Many recipes call for soy sauce since soy sauce is a versatile ingredient, but you may be overwhelmed with how many soy sauces there are to choose from.
If you have come across honey soy sauce, you may be wondering what honey soy sauce is. I did the research, and here is what I discovered!
What Is Honey Soy Sauce?
Honey soy sauce is a typically homemade sauce made from honey and soy sauce, but other ingredients like garlic may be added. Generally, honey soy sauce contains an equal ratio of honey and soy sauce, but you can adjust the amounts as you prefer. Honey soy sauce can be added to stir-fries, fried recipes, and more to add complex flavors.
Do you want to learn more facts about honey soy sauce? Keep reading!
What Does Honey Soy Sauce Taste Like?
Honey soy sauce tastes sweet, salty, and savory, but the exact taste will depend on the type and amount of ingredients that are in honey soy sauce.
For instance, some honey soy sauces have garlic, meaning the honey soy sauce will also have a slightly bitter and garlic-like flavor.
What Is Honey Soy Sauce Made Of?
Generally, the two main ingredients found in all honey soy sauce are within its name: honey and soy sauce.
However, people opt to add other ingredients into honey soy sauce including garlic, chili, green onions, spices, and more.
How Do You Use Honey Soy Sauce?
Normally, honey soy sauce is used to add to stirfries and pan-fried recipes like pan-fried chicken to add flavor.
However, honey soy sauce may also be used as a dip if you want a more complex flavor to go with your food.
Moreover, honey soy sauce makes a great base ingredient for marinades because the honey and soy sauce can add flavor to your food, especially if you are marinating meat, chicken, or seafood.
Additionally, honey soy sauce is a great condiment to pour over otherwise bland food.
Honey soy sauce is also great if you need a glaze to brush over meats, chicken, and seafood since the honey will caramelize the food as the soy sauce adds salty and savory flavors.
How Do You Make Honey Soy Sauce?
Typically, you can add 4 tablespoons of honey to ¼ cup of soy sauce to create honey soy sauce.
However, you can increase the amount of soy sauce or honey to adjust the flavor to your preference.
For instance, you can add more honey if you want the sauce to be sweeter or more soy sauce to make the sauce saltier.
Moreover, you can opt to add other ingredients to your honey soy sauce, such as chopped green onions, minced garlic, minced chili, and more.
How Do You Thicken Honey Soy Sauce?
Normally, cornstarch is a good ingredient that can thicken honey soy sauce because cornstarch is a common thickening ingredient.
Generally, it is ideal only to add a little cornstarch into the honey soy sauce then mix well to see if the honey soy sauce got thicker.
If the honey soy sauce has not changed consistencies, you can add a bit more cornstarch then mix the honey soy sauce again.
If you add too much cornstarch into your honey soy sauce, your honey soy sauce can taste more like cornstarch and become too thick.
Is Honey Soy Sauce The Same As Sweet Soy Sauce?
Honey soy sauce is not the same as sweet soy sauce because honey soy sauce and sweet soy sauce have different ingredients.
Generally, honey soy sauce is made by mixing already-bottled soy sauce with honey and other ingredients.
However, sweet soy sauce is made by first brewing the soy sauce and mixing sweeteners like palm sugar and spices into the finished soy sauce.
Additionally, honey soy sauce tends to have a liquid consistency while sweet soy sauce has a very thick, maple syrup-like texture.
Moreover, honey soy sauce is typically a homemade recipe whereas sweet soy sauce can be bought from many brands.
While honey soy sauce and sweet soy sauce can be used in similar ways, sweet soy sauce is generally used in stirfries whereas honey soy sauce is often used as a glaze, dip, or marinade.
Is Honey Soy Sauce Vegan?
Honey soy sauce is not vegan because honey soy sauce contains honey, and most vegans believe that honey is not vegan.
While it is still a debate, honey is considered an animal by-product, thus making honey non-vegan.
Moreover, most commercially-sold honey is collected with methods that are cruel to bees, which includes cutting off the queen bee’s wings.
However, some vegans may eat honey if the honey is procured in a way that does not harm the bees, but you would need to check your honey’s information to learn how the brand collects honey.
Are There Brands Of Honey Soy Sauce?
Some brands that sell prepared honey soy sauce include Ayam and Hadder.
However, it is also common to find brands that sell honey soy sauce mixed with other ingredients, such as MasterFoods Soy Honey Garlic.
What Can I Substitute For Honey Soy Sauce?
Generally, you can mix soy sauce with any sweetener, such as agave syrup, sugar, maple syrup, stevia, etc., to make honey soy sauce without honey.
If you do not have any soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce is a good replacement that you can mix with a sweetener to create honey soy sauce.
If you want to learn what caramel soy sauce is, what Korean soy sauce is, and what soy sauce powder is, take a look at our other articles.
Conclusion
If you want to spice up plain soy sauce, honey soy sauce is a great and easy recipe to make to create a sweet and salty sauce.
While a few brands do make honey soy sauce, you can easily make your own honey soy sauce at home by mixing soy sauce with honey or any sweetener you prefer.