Soy sauce has found itself to be a staple ingredient in many recipes, but many recipes have been calling for soy sauce paste instead of regular soy sauce.
If you have ever seen soy sauce paste, you may be wondering what soy sauce paste is. I looked up the facts, and here is what I found!
What Is Soy Sauce Paste?
Soy sauce paste, also known as Taiwanese thick soy sauce, is made from rice starch and cooking soy sauce, creating a very thick paste-like sauce. Typically, soy sauce paste tastes sweet and savory, and soy sauce paste is often used in stirfries, glazes, and dips, but you can add soy sauce paste to whatever dish you want.
Are you interested in learning more facts about soy sauce paste? Keep reading!
What Is Considered Soy Sauce Paste?
Soy sauce paste is any type of paste made using cooking soy sauce and rice starch, but soy sauce paste typically refers to Taiwanese thick soy sauce.
Despite the name, soy sauce paste is not often a paste, as most soy sauce pastes have a thick yet liquid consistency similar to oyster sauce.
What Does Soy Sauce Paste Taste Like?
Generally, soy sauce paste tastes very sweet and savory, but the exact taste will depend on the brand.
Moreover, many soy sauce pastes will taste salty with chocolate undertones.
How Do You Use Soy Sauce Paste?
Normally, soy sauce paste is used in stirfries because soy sauce paste has a thick consistency that blends into stirfries well.
Moreover, soy sauce paste is a popular stir-fry ingredient because soy sauce paste can darken dishes.
Additionally, soy sauce paste can be used as an ingredient in glazes and dips, especially if you need a thicker consistency.
How Is Soy Sauce Paste Made?
Generally, soy sauce paste is made by taking soy sauce and mixing the soy sauce with glutinous rice flour to make the soy sauce have a paste-like texture.
However, the exact way soy sauce paste is made will depend on the brand.
Is Soy Sauce Paste The Same As Soy Sauce?
Soy sauce paste is not the same as soy sauce because soy sauce paste has a thick, oyster-sauce-like texture while soy sauce has is a thinner liquid.
Moreover, most soy sauces have savory and salty tastes whereas soy sauce paste features sweet, salty, and savory flavors.
Is Miso Paste The Same As Soy Sauce Paste?
Despite miso paste and soy sauce paste both being made from fermented soybeans, miso paste is not the same as soy sauce paste.
Generally, miso paste tastes much earthier than soy sauce paste, but there are many varieties of miso paste that can have sweet, salty, savory, or mild flavors.
Moreover, miso paste has to be combined with a liquid to be used in most recipes whereas soy sauce paste can be added to many dishes easily.
However, miso paste can occasionally replace soy sauce paste in some recipes, but it would be ideal to choose a sweeter miso paste diluted with water.
Is Soy Paste The Same As Soy Sauce Paste?
Technically soy paste is not the same as soy sauce paste because they have different consistencies.
Soy paste has a very thick and heavy paste-like texture whereas soy sauce paste is thick but soy sauce paste resembles thick soy sauce or oyster sauce.
Additionally, both soy paste and soy sauce paste are savory, but soy sauce paste has sweeter flavors while soy paste has salty and sharp tastes.
Can I Use Soy Paste Instead Of Soy Sauce Paste?
In some cases, you can use soy paste instead of soy sauce paste, particularly if you are making stews, soups, sauces, and dips.
However, it is important to remember that soy paste is not as sweet as soy sauce paste, so you may need to add a sweetener like sugar or honey to your recipe.
What Can I Substitute For Soy Sauce Paste?
Oyster sauce is a great replacement for soy sauce paste because the oyster sauce has a similar flavor profile to soy sauce paste since the oyster sauce is salty, sweet, and savory.
Moreover, the oyster sauce has a similar consistency and color to soy sauce paste, so the oyster sauce will easily blend into dishes that need soy sauce paste.
Kecap manis is also a good substitute for soy sauce paste because kecap manis is also thick and dark.
However, kecap manis is significantly sweeter than soy sauce paste, so you may want to add more salt or add less kecap manis to your recipe.
Additionally, you can use dark soy sauce as a soy sauce paste substitute since dark soy sauce is slightly sweet with savory and salty flavors.
Since dark soy sauce is much thinner than soy sauce paste, you will need to mix the dark soy sauce with cornstarch or sweet rice flour to make the dark soy sauce thicker.
If you only want the taste of soy sauce paste without the texture, you may use dark soy sauce alone, but you can add sugar to make the dark soy sauce sweeter.
Read our other articles to find out what Korean soy sauce is, what light soy sauce is, and what caramel soy sauce is.
Conclusion
Soy sauce paste is another name for Taiwanese thick soy sauce, and soy sauce paste has a thick consistency with sweet and savory flavors, making soy sauce paste similar to oyster sauce.
While soy sauce paste is not a true paste, soy sauce paste is an excellent ingredient to add to dips, glazes, and stirfries.