Many Chinese and Japanese soy sauce brands have gluten-free soy sauce options these days. Tamari is often described as a gluten-free alternative to soy sauce, but not all tamari products are guaranteed to be gluten-free.
Let’s clear up the confusion!
What Is Gluten-Free Soy Sauce?
Soy sauce is traditionally fermented with wheat or wheat flour in addition to soybeans. Those with gluten allergies, therefore, can’t use regular soy sauce. Gluten-free soy sauce is one that has been fermented without wheat.
Many articles on the Internet use the terms “gluten-free soy sauce” and “tamari” interchangeably. However, tamari is not necessarily always gluten-free.
Tamari was developed in the 15th century as a by-product of miso production (miso is a type of Japanese fermented soybean paste).
Some tamaris can contain trace amounts of wheat, so always check the label to ensure that it is a certified gluten-free product. That’s why we distinguish between tamari and gluten-free soy sauce.
How Is It Used?
However regular soy sauce is used! See here for an explanation.
Buying & Storing
Look for the gluten-free distinction on the label and always check the ingredients.
Store in a cool, dry place like the pantry. No need to refrigerate.
If you have further questions about gluten-free soy sauce, let us know in the comments––we try to answer every single one.
We need gluten free. For recipes using both light and dark soy sauce, what substitutes do you recommend? Thank you!
Hi Nikki, for dark soy sauce, you can make a substitution using a little molasses mixed with your GF soy sauce. It won’t be as dark in color, but it will have a similar flavor. You can substitute gluten-free Kikkoman soy sauce for light soy. We have a quick article on gluten-free soy sauce here: https://thewoksoflife.com/gluten-free-soy-sauce/
Awesome article thanks! In the UK I highly recommend the Lee Kum Kee brand Gluten free soy sauce as the nicest option I’ve found. (Avoid non -Chinese brand stuff from health food shops if you can it tastes like brown water!) Lee Kum kee also do a gluten free oyster sauce and hoi sin sauce. If you sub in either dry sherry or water for Shaoxing rice wine you have pretty much all your key ingredients for a lot of recipes