It happens to even the best cooks — you get overzealous and start splashing soy sauce into your dish. Who can blame you? Soy sauce adds depth, richness and earthiness after all! However, when you go too far, you can end up with an unbalanced finished product.
You have other choices than starting over. Below are several tried-and-true methods to fix a soy sauce overload. Read on to discover how to dilute soy sauce quickly and easily.
Add Extra (Unsalted) Liquid
If you’re guilty of giving a stew, soup or sauce too much soy sauce, turn down the saltiness by adding more unsalted liquid. Water is a suitable choice, as long as it doesn’t weaken the overall tone of the dish. If your meal is cream-based, you could add more milk and butter.
Not sure that you can water your way to perfection? Turn your preparation into a double batch! Double up on all other ingredients aside from soy sauce, and freeze or refrigerate what’s left for an additional meal.
Toss in Potato Slices
The humble potato can come to your rescue when you need a quick way to dilute salty soy sauce.
Slice up a regular potato into quarters and drop the chunks in your dish. The potato will soak up the liquid and decrease the overall salt profile of the mix. After about 20 minutes, remove the potato, taste your food and add unsalted liquid or spices if necessary.
Remember that you can keep the potatoes and reuse them too! Try mashing them for a fast, comfort food snack for later.
Incorporate Lemon Juice, Vinegar or Sugar
Cooking is about finding the right balance between all the tastes that you’ve combined. Sometimes, you may discover that the fastest way to take care of excess salt is by tempering it with an acid or sugar.
Many cooks combat a salty dish with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar. You can also try mixing in a sweetener like white sugar, brown sugar, honey or agave syrup. The goal is to dilute the soy sauce and to create a harmonious blend of flavors.
Help! I Keep Over-Salting Everything!
If you can’t seem to stop your salty habits, try seasonings and sauces that contain less salt. We suggest San-J products like our low-sodium Tamari options. Use our store locator to find the best places to buy them near you, or order from San-J online.
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