If you're a fan of sushi or have eaten in a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, you're familiar
with soy sauce. The brown, salty condiment that tastes good on everything from your dragon
roll to a hibachi plate is created by fermenting soybeans. The result is a savory, umami flavor
that's hard to beat.
Although it's deliciously versatile, soy sauce sometimes gets a bad rap for its sodium content,
but low-sodium versions of this condiment are available if needed. Looking through the
grocery shelves, you may have noticed there are several types of soy sauce, including
the standard soy sauce, light, and dark soy sauce. Each version has a different sodium
content, with dark containing the most sodium at 9.3 percent and light containing 7.2 percent.
Some chefs claim that soy sauce is the secret ingredient they use in place of salt in many
of their favorite recipes, such as scrambled eggs, barbecue marinades, and smoked meats.
So, why shouldn't you add soy sauce to fried rice?
Besides the added sodium, according to Delish, adding soy sauce to fried rice in a Chinese
restaurant is actually considered offensive to the chef. Professional chefs have been
trained to create a perfectly-seasoned dish. So, when diners add salt, or in this case,
soy sauce, it's seen as an insult to their work.
Normally, a simple rule of etiquette is to avoid asking for salt if none is provided
for you on the table. However, soy sauce is almost always on the table at Chinese and
Japanese restaurants. And in the case of fried rice, the soy sauce might already be cooked
into it. So, use your judgment and taste the fried rice before deciding if it needs more
soy sauce. Sometimes, adding soy sauce can feel automatic since it's there on the table,
but a quick taste will confirm if more is needed or not.
"Soy sauce. Subtle. Sophisticated. The essence of Asian cuisine."
The daily recommended sodium intake for adults is 2,300 milligrams. One cup of fried rice
averages 800 milligrams of sodium, before any extra soy sauce. Each tablespoon of standard
soy sauce contains 900 milligrams of sodium. Using these numbers, if you were to eat two
cups of fried rice and add one tablespoon of soy sauce, you'd consume 2,500 milligrams
of sodium.
Too much salt in a diet can lead to a host of health problems, including high blood pressure
and even stroke. But high sodium and bad etiquette aren't the only reasons to avoid adding soy
sauce to your bowl of fried rice. You may also be surprised to hear that soy sauce is
usually not gluten-free. Unless you specifically choose a gluten-free soy sauce, the majority
of soy sauces on the market are made by combining soy and wheat, meaning they are not gluten-free.
If you want to avoid gluten, look for soy sauces that use rice in lieu of wheat.
There are also recipes out there for vegans who love fried rice, but they may incorporate
soy sauce. Over the years, there's been a debate about the suitability of soy sauce
for vegetarians and vegans. According to Spoon University, years ago, soy sauce maker Kikkoman
got in hot water over animal testing. Kikkoman ended the practice in 2015 and stated the
following in a post on the company Facebook page:
"When alternative testing methods are not possible, we strictly follow animal welfare
laws and official guidelines established in Japan."
Spoon University adds that most soy sauces are indeed vegan. Not surprisingly, however,
some vegans are still wary of soy sauce. Everything Vegan advises consumers to check with the
manufacturer or make their own soy sauce if they want to truly steer clear of animal products.
However, Thrive Cuisine says there are no animal products in soy sauce, including during
the manufacturing process. Some have questioned the addition of lactic acid during fermentation,
but Thrive Cuisine assures vegan consumers that lactic acid is just bacteria and just
as vegan as yeast. And there's no dairy in soy sauce. Still worried? You have options.
If you adore the taste of soy sauce on homemade fried rice but are looking for a way to avoid
gluten or possible animal ingredients, there are soy sauces on the market that are clearly
labeled as gluten-free and/or vegan. But you still run into the problem of extremely high
salt content. Another alternative is to try coconut aminos. Made from fermented coconut
palm, coconut aminos has less than a third of the sodium contained in regular soy sauce
and is lighter than light soy sauce. It also provides a gluten-free and vegan alternative.
If you don't have allergies, and you're just looking for that elusive umami flavor and
don't care where the flavor comes from, MasterClass suggests roasting your vegetables, adding
mushrooms or fish sauce, or topping a dish with roasted seaweed. They'll all deliver
that salty, savory fifth taste that you're craving.
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