Short answer
Yes, in principle. Brewed soy sauce and gochujang contain a little alcohol that forms in fermentation, or a little added as a preservative. In the Hanafi view of Mufti Taqi Usmani and many Deobandi muftis this does not make them haram, since the amount cannot intoxicate and does not come from grapes or dates. Avoid sauces made with mirin, sake or rice wine.
Alcohol that forms naturally in fermenting soy, wheat or rice, or a small amount of non-grape alcohol added as a preservative, does not make a sauce haram when the sauce cannot intoxicate. A sauce made with an intoxicating drink, such as mirin or sake, takes the ruling of food cooked with wine.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Alcohol formed in fermentation in an amount that cannot intoxicate is generally tolerated, but many Shafi'i scholars treat added alcohol as khamr and prefer sauces without it.
Explanation
Fermentation always makes a little alcohol. It happens in bread dough, ripe fruit, yoghurt and pickles as well as in soy sauce, and nobody calls bread haram. The scholars distinguish between a food that contains a trace of alcohol from its own fermentation and a food to which an intoxicating drink has been added.
- Brewed soy sauce (soy beans, wheat, salt, water): halal. Some brands add alcohol to keep it fresh; on the Hanafi view above this is still allowed, but many Muslims prefer a brand without added alcohol or with halal certification.
- Gochujang and doenjang (Korean pastes): halal in principle. Check the label for added alcohol or rice wine.
- Teriyaki and eel sauce: often made with mirin or sake, so avoid them unless the label shows no rice wine.
- Oyster sauce: made from oyster extract, which Hanafis do not eat (see crab and lobster).
- Fish sauce: made from fish, and halal.
The test is the one given in the hadith: does the thing intoxicate? A few drops of soy sauce in a stir fry cannot. Drinking a bottle of mirin can, so it is a drink and is forbidden.
See also sushi and kombucha, and check ingredients with the halal food checker.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:172
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُلُوا۟ مِن طَيِّبَٰتِ مَا رَزَقْنَٰكُمْ وَٱشْكُرُوا۟ لِلَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ﴿١٧٢﴾
O you who have believed, eat from the good things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah if it is [indeed] Him that you worship.
The default for wholesome food is that it is lawful.
Sahih Muslim 2003
Sahih... كل مسكر خمر وكل مسكر حرام ...
"Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden."
The ruling rests on whether a thing intoxicates.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Takmila Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Ashriba. Alcohol from sources other than grapes and dates in modern foods.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Ashriba. The difference between khamr and other drinks in Abu Hanifa's view.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.