blend. Served on an Artisan Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, and Pickle. Served with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus. Served with Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus and Lemon Butter.