Light soy sauce vs dark soy sauce

Light soy adds salt and flavour. Dark soy adds colour. They are not the same thing.

At a glance

• Light soy sauce: 生抽 (Cantonese saang1 cau1; Mandarin shēng chōu). In Hong Kong the everyday word for soy sauce is 豉油.
• Dark soy sauce: 老抽 (Cantonese lou5 cau1; Mandarin lǎo chōu).

Light soy sauce

• Thin, reddish-brown and salty. This is the one a Chinese recipe means when it just says "soy sauce".
• "Light" is the colour, not less salt. It is not the same as "reduced salt" or "lite" soy sauce.
• Use it for seasoning stir-fries, marinades, steamed fish, braises and dips.

Dark soy sauce

• Thicker, darker and a little sweet, with less salt than light soy. It is made to give colour.
• Used a teaspoon at a time, often near the end of cooking, in braised dishes like red-braised pork.
• Too much can turn a dish very dark.

Where to find it in Hong Kong

• Lee Kum Kee sells both in the Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong online shop: Premium Soy Sauce 特鮮生抽 and Premium Dark Soy Sauce 特級老抽.
• Both contain soy and wheat.

Substitutes

• No dark soy: use light soy and a pinch of sugar for colour and sweetness, or use a little more light soy. The dish will be lighter in colour.
• No light soy: use all-purpose soy sauce and go easy on extra salt.
• Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi) is closer to Chinese light soy in how it is used than to dark soy.

Dishes here that use soy sauce

• Braised wings with potato and carrot (36)
• Sweet & sour (red sauce) pork chop (100)
• Mapo tofu (102)
• Steamed egg (family text recipe) (114)
• Garlic black bean steamed ribs (126)

Sources

Facts on this page come from these pages. We have summarised them in our own words.

• America's Test Kitchen: light vs dark soy sauce
• The Woks of Life: soy sauce
• Red House Spice: must-have Chinese condiments
• Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong shop: Premium Soy Sauce
• Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong shop: Premium Dark Soy Sauce
• Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong: 特級老抽
• CantoDict: 老抽