What can I make with soy sauce?
Soy Sauce is the kind of ingredient that quietly rescues dinner. Recipes using soy sauce are below, along with storage and substitution notes.
12 recipes with soy sauce
Vegetable Stir Fry
Crisp-tender veggies in a glossy ginger-soy sauce.
Chinese15m2Egg Fried Rice
Wok-tossed day-old rice with egg, scallion, and soy.
Chinese15m4
Poke Bowl
Cubed raw tuna over rice with soy and sesame.
Hawaiian15m4
Shrimp Fried Rice
Quick wok-style fried rice with shrimp and eggs.
Chinese20m3
Teriyaki Salmon
Glazed salmon fillets with a sweet-savory sauce.
Japanese20m2
Bulgogi
Sweet-savory marinated beef, quickly grilled.
Korean25m4
Beef and Broccoli
Tender flank steak stir-fried with broccoli in a glossy soy sauce.
Chinese-American25m4Chicken Teriyaki Bowl
Glazed chicken over steamed rice with sesame and scallions.
Japanese25m4Kung Pao Chicken
Sichuan stir-fry with peanuts, chiles, and tongue-tingling peppercorns.
Chinese25m4Crispy Tofu Stir Fry
Golden tofu and broccoli in a garlic-soy glaze.
Chinese25m2
Pad See Ew
Wide rice noodles stir-fried with dark soy, egg, and Chinese broccoli.
Thai25m3Nasi Goreng
Sweet, savory, spicy fried rice topped with a fried egg.
Indonesian25m4
How to cook with soy sauce
- 1Start with aromatics - onion, garlic, or ginger softened in fat - then add the soy sauce.
- 2Season early and taste as you go rather than salting only at the end.
- 3Give it enough heat and enough space; a crowded pan steams instead of browning.
- 4Finish with acid and fresh herbs, the two things that make a simple dish taste deliberate.
What goes well with soy sauce
Soy Sauce is at its best with onion, garlic, lemon, chili, herbs and stock. Any two or three of those, plus soy sauce, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing soy sauce
Dry soy sauce keeps for months in a sealed container away from light and heat. Once cooked, cool it quickly, refrigerate within two hours, and use within 3-4 days; cooked grains and legumes freeze extremely well in single-portion bags.
Substituting soy sauce
If you are out of soy sauce, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Soy Sauce recipes: common questions
- What can I make with soy sauce and not much else?
- Plenty. With soy sauce plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest soy sauce recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute soy sauce?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover soy sauce?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover soy sauce without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.