The thick Indonesian sweet soy sauce you know and love – Kecap Manis! You only need 2 ingredients and 7 minutes to easily make this popular condiment at home.
Why We Love This
This sauce is SO versatile. Use it in a stir fry, salad, as a marinade or a dipping sauce! One of our favourite ways to use it is for dipping with pandan chicken or spring rolls!
It also keeps a long time in the fridge, as it’s only sugar and soy sauce.
Related: Unagi Sauce / Yakitori Sauce
What is Kecap Manis?
Kecap Manis (ketjap manis) is a popular sweet soy sauce from Indonesia. You may know it as the sweet dark sauce in a packet of mie goreng, used it in dishes like nasi gila or squeezed it on top of a big bowl of bakso soup.
At local supermarkets the most popular brands to look out for are the red bottle – ABC Kecap Manis and the blue bottle – Bango Kecap Manis.
What You’ll Need
- Soy Sauce – Use regular or light soy sauce for best results. If you want a sweeter sauce, use reduced salt soy sauce or add more sugar.
- Sugar – Brown sugar will work great, or use the more traditional palm sugar if you have it. Molasses or golden syrup also make great substitutes.
How to make homemade Indonesian sweet soy sauce:
1. 2. 3.
- Place the soy sauce and brown sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil, it will bubble up quite a bit, so stir as you go to avoid any sticking. Important: Remove from heat immediately if it starts to boil over, then reduce the heat slightly to avoid a repeat.
- Continue boiling for around 7 minutes. You’ll notice the sauce reduces quite a bit. Turn the heat off and allow to thicken on standing.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Keep Watch – It’s so easy for this sauce to boil over, we can’t stress enough to keep watch!
- Storage – Once made, store in a clean jar in the fridge. It should last well over a month if only using sugar and soy sauce.
FAQs
The best substitute if using in a dish would be regular soy sauce and sugar without cooking it down, to give both the salty and sweetness. Next options would be to use hoisin sauce or oyster sauce.
Yes! It’s sweet AND salty. “Manis” literally translates to sweet in Indonesian.
Nothing, it is the same sauce. Sweet Soy Sauce is the English name, and Kecap Manis is the Indonesian name for the sauce.
Variations
- Make Sambal Kecap – Once your homemade kecap manis is cooled, add some sliced shallots, sliced chilli, sliced fresh tomato and a squeeze of lime juice for a spicy dipping sauce.
- Add Extra Flavour – For a more robust kecap manis, add in some garlic, ginger and star anise to pack some flavour punch!
These dishes pair perfectly with Kecap Manis:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Ingredients
- ½ cup soy sauce 125ml / 4.2floz, light or regular, reduced salt is even better
- ½ cup brown sugar 60g / 2oz, palm sugar (most traditional) or molasses
Instructions
- Place the soy sauce and brown sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup brown sugar
- Bring to a boil, it will bubble up quite a bit, so stir as you go to avoid any sticking. Important: Remove from heat immediately if it starts to boil over, then reduce the heat slightly to avoid a repeat.
- Continue boiling for around 7 minutes. You’ll notice the sauce reduces quite a bit. Turn the heat off and allow to thicken on standing.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Make Sambal Kecap – Once your homemade kecap manis is cooled, add some sliced shallots, chilli, tomato and a squeeze of lime juice for a spicy dipping sauce.
- Add Extra Flavour – For a more robust sauce, add in some garlic, ginger and star anise to pack some flavour punch!
- Keep Watch – It’s so easy for this sauce to boil over, we can’t stress enough to keep watch!
- Storage – Once made, store in a clean jar in the fridge. It should last well over a month if only using sugar and soy sauce.
Nutrition
12 Comments
Debbie
31/08/2023 at 12:20 amHow long does it keep if you add the extra spices? And if I use powdered ginger and powdered garlic instead of fresh will it last longer?
Wandercooks
31/08/2023 at 11:02 amHey Debbie! Powdered would definitely keep for longer. If using fresh, we usually say maybe around 2-3 weeks. As it does have a high sugar and salt content, it should still keep relatively well in the fridge. Our best advice is use your senses – look for any signs of mould and give it the sniff test if it has been in the fridge for a while. If you’re ever unsure – always throw it, it’s not worth the risk.
Theresa
01/08/2023 at 3:30 amstumbled across your website and LIKE what I see subscribed for sure. Thanks, so much for sharing this recipe. I always buy the ABC brand and like everything else it keeps go up in price! nice to be able to make my self. as I use it to flavor poutine and other recipes love this stuff.
Wandercooks
01/08/2023 at 7:42 amOh such a cool idea flavouring your Poutine with it. Yeah agreed, so much cheaper being able to make it yourself these days!
Irena
09/05/2023 at 5:33 pmFollowed this recipe and I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I have ended up with basically soy sauce flavoured toffee! (Haha – oops)
Did I have the heat too high (med high as per recipe)?
We have copper saucepans – should I have boiled for a shorter period?
Can you please give me an idea of when to take it off the boil to cool, ie; what it should look like rather than an exact time?
Wandercooks
10/05/2023 at 9:49 amHey Irena! Thanks for reaching out. Sounds like the heat may have been a little too high. It’s just slightly over cooked. Some hot plates do run quite hot, so adjust to medium heat and reduce your cooking time by a minute or two when it’s still runny as it’ll thicken on standing.
You’re essentially looking to reduce the amount by a third to a half, and not over boil it. So heat would be the bigger issue than length of time cooked in this instance. If it’s bubbling a lot to the point of bubbling over, reduce the heat too. If it helps, also watch the video a few times and have a look at the consistency of the sauce when we remove it from the heat and pour it in the dish.
Try again and let us know how awesome your second batch turns out. 😉
marcus
13/03/2023 at 6:54 amFound a recipe calling for “sweet soy sauce”, I was at a loss. GOOGLED it and found this website and recipe. Had required ingredients in pantry. AMAZING how delicious and versatile this sauce is! Pasta, rice and potatoes all benefit from this sauce. Had gathering of 14 people – all gave rave reviews. 1 guest wanted to know if I could cook for her upcoming dinner… and make this!
Wandercooks
14/03/2023 at 7:23 pmOh that’s so awesome Marcus. What a cool story. Thanks for the feedback. We do love a quick recipe, especially if it saves $$ and a trip to the shop hehe.
Dslayer298
10/03/2023 at 8:12 amWow, how cheap and easy is this to make!!
The kind you buy is pretty overpriced, I can’t thank you enough!!
Wandercooks
11/03/2023 at 7:58 amYou’re very welcome! So much easier when you can make it yourself hey! 😁
Bobbi
02/03/2023 at 10:30 pmI had just gotten a new cookbook, and found myself scrambling. Drunken Noodles — I found everything I needed but the sweet soy sauce. Soy sauce comes in a sweet variety?!?!?! I had never known. None of the markets around me carry it so I was at a loss. To google I turned, and Google did not disappoint. This recipe worked very well, and came together so easily. Keeping this one in my recipe box for sure!
Wandercooks
03/03/2023 at 10:00 amOh yay! So glad we could help you out with the homemade version and hope your noodles were amazing!