01
Worcestershire Sauce
10.01 tbsp : 1 tbsp
Similar umami depth; slightly different flavor
10.0
soy sauce substitutes
16 substitutes · avg score 6.6 · Salty, umami-rich fermented sauce made from soybeans, wheat, salt, and koji mold. Staple seasoning in East Asian cooking.
salt, umami, colour — and a tablespoon of liquid
Soy sauce is soybeans and wheat fermented with koji mould and brine, and the fermentation is what makes it more than salty water. The proteins break down into free amino acids, chief among them glutamate, which is what registers on the tongue as savouriness rather than as saltiness.
So a tablespoon of soy sauce is doing four things at once. It salts. It adds umami depth that salt alone cannot. It stains everything a rich brown, which is why a stir-fry looks the way it does. And it contributes actual liquid volume — a small thing until you are glazing something in a hot pan, where the moisture is part of how the glaze forms.
Almost nothing on the list below does all four. Some entries bring the umami without the salt. Some bring the salt without the depth. Some bring colour and no savouriness at all, and their notes say so. Which means the practical approach is to work out which of the four your dish is short of, take the entry that supplies it, and then season separately to make up the rest.
One thing that is not obvious from the table: soy sauce is brewed with wheat. If that matters at your table, the relevant entries are tamari and coconut aminos, and the label is the thing to check rather than the category.
choosing
closest first, then fill the gaps yourself
The nearest relatives score 10.0 and behave almost interchangeably. Tamari is the closest of all at 1:1 — a soy sauce brewed with little or no wheat, though brands differ enough that the label is worth reading if you need it wheat-free. Coconut aminos, also 10.0, is the soy-free and wheat-free option; it tastes distinctly sweeter than soy sauce, so the entry directs you to use half and add a pinch of sugar, then season the dish separately once you have tasted it.
Worcestershire sauce at 10.0 is the best pantry answer for a Western kitchen — a 1:1 swap with similar umami depth from its own anchovy and tamarind fermentation, and a slightly different, sharper flavour. Miso at 10.0 needs one step: dissolve it in water to make a salty umami liquid rather than spooning the paste in, which will otherwise sit in clumps. Steak sauce at 10.0 is more of a construction, mixed with balsamic vinegar to get the balance right.
The fermented seafood entries all sit at 5.0 and all carry the same instruction in different words: use less. Fish sauce is very salty and pungent — use half the amount. Anchovy paste is strong umami and turns fishy if overdone. Oyster sauce needs a pinch of sugar. These bring more umami per spoon than soy sauce does, which is an asset when handled with restraint and a problem otherwise.
Then there is a group that fills only part of the gap, and their notes are unusually clear about it. Nutritional yeast at 5.0 gives cheesy umami with no liquid and no salt — sprinkle a tablespoon into a sauce or a grain bowl and salt separately. Garlic powder at 5.0 adds savoury depth and, again, no liquid and no salt. Chicken and beef broth work as diluted savoury liquids, 1 tbsp in 1 cup of water, giving depth but no body. Balsamic at 10.0 supplies dark colour and some umami and is explicitly not a full flavour match. And plain salt at 3.3 is the honest floor of the list: it seasons, and it does nothing else soy sauce was doing.
quick swaps (averaged across uses)
02
Miso
10.01 tbsp : 1 tbsp
Dissolve in water for salty umami liquid
10.0
03
Balsamic Vinegar
10.01 tsp : 1 tsp
Adds dark color and umami, not a full flavor match
10.0
04
Steak Sauce
10.01 tbsp : 1/2 tbsp
Mix with balsamic vinegar
10.0
05
Coconut Aminos
10.01 tbsp : 1/2 tbsp
Saltier, use half and add pinch of sugar
10.0
06
Tamari
10.01 tbsp : 1 tbsp
Nearly identical, contains gluten
10.0