Fried rice is a traditional Chinese preparation of cooked rice, vegetables, proteins, soy sauce and aromatic products. The ingredients are sautéed in a large skillet or wok for even flavor distribution. With these numbers, if you ate two cups of fried rice and added one tablespoon of soy sauce, you would consume 2500 milligrams of sodium. Made with fermented coconut palm, coconut amino acids contain less than a third of the sodium found in regular soy sauce and are lighter than light soy sauce.
According to Fat Secret, a cup of fried rice has an average of 800 milligrams of sodium, before any additional soy sauce. If you're a fan of sushi or have eaten at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, you're familiar with soy sauce. According to Scoop University, years ago, soy sauce maker Kikkoman got into trouble because of animal testing. The brown, savory condiment that tastes good in everything from dragon roll to a dish of hibachi is created by fermenting soy.
Unless you specifically choose gluten-free soy sauce, most soy sauces on the market are made by combining soy and wheat, meaning they are gluten-free, according to Healthline. If you're planning to prepare steamed rice perfect for egg-fried rice or other fried rice recipes, the most popular choice is basmati or jasmine rice. However, high sodium content and poor labeling aren't the only reasons to avoid adding soy sauce to a bowl of fried rice. Some chefs say that soy sauce is the secret ingredient they use instead of salt in many of their favorite recipes, such as scrambled eggs, barbecue marinades and smoked meats.
Everything Vegan advises consumers to check with the manufacturer or to prepare their own soy sauce if they really want to stay away from animal products. While delightfully versatile, soy sauce sometimes gets a bad rap for its sodium content, but there are low-sodium versions of this condiment available if needed. In addition to added sodium, according to Delish, adding soy sauce to fried rice at a Chinese restaurant is actually considered offensive to the chef. Traditional Chinese soy sauce fried rice uses a variety between light soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
