Truly Vegan Dark Soy Sauce Substitute Recipe

Today I share with you my truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute recipe. I intentionally labeled this recipe a substitute as with all the testing I’ve done, “real” dark soy sauce is still the best. I hope the the big companies can come out with organic dark soy sauce because actual dark soy sauce seems pretty irreplaceable. So, again, this is only a a substitute that’s meant to serve the same purpose. It’s decent and “works”. But it’s still a substitute! Don’t come after me!

In my post about the difference between light and dark soy sauce, we learned that Chinese dark soy sauce is made with a sweetener which is usually sugar and/or molasses. The sugar listed on most bottles tends to be conventional, making it not vegan. I write more about how I feel about accidentally-vegan-but-they’re-technically-not here.

In the past, I never really had a specific dark soy sauce recipe written down. In recipes that would normally call for dark soy sauce I would use light soy sauce in the recipe and then just add a little bit of sweetener, organic cane or light brown sugar, to the dish itself. So there was no real substitute for dark soy sauce.

I decided it was time to have a truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute recipe instead of just relying on seasoning at the end. While I’m open to seasoning as I go and even people seasoning their own food (which I’m a huge fan of actually), I thought it’d be useful to have a jar of dark soy sauce on hand if I needed it.

In my truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute recipe, I use organic dark brown sugar to get a sweeter taste and thicker texture than light brown soy sauce. But Dark brown sugar is also made with molasses which makes it sweeter and darker so that makes it the perfect choice for my dark soy sauce substitute recipe.

I had trouble coming up with making an exact replication because the store bought dark soy sauce I used to use had an obvious alcoholic taste…but it was so good for cooking! So I tested different quantities of sugar and methods and I found that the best thing I could do was mix light soy sauce with organic dark brown sugar.

This truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute recipe is vegan-friendly, has the sweetness we look for when making noodle dishes but doesn’t have that overly alcoholic/fermented taste that dark soy sauce have. It’s also not as thick as the store-bought conventional dark soy sauce but it’s indeed thicker than light soy sauce. If you do a taste test, they are going to taste pretty different but like I mentioned above, this truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute is that – a substitute. And it does the job for me for now.

I will try to come up with other variations (ie. using organic molasses in addition to the brown sugar) but I’ve found this sauce to be a good substitute for both cooking and seasoning.

But so far, this truly vegan dark soy sauce substitute has done the trick for me in both cooking and seasoning!

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