Avoid dark soy sauce since it already has a very intense sweet flavour.All-purpose soy sauce, like Kikkoman soy sauce ( Amazon affiliate link), also works well.It is the least salty with the lightest soy taste.

Light soy sauce works best for kecap manis.Soy sauce: Most soy sauce, except dark soy sauce, will work with this recipe.If you don’t have time to boil and cool homemade sweet soy sauce, scroll down for the best sweet soy sauce substitutes. Simply boil soy sauce and a sweetener until thick and syrupy. It is quick and easy to make sweet soy sauce at home – the perfect substitute for shop-bought kecap manis. Kecap manis is also the base for Indonesian marinades, dipping sauces and salad dressings. It adds the umami flavour to many popular Indonesian dishes like nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) and mie goreng (Indonesian fried noodles). Sweet soy sauce is an essential part of Indonesian cuisine. I add a single star-shaped pod of star anise to my homemade sweet soy sauce. Kecap manis may also contain spices such as cinnamon, star anise, black peppercorns, coriander and clove. The sweet taste is thanks to a large amount of palm sugar, jaggery or molasses. The colour is darker than regular soy sauce (kecap asin) with a thicker consistency. Kecap manis (or ketjap manis) is a sweet aromatic soy sauce from Indonesia. Luckily this sweet soy sauce substitute recipe is quick and easy to make.Īnd if you don’t have ten minutes to cook the thick and syrupy soy sauce, I also provide a list of the best instant substitutes for sweet soy sauce. I adore shop-bought sweet soy sauce (Indonesian kecap manis), but it can be tricky to track down in a grocery store.

Fish sauce vs soy sauce