The Unexpected Way Soy Sauce Can Upgrade Store-Bought Gravy

Soy sauce, the natural seasoning made from soybeans, wheat, salt, and water, is inarguably one of the most flavorful sauces in the culinary landscape. One of the world's oldest condiments, it's not only a cornerstone of Asian cuisine, but the salt-forward condiment is often added to marinades and dressings for an extra flavor boost. But what if we told you that one of the best ways to use soy sauce is adding it to your store-bought gravy? Unexpected? Absolutely. But hear us out. 

Soy sauce is known not only for its pronounced saltiness, but for the prevalence of umami in its flavor profile. Thus, soy sauce can offer a serious depth of flavor infusion to other sauces, its versatility making it the unexpected remedy to any store-bought gravy that needs a flavor revival. Additionally, soy sauce's high salt content — about 878 milligrams per tablespoon in its traditional variety — can combat the staleness or wateriness that jarred gravy can sometimes possess even early in its shelf life, and give you a more homemade taste. That's right, with a few simple considerations, adding soy sauce to your gravy will deliver you pure delectability by the spoonful.

Enhancing the flavor of your store-bought gravy by adding soy sauce begins with choosing the right variety. While the differences in soy sauces may seem slight, they will each indeed have a different impact on the overall taste of your gravy, so choose wisely. Light soy sauce, for example — the standard tabletop sauce commonly found in western restaurants and grocery stores – possesses a pronounced saltiness that will make your gravy take on a briny flavor. The dark variety, on the other hand, has been aged longer, so it has a thicker consistency, and offers a mellower, sweet flavor that makes it ideal for making cooking sauces. With its lower salt content, this variety is more likely to add a robustness to your gravy recipe than a salty element. Additionally, dark soy sauce has a deeper color, which will enhance your gravy's visual appeal, especially when spooned onto dishes such as mashed potatoes or turkey slices, the perfect canvases for that mouthwateringly gorgeous brown sauce. 

Want to use a gluten-free option instead? Try tamari, a wheatless variation on traditional soy sauce that will offer the same salty flavor. Whichever variety of soy sauce you use, add it a little bit at a time while you're heating up your gravy so it can impart its flavor thoroughly.

Gravy enhanced with soy sauce can be substituted in for regular gravy in a variety of dishes. For example, if adding gravy to your mashed potatoes or meat is your thing, consider adding a few tablespoons of wine to your recipe while you're heating up your gravy. A dry white such as a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc will pair beautifully with the soy to add complexity to a poultry or vegetarian gravy, while a red will bring out the flavor of a beef gravy.

Looking for the ultimate gravy-based snack? Add some fish sauce to that soy sauce gravy and make poutine, the Canadian comfort food staple which features gravy over french fries with melted cheese curds. The combination of the two enhancements can kick your gravy up a notch with loads of savory flavor. While fish sauce possesses an inherent brininess (it can even be substituted in for salt in some recipes), it also carries an element of sweetness that adds a little bit of balance to its saltiness and will offer the gravy a more robust overall taste. But be sure not to overdo it on the fish sauce — its flavor packs a serious punch and can easily overpower your gravy, so be sure to add to taste. So for a next-level store-bought gravy, keeping some soy sauce on hand is the way to go.