You Should Be Adding Soy Sauce To Your Dessert

If you’re looking for tips and tricks that’ll help you master the delicate science of baking and whip up better desserts at home, you don’t need more sugar, fancier from-a-box mixes, or even a different recipe. You might just need to crack open a bottle of soy sauce.

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Yes, it sounds counterintuitive—after all, soy sauce has a tangy, salty flavor profile, and the desserts you whip up at home are meant to be sweet. But swapping out salt for soy sauce or adding a touch as an extra ingredient can be a total gamechanger (or should I say taste-changer) for cakes, brownies, cookies, and so many more baked goods.

Soy Sauce Can Make Your Baked Goods Taste So Much Better

When you’re mixing together your wet ingredients for your next cake, cupcakes, or brownies, reach for the soy sauce.

Yes, soy sauce can work in a manner similar to salt by adding a bit of saltiness to any sweet treat. But, more importantly, this little baking hack can also deepen the flavor and add a touch of savory, umami-like taste, too. It can make chocolate taste richer and more chocolate-y, resulting in a more indulgent-tasting final product.

The reason for this is the high concentration of glutamates, an amino acid that’s present in soy sauce. Those glutamates tend to make food taste especially satisfying. They’re why cheese and chocolate—two other foods that have high levels of glutamates—are so wonderfully addictive.

So, if you’re hoping to pull together a batch of cookies that your guests truly won’t be able to resist, soy sauce can do the trick. Its impact on flavor can also make every baked item taste like a wholly new, better product.

When To Use Soy Sauce (And How Much To Add)

Most of the desserts you’ll see online that include a touch of soy sauce are chocolate-based. That’s because, according to Bon Appetit, soy sauce’s salty nature is a natural amplifier for cocoa. 

But don’t limit your soy sauce experimentation to brownies, chocolate cookies, and German chocolate cake (or other varieties of rich, chocolatey cakes). You can also leverage the sauce’s umami flavoring in caramel, especially if you’re a fan of salted caramel in your desserts. Or, you can use it in place of or alongside vanilla. And if you’re a peanut butter lover, soy sauce will even amplify its natural nuttiness. 

Just make sure you don’t dump multiple tablespoons of soy sauce into your usual dessert recipes. Its saltiness can be powerful in large doses, just like any regular ol’ salt. So, start small and add more as you test out the change in flavor in your desserts.

You can start by adding a teaspoon or two into sweet baked goods or sauces. If you’re working with a boxed cake or brownie mix, The Kitchn recommends adding just 1 tablespoon. And, if you’re on the fence about soy sauce, you can lower the salt content by choosing a low-sodium soy sauce.

Alternatively, you can swap out the salt required for some baking recipes with soy sauce.

But odds are once you try a little dash of soy sauce, you’re going to want to add a bit more.