Soy Sauces

Once opened, the soy sauce will start to lose its freshness and the flavor will begin to change. By refrigerating the sauce, the flavor and quality will remain at their peak for a longer period. As long as no water or other ingredients have been added to the soy sauce, it would not spoil if it had not been refrigerated.

Kikkoman Soy Sauces contain greater than 2% alcohol by volume. The alcohol is a result of the fermentation process.  Like wine or beer, our soy sauces are brewed and they are made from wheat, soybeans, salt and water. During fermentation, the wheat starches are broken down to sugars and part of the sugar is changed into alcohol.

The all-purpose Kikkoman Soy Sauce and the Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce are brewed at the Kikkoman Foods, Inc. plant in Walworth, WI where there are no peanuts or tree nuts ingredients used. Please check the back of your label to see where the product was made.

Our tabletop dispenser was first introduced in Japan in 1961 and it is now recognized worldwide as an iconic symbol for Kikkoman Soy Sauce. The dispenser bottle was designed by Kenji Ekuan, a well-known industrial designer. In 2005, the dispenser was added to New York’s Museum of Modern Art Collection. To learn more about our dispenser, please click here. To open the dispenser bottle, first remove the outer plastic seal and cap from the bottle. Then, remove the plastic insert from either inside of the cap or on top of the bottle and screw the cap back on. If you have difficulty twisting off the cap, we suggest running the unopened bottle under hot water for a minute and then use a rubber gripper or a wet cloth to carefully twist off the cap.

The following Kikkoman products are certified Kosher by the Orthodox Union:

• Kikkoman Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman Soy Sauce with Lime
• Kikkoman Sushi & Sashimi Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Tamari Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman 50% Less Sodium Gluten-Free Tamari Soy Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Sweet Soy Sauce for Rice
• Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
• Kikkoman Roasted Garlic Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
• Kikkoman 50% Less Sodium Gluten-Free Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Hoisin Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Sweet Chili Sauce
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Kung Pao Sauce
• Kikkoman Orange Sauce (No Preservatives Added)
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Vegetarian Oyster Flavored Sauce
• Kikkoman Sesame Oil
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Poke Sauce
• Kikkoman Sweet Soy Glaze
• Kikkoman Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
• Kikkoman Sriracha Mayo
• Kikkoman Wasabi Sauce
• Kikkoman Unagi Sushi Sauce
• Kikkoman Rice Vinegar
• Kikkoman Seasoned Rice Vinegar
• Kikkoman Panko Japanese Style Bread Crumbs
• Kikkoman Whole Wheat Panko Japanese Style Bread Crumbs
• Kikkoman Gluten-Free Panko Style Coating
• Kikkoman Kara-Áge Japanese-Style Fried Chicken Coating Mix
• Kikkoman Extra Crispy Tempura Batter Mix (OU-D)
• Kikkoman Thai Style Chili Sauce
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Original
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Creamy Vanilla
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Chocolate
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Unsweetened
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Coffee (OU-D)
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Green Tea (OU-D)
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Smart Original (OU-D)
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Smart Creamy Vanilla (OU-D)
• PEARL® Organic Soymilk Smart Chocolate (OU-D)

Yes. Kikkoman offers a variety of Gluten-Free products, including soy sauces, panko, hoisin and other sauces. To see our complete family of Gluten-Free products, please click here. These products are certified as gluten-free (less than 10ppm) by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO). To find stores that carry these items, please try our Product Locator.

Our Best By Date is written as Day, Month and Year. For example, a printed Best By Date of 10MAR23 would indicate the unopened product should be used before March 10, 2023 for the best quality.

For the best quality, we recommend using the sauces within one month of opening.

Please click here for a chart of Kikkoman products containing ingredients that are part of the top eight allergens listed in the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), as well as other common allergens, such as sesame and mustard.

Kikkoman started to print Best By Dates on retail supermarket items in the year 2008. For 2-quart containers or larger, they may still have a production code printed on the container’s neck instead. The code is the top (or first set) of printed numbers and letters. The three-digit number before the letters refers to the Day-of-the-Year (like the Ordinal Date or Julian Day Calendar), followed by letters that represent the year. All our sauces manufactured in 2022 will have the letters “BB”. The letters “BA” were used for 2021, “BX” were used for 2020 and “AW” for 2019. If your Kikkoman product has any other letters, then the product was made over five years ago. For unopened products in plastic bottles, the soy sauce should be used within two years of its production date code, and, the teriyaki marinade & sauce, rice vinegars, and other Asian sauces generally should be used within 18 months.  

Please click here for more information about our corporate policy on animal testing.

For our sauces, the Best By Date is printed on the neck of the glass bottle or the bottle cap. Our seasoning mixes and gold-colored packaged soup mixes have a date printed across the top of the package back or embossed on the side of the packets. Please click to here view some examples.