How much sodium is in Asian salty sauces?

Written by Catherine Saxelby on Wednesday, 04 November 2020.
Tagged: health, healthy cooking, healthy eating, nutrition, salt

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Salty sauces like soy, fish or hoisin sauce are a key feature of Asian cuisine and are used in countless ways as marinades, splashed into stir fries and soups, as a basting sauce on roasts and barbecues, as a dipping or a table sauce. These sauces are an easy way to add flavour to meats, fish, vegetables and plain rice or noodles. Their one drawback is the huge load of salt (sodium) they deliver. Read on for the best and worst of these sauces and how you can minimize their damage.

Most of these sauces are very low in fat and kilojoules (Calories). However, all tend to be high in salt which ranges from 3 to a whopping 20 per cent salt! This high salt content (combined with a low moisture content and often a high sugar content) gives them a long shelf life which means they can be stored unrefrigerated almost indefinitely. Even though the storage instruction say to refrigerate them after opening, honestly I’ve had some bottles in my kitchen for years and they’re fine. They take the place of the table salt in Western diets.

Eight types of Asian salty sauces

Of course, you’ll spot more than these eight, once you start adding in oil, chilli oil, rice wine and peppercorns, but these are the most popular sauces used by home cooks. There’s also teriyaki, sweet ‘n’ sour and ponzu sauces but these tend to be minor. The serve size varies from a small 10 mL, or 2 teaspoons, to a more standard 20 mL which equates to a tablespoon.

Soy sauce

This most popular of Asian sauces is essential to Chinese and Japanese cooking. It’s added to marinades, stir-fries, noodle dishes and used as a dipping sauce. In Indonesia, you’ll find Ketjap manis is a popular sweet soy sauce.

Gluten-free, wheat-free, tamari is one of the authentic sauces introduced to Japan from China. It is made from soy beans and has a slightly stronger flavour than regular soy sauce. It’s traditionally used to flavour longer-cooking foods such as soups and casseroles, but it can be used as a marinade or as a dipping sauce. Interestingly many soy sauces contain alcohol so if this is important to you then shop around, Ayam Light Soy and PureHarvest Organic Tamari are both alcohol and gluten free.

Fish sauce

Made by dissolving anchovies in salt over a long period of time, fish sauce loses its pungency when cooked or mixed with other ingredients. Used in Thai and Vietnamese dishes.

Bowl with tasty soy sauce on grey textured background

Oyster sauce

This sauce is made from oysters, soy sauce, salt and spices.

Chilli sauce

Comes in many variations e.g. sweet, hot and with garlic flavour. Can be added to soups, stir-fries and noodle dishes to add heat and enliven the flavour.

Black Bean

This sauce is made from fermented soy beans and adds a nutty barbecued flavour. Good for pork and chicken.

Hoisin Sauce

Made from soybeans, garlic, vinegar, sugar and spices, hoisin sauce has a sweet and spicy flavour. It can be added to a stir fry, used as a dipping sauce or to glaze a roast.

Satay sauce

This delicious sauce contains peanuts, coconut milk, chilli and spices. Traditionally it’s served as a dipping sauce with chicken skewers or to top an Indonesian Gado Gado salad.

Char Siu sauce

This is a pleasantly sweet and rich-tasting traditional Chinese-style barbecue sauce which gives pork that characteristic red glaze. 'Char Siu' in Cantonese means barbecued pork. This pork dish is a typical Cantonese delicacy.

Sodium (salt) in the 8 types of Asian sauces

Type of sauce	Sodium (mg) per 100 g (or 100 mL)
Soy sauce: average	5965
Yeo’s Light Soy Sauce 640 mL	8420
Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce 150 mL	8000
Yeo’s Dark Soy Sauce 640 mL	7720
Fountain Soy Sauce 250 mL	7200
Kikkoman Soy Sauce 600 mL	6458
Kikkoman Soy Sauce Gluten Free 250 mL	6365
Ayam Light Soy 210 mL	6363
Pearl River Bridge Light Soy Sauce 500 mL	5800
PureHarvest 250 mL	5130
Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce Reduced Salt 600 mL	4000
Kikkoman Soy Sauce Salt Reduced 600 mL	3560
ABC Sweet Soy Sauce 620 mL	2130
Fish sauce: average	7786
Squid Fish Sauce 300 mL	11120
Ayam Fish Sauce 210 mL	10882
Pandaroo Fish Sauce 200 mL	8133
Chang’s Fish Sauce 300 mL	7333
Maggi Fish Sauce 300 mL	6180
Poonsin Fish Sauce 205 mL	3065
Oyster sauce: average	3463
Lee Kum Kee Panda Oyster Sauce 510 g	4720
Coles Oyster Sauce 300 mL	4400
Ayam Oyster Sauce 420 mL	4100
Changs Oyster Sauce 430 mL	4000
Maggi Oyster Sauce 295 mL	3600
Ongs Oyster Sauce 255 g	3111
Pandaroo Oyster Sauce 250 mL	2200
Chilli sauce: average	1618
Chang’s Hot Chilli Sauce 150 mL	4150
ABC Extra Hot Chilli Sauce 340 mL	2580
ABC Original Chilli Sauce 335 mL	2500
Trident Hot Chilli Sauce 285 mL	2070
Linghams Chilli Sauce 280 mL	1260
Fountain Mild Chilli Sauce 250 mL	1170
Fountain Hot Chilli sauce 250 mL	1070
MasterFoods Squeezy Hot Chilli Sauce 250 mL	934
Beerenberg Chilli Sauce 300 mL	250
Black bean sauce: average	2645
Ayam Black Bean Sauce 210 mL	5573
Chang’s Black Bean Sauce 150 mL	3400
Tyalor’s Stir Fry Black Bean Sauce 350 mL	2950
KanTong Beef & Black Bean Cooking sauce 510 g	799
Blue Dragon Stir Fry Black Bean Sauce 490 g	496
Hoisin sauce: average	2561
Woolworths Select Hoisin Sauce 320 mL	4270
Chang’s Hoisin Sauce 150 mL	3870
Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce 240 g	2750
Fountain Hoisin Sauce 250 mL	2110
Ayam Hoisin Sauce 210 mL	2089
Pandaroo Hoisin Sauce 250 mL	1620
Ongs Hoisin sauce 227 g	1220
Satay sauce: average	992
Empower Foods LC Satay Sauce 350 mL	1577
Fountain Satay Sauce 250 mL	1310
Pandaroo Satay Sauce 250 mL	773
Ayam Satay Mild Sauce 250 mL	306
Char siu sauce: average	NA
Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce 240 g	4520

The bottom line

Which is the worst for salt? Take a look at the table where we have grouped these sauces into categories for you to compare – easily.

If you’ve been told to reduce your salt intake, stick to a thin smear or a tiny side of your favourite – not a huge glug.

Wherever you can, buy them in salt-reduced form. I know this is possible with soy sauce but not with the others. Your only other choice is to avoid really high-salt categories such as fish sauce.