Kecap Manis: Sweet Soy Sauce, Uses and Substitute

Flavor and how it differs from other soy sauces

Kecap manis tastes sweet first, then salty and savory, with notes of caramel and molasses. The sauce runs slowly from the bottle and coats rice, noodles and meat with a glossy film. In a hot wok, the sugar caramelizes in seconds.

The Indonesian word kecap generally means a seasoning sauce. Manis means sweet. Alongside it are kecap asin, the salty, thin soy sauce, and kecap manis sedang, a medium-sweet variety. Dark Chinese soy sauce looks similar but tastes saltier and hardly sweet. More on the Chinese types is on the page light and dark soy sauce.

Production and origin

For the base sauce, makers ferment soybeans, in Java often black soybeans, with mold cultures and brine over weeks or months. They cook the pressed liquid down with plenty of palm sugar until it thickens. Some recipes include spices such as star anise, galangal or salam leaves. The palm sugar gives the dark color and the caramel aroma.

The sauce comes from Indonesia, above all from Java. Through colonial history it reached the Netherlands, where it is still part of everyday cooking. That is why many bottles in Europe carry the Dutch spelling ketjap.

Uses in the kitchen

Kecap manis belongs to everyday Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. You use it as a seasoning when stir-frying, as a marinade and as a dip.

• Fried rice and noodles: Nasi goreng and mie goreng take 1 to 2 tbsp per serving. Add the sauce to the wok at the end and toss briefly so it does not burn.
• Marinade for skewers: For satay ayam, mix kecap manis with garlic, coriander seeds and a little oil. On the grill, the marinade forms a dark crust. Keep your distance from the embers, because the sugar scorches fast.
• Peanut sauce: A spoonful rounds off a peanut sauce and gives it color.
• Sambal kecap: kecap manis with chopped chili, shallots and lime juice. You serve this dip with tahu goreng or grilled fish. You find more chili sauces under sambal.
• Braising: In oseng-oseng tahu and the braised dish semur, it gives the sauce color and sweetness.

Dose carefully. Kecap manis brings sugar and salt at the same time, and too much of it makes fried rice sticky and dark brown. Start with one tablespoon, taste, and make up for missing seasoning with a splash of salty soy sauce or a little salt. A squeeze of lime or a spoonful of sambal sets some acidity and heat against the sweetness.

Making kecap manis yourself: a substitute

If you have no bottle at home, you can make a substitute in ten minutes:

1. Put 100 ml soy sauce and 100 g palm sugar or dark brown sugar in a small pot.
2. If you like, add 1 star anise, 1 slice of ginger or galangal and 1 crushed garlic clove.
3. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon thinly.
4. Remove the spices and let it cool. The sauce keeps thickening as it cools.

Filled into a clean jar, it keeps several weeks in the fridge. For a quick portion, stir 2 tbsp soy sauce with 1 tbsp brown sugar or honey. This mixture stays thinner but works for fried rice.

Buying and storing

Kecap manis is on the Asian shelf of many supermarkets, often under the name ketjap manis. At an Asian grocery store and online you find several sweetness levels and larger bottles. Read the ingredient list: good brands list sugar or palm sugar, soybeans, salt and water, without a long list of additives.

Unopened, the sauce keeps for a long time. After opening, store it cool and dark, in the cupboard or in the fridge. The high sugar content protects it, but in the fridge it turns thick. Wipe off sugar that settles at the bottle neck so the cap closes tightly.

Kecap manis contains soy and in many cases wheat, so gluten. Gluten-free versions made from pure soy exist, but they are rarer.