Discover the Expert-Approved Best Way to Store Soy Sauce!

You’ve probably noticed soy sauce on tables at many restaurants, and maybe you’ve kept a packet from a takeout order for months, or even years. This might lead you to think that storing soy sauce at room temperature is fine. But is it really a good idea to keep it in your pantry or out on the counter, or is refrigeration the better option? Let’s explore this.

Reasons to Store Soy Sauce at Room Temperature

From a food safety standpoint, it’s completely acceptable to store soy sauce at room temperature, whether it’s opened or unopened. The high salt content in soy sauce helps preserve it for extended periods—salt has been a preservative long before the advent of refrigerators. Additionally, soy sauce is derived from fermented soybeans, and fermentation itself is a traditional method of preserving food.

Provided that you don’t dilute the soy sauce with water or other substances, it remains perfectly safe to store at room temperature. Noted teacher and cookbook author Andrea Nguyen advises keeping it in a pantry where conditions are “cool, dark, and dry.”

Benefits of Refrigerating Soy Sauce

Though it might seem like the matter is settled, consider that beyond safety, you also want your soy sauce to taste great. “Quality, not safety, is the reason the labels on these products recommend refrigeration after opening,” as stated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s FoodKeeper app. After all, everyone wants their food to be of the highest quality, right?

When left at room temperature, soy sauce can start deteriorating in quality rather quickly, especially if it’s stored near heat sources or in places with frequent temperature fluctuations, like a sunny countertop near a cooking range. Although soy sauce can maintain its subtler flavors for about six months at room temperature, refrigeration can preserve its quality for nearly four times as long.

Final Decision

When it comes to a definitive answer, who better to consult than the leading soy sauce brand in the U.S., Kikkoman? According to their website, “Once opened, the soy sauce will start to lose its freshness and the flavor will begin to change. By refrigerating the sauce, the flavor and quality will remain at their peak for a longer period.”

Cookbook author and blogger Maggie Zhu, on her site Omnivore’s Cookbook, suggests refrigerating soy sauce if you use it infrequently. If soy sauce is a daily staple in your cooking and seasoning, keeping a small bottle on your table or pantry is fine. Otherwise, it’s best to refrigerate it to keep the soy sauce fresh and flavorful for as long as possible.