Yellow Bean Sauce substitute

Best substitute

Chinese Ground Bean Sauce or Yellow Bean Paste

Use the same amount as the yellow bean sauce you are replacing

Best for pad see ew

Different texture

The best substitutes for yellow bean sauce are Chinese ground bean sauce or yellow bean paste, which is nearly the same product, then white or yellow miso loosened with a little water and sharpened with a splash of fish sauce, then plain soy sauce with a pinch of sugar. Use hoisin only as a last resort, because it is sweet and five-spiced and will make pad see ew taste like barbecue sauce.

Other yellow bean sauce substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2White or Yellow Miso, Thinned
Different taste
Use ¾ tsp miso plus ¼ tsp water for every 1 tsp yellow bean sauce
Loosen the miso with a little water or stock so it disperses in the wok, then stir it in near the end of cooking.
What changes
Best for
stir-fries, pad see ew, braises, soups
Miso is the most common substitution and the one people get wrong. It is noticeably sweeter and rounder, with a rice-fermented smell rather than the beany, faintly funky pungency of tao jiao, so a stir-fry made with it tastes softer and less savoury, and can read as slightly flat in a hot wok. Add 1/4 teaspoon of fish sauce or soy sauce per teaspoon of miso to close the gap. Do not boil it hard or the aroma goes dull.
3Soy Sauce Plus a Pinch of Sugar
Different texture
Use 2 tsp soy sauce plus ¼ tsp sugar for every 1 Tbsp yellow bean sauce
The pantry fix that almost everyone has.
What changes
Reduce any other liquid in the recipe slightly, since you are adding a thin sauce in place of a paste.
Best for
stir-fries, noodles, quick sauces, marinades
This gets you the salt and a decent share of the glutamate savouriness, which is most of what tao jiao does. What it cannot supply is body and the bean texture, so the finished sauce tastes thinner and looks darker, and it clings less to the noodles. A quarter teaspoon of cornstarch slurry restores the coating. Adequate rather than good.
4Doenjang (Korean Soybean Paste)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Coarse Korean fermented soybean paste.
What changes
Same raw material, longer and more assertive fermentation.
Best for
stir-fries, braises, dipping sauces, soups
An excellent swap that is simply louder. Doenjang has a deeper, funkier, more pungent fermented flavour and a coarser texture with visible bean fragments, so a Thai stir-fry made with it tastes more robust and slightly earthy where tao jiao is cleaner and gentler. Start with three-quarters of the amount and taste before adding more, and expect the dish to lean savoury rather than delicate.
5Fermented Black Bean Sauce or Rinsed Fermented Black Beans
Taste and texture differ
½ the amount
Salted fermented black soybeans, either as a jarred sauce or the whole beans rinsed and mashed.
What changes
Use half as much because they are far more concentrated.
Best for
stir-fries, steamed dishes, braises
Powerfully pungent and unmistakably Cantonese, so it does not so much substitute as redirect the dish. Where tao jiao sits in the background as a savoury foundation, black bean pushes to the front with a sharp, almost cheesy funk. Great cooking, different dish. Rinse whole beans first or the salt will be overwhelming.
6Hoisin Sauce (Last Resort)
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ the amount plus 1 tsp soy sauce for every Tbsp of yellow bean sauce
Listed last on purpose.
What changes
Hoisin is fermented soybean sweetened heavily with sugar and spiced with five-spice, garlic and chili, and it is thick and glossy.
Best for
emergencies only, glazes, marinades
This is the swap people reach for and the one that most changes the dish. Hoisin's sugar and five-spice make a pad see ew taste sweet, dark and barbecue-like instead of savoury, and the sauce turns syrupy. If it is truly all you have, use half as much, add a teaspoon of soy sauce per tablespoon to restore the salt, and skip any sugar the recipe calls for. Expect a noticeably sweeter dish.

What is Yellow Bean Sauce?

Yellow Bean Sauce is Yellow bean sauce, called tao jiao in Thai, is whole or lightly mashed soybeans fermented in brine into a thin, chunky, salty-savoury brown paste sold in jars as Thai salted soybean paste.

Cooking tips

Know what tao jiao is contributing before you swap it. Its job is salt plus glutamate savouriness, with a mild fermented bean funk on top, and that is the backbone that makes a stir-fry taste round and complete instead of merely soy-salty. It is not sweet, not thick and not spicy, which rules out several of the sauces people reach for first.
Add it early enough to cook, but not so early it burns. In a wok, push the aromatics aside, add the paste to the hot oil for 15 to 20 seconds until it smells toasty, then bring the other ingredients back in. The brief fry is what deepens the flavour, and it is the step most home cooks skip.
Stir the jar before measuring. Tao jiao separates in storage, with dark salty liquid on top and beans settled at the bottom, so a spoonful off the surface is much saltier than a spoonful from a mixed jar.
Balance the salt in the whole dish, not just the swap. Every substitute here has a different sodium level, so taste the sauce before it goes in and adjust the fish sauce or soy sauce rather than trusting the recipe quantities.
A jar keeps for months in the refrigerator once opened, which makes this an ingredient worth buying once rather than substituting repeatedly. It is inexpensive and shows up across Thai and Chinese stir-fries, steamed fish and dipping sauces.
Do not use these swaps to alter a tested recipe for canning, pickling or fermenting your own beans. Fermented bean pastes rely on specific salt concentrations for safety, so follow a tested method exactly and consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation rather than adjusting salt or acidity yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave yellow bean sauce out?

Not without replacing the salt and savouriness it carried. In pad see ew or chicken with cashews it is one of only three or four seasonings, so omitting it leaves the dish noticeably bland and one-dimensional. If you have nothing else, an extra teaspoon of soy sauce plus a pinch of sugar per tablespoon of tao jiao will keep the recipe on its feet.

Is miso a good substitute for yellow bean sauce?

It is workable and it is what most people use, but it is not a straight swap. Miso is sweeter and rounder, made with rice or barley koji as well as soybeans, so it lacks the beany funk of tao jiao and can taste flat in a stir-fry. Use white or yellow miso, thin it with a little water, and add a splash of soy or fish sauce to sharpen it.

Is yellow bean sauce the same as hoisin sauce?

No, and confusing them is the most common mistake here. Yellow bean sauce is salty and savoury with no added spice; hoisin is a sweet, thick, five-spice-scented glaze. They both start from fermented soybean, which is why the labels look similar, but swapping one for the other changes the flavour of the dish completely.

Is tao jiao the same as Chinese yellow bean sauce?

Effectively yes for cooking purposes. Thai tao jiao tends to be thinner with more whole beans visible, and Chinese ground bean sauce is smoother and slightly saltier, but they are made the same way from brine-fermented soybeans and substitute 1:1 without anyone noticing.

Is yellow bean sauce gluten-free?

Usually not. Many brands include wheat flour in the fermentation, and so do most soy sauces and hoisin sauces. If you need gluten-free, check the label, and note that some misos and most tamari are safe alternatives, in which case thinned miso plus tamari is the practical route.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Yellow Bean Sauce substitute

Other yellow bean sauce substitutes

2White or Yellow Miso, Thinned

3Soy Sauce Plus a Pinch of Sugar

4Doenjang (Korean Soybean Paste)

5Fermented Black Bean Sauce or Rinsed Fermented Black Beans

6Hoisin Sauce (Last Resort)