Should You Refrigerate Soy Sauce After Opening?

Soy sauce, hot sauce, and even butter — there are plenty of foods that spark debates about whether or not they should be refrigerated. Butter has always been a puzzling one, as essentially every other dairy product must be stored at 40 F. And salt-heavy products, such as soy sauce, are even more confusing.

Soy sauce dates back more than 2,000 years, according to Culture Trip; it's certainly an ingredient that predates refrigeration. Its earliest recipes consisted of boiling soybeans, then submerging them in salt water for several weeks, which turned them into a paste; this was the first known form of soy sauce. Some food bloggers, such as Oh, The Things We'll Make, suggest the process can take up to a year.

Regardless of which side you're on — to refrigerate or not — there's actually a right and wrong answer if you're looking to get the most out of the sauce.

For everyone who keeps their soy sauce on the kitchen counter, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that you're not going to get sick from consuming soy sauce left at room temperature. The bad news is that it will fare better in the refrigerator. 

Epicurious spoke to Tracey Brigman, EdD, the associate director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Brigman noted that food safety isn't an issue if you're not refrigerating it. You can thank sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in most soy sauces, for keeping the product safe. However, if the product doesn't contain this preservative, you should refrigerate it for safety reasons.

If you're looking for the freshest soy sauce possible, it's best to refrigerate it — it will last longer. The Global Cold Chain Alliance says that storing soy sauce in the refrigerator helps it retain its quality, especially if it's something you use fairly infrequently and plan to have the same bottle around for quite some time.

Soy sauce's shelf life depends almost entirely on where and how you store it. According to Still Tasty, refrigerated, store-bought soy sauce that has been kept well-covered should remain high quality for up to two years. At room temperature, it will only stay fresh for a fraction of that time — likely about six months.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can also make homemade soy sauce. However, it will take you between six and 12 months, according to food blog Oh, The Things We'll Make. Fermenting soy beans is a lengthy process that takes a minimum of six months, and you have to monitor the soy beans closely to ensure the proper mold is forming. Plus, you have to check on them once a week to stir them and help the fermentation process along. 

The plus side? Once it's complete, the soy sauce will stay fresh for up to three years as long as it's sealed (though the recipe doesn't say anything about refrigerating).