Household Ingredients Compared › Oyster Sauce (Singapore)

Oyster sauce: what's actually in it?

The short answer is: water, sugar and salt — plus oyster extract, in amounts that vary enormously. The best panelled sauce here leads with 40% oyster extract. The everyday one most Singapore kitchens actually buy has 11%. Some "oyster" sauces have 2%. And the vegetarian ones have none at all — they are mushroom/soy sauces that borrow the colour, thickness and savoury flavour of oyster sauce without any oyster in them. The word "oyster" on the front tells you almost nothing; the percentage in the list tells you everything.

This page does not rank oyster sauces or pick a "best" one. A lower-extract sauce is not a worse product for every dish — it is a different, usually cheaper and saltier-sweet product — but a shopper who thinks they are buying oyster flavour from oysters should be able to see when they are not.

The headline, in 30 seconds

Extract percentage is the whole story. Lee Kum Kee Premium: oyster extract 40% (first ingredient). Panda: 11% (third, after water and sugar). Amoy (AU listing): oyster extractive 2%. Same brand family, same shelf, four-fold and twenty-fold differences.
Order matters as much as percentage. Premium leads with oyster extract; Panda leads with water, then sugar, then extract. In Panda, sugar outranks oyster — the sauce is sweetened water first, oyster second.
"Oyster extractives" without a percentage is a gap, not a quantity. Lee Kum Kee Dried Scallop (FairPrice) lists oyster extractives with no percentage, plus dried scallop (conpoy) as a separate ingredient. You cannot compare it with the 40%/11% sauces on extract content from the list alone.
Vegetarian "oyster" sauce contains no oyster — by design. Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian, Golden Vegetarian (Mushroom), Woh Hup Shiitake Mushroom and Wan Jia Shan Vegetarian Mushroom all build the sauce from soy sauce, sugar, mushroom (powder/diced) and thickeners. They are legitimate vegetarian products; they are not oyster sauce with the oyster removed, they are a different sauce imitating it.
Flavour enhancers track extract inversely, roughly. Premium (40%) uses yeast extract + inosinate/guanylate (EU list) or MSG (US-style list) — it still has enhancers. Panda (11%) uses MSG. The vegetarian sauces use yeast extract + inosinate/guanylate. No panelled sauce here is enhancer-free, so "no MSG" should be checked on the specific pack, not assumed from the brand.
Market lists conflict for Premium. The EU shop list gives 40% with yeast extract/inosinate/guanylate and no MSG; US-style lists give oyster extractives first with MSG and no percentage. The Singapore FairPrice Premium list needs a direct check to settle both the percentage and the enhancer on the SG bottle.

At a glance — sorted by oyster extract, highest first

Product	Oyster extract as listed	First three ingredients	Contains oyster?	Pack size (as printed)	Country of manufacture (as printed)
Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce	40% (EU list)	Oyster Extract 40%, Sugar, Water	Yes — first ingredient	510g	China
Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Oyster Sauce	11%	Water, Sugar, Oyster Extract 11%	Yes — third	510g	China
Lee Kum Kee Gluten Free Oyster Sauce	5% (UK list)	Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extract 5%*	Yes — fourth (*order per UK list: water, sugar, salt, then extract)	510g	China
Amoy Oyster Sauce	2% extractive (AU list)	Water, Sugar, Salt … Oyster Extractive (2%)	Yes — small amount; AU list, verify SG	510g	China
Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce — Dried Scallop	No % stated (FairPrice SG)	Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extractives … + Conpoy	Yes — plus dried scallop	510g	China
Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Oyster Sauce	None	Water, Sugar, Soya Sauce	No — vegetarian	510g (FairPrice also lists 770g)	China
Lee Kum Kee Golden Vegetarian (Mushroom)	None	Soy Sauce, Sugar, Water … Diced Mushrooms	No — vegetarian, mushroom	510g	China
Woh Hup Shiitake Mushroom Vegetarian	None	Water, Sugar, Salt, Mushroom Powder	No — vegetarian, mushroom	500g	Singapore
Wan Jia Shan Vegetarian Mushroom	None	Water, Sucrose, Soyabeans … Mushroom Powder	No — vegetarian, mushroom	not stated	Taiwan

Prices are deliberately not shown here: they change weekly and would go stale. This site compares ingredients only. Allergens: every panelled sauce here contains wheat/gluten except Lee Kum Kee Gluten Free (check its pack) — and every oyster-containing sauce contains mollusc (oyster). Vegetarian sauces contain soy and wheat.

Real oyster sauce — by extract content

Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce — EU list; SG pack to verify percentage + enhancer

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (Lee Kum Kee Europe shop): Oyster Extract 40% [Oysters (Molluscs) 90%, Water, Salt], Sugar, Water, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Wheat Flour, Colour (Plain Caramel), Yeast Extract (Yeast Extract, Salt), Flavour Enhancers (Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate).

The extract is first, and it is 40% of the product — of which 90% is oysters, i.e. roughly 36% oyster content by that arithmetic (the page does not present that derived figure as a pack claim; the pack claim is "40% oyster extract"). Lee Kum Kee describes Premium as its top product, made from the finest oyster extract on the original 1888 recipe. US-style lists for the same product name give a different list — Oyster Extractives, Sugar, Water, Monosodium Glutamate, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Wheat Flour, Caramel Colour — with MSG instead of yeast extract/inosinate/guanylate and no percentage. One forum-style Q&A even reports a bottle labelled 9% against another labelled 40%, which is exactly why the SG bottle must be photographed before publish: size and market may both matter. Allergen: mollusc (oyster), wheat/gluten Oyster extract: 40% (EU list)

Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Oyster Sauce / Oyster Flavoured Sauce

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (Lee Kum Kee India official + Open Food Facts + customs sample, agreeing): Water, Sugar, Oyster Extract 11% (Oysters, Water, Salt), Salt, Flavour Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate), Modified Corn Starch, Refined Wheat Flour, Colour (Caramel I-Plain / E150a).

Note the product's own naming: some markets call this "Panda Brand Oyster Flavoured Sauce" — the word "flavoured" is doing real work here, because water and sugar both outrank oyster extract. Panda is Lee Kum Kee's all-purpose, everyday sauce; Premium is its top-tier sauce. The 11% vs 40% gap is the price/quality ladder in a single number. FairPrice's Singapore listing for Panda gives a slightly different order (Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extract 11% … in some transcriptions) — the percentage agrees at 11% across sources, the salt/extract order does not, so the SG pack order should be confirmed. Allergen: mollusc (oyster), wheat/gluten Oyster extract: 11%

Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce — Dried Scallop

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice SG): Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extractives, Contains Permitted Food Conditioner (Modified Corn Starch), Permitted Flavour Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate), Conpoy (Dried Scallop), Wheat Flour, Permitted Colour (Caramel)

FairPrice describes it as specially made from the finest dried scallop and best oyster extract, a source of protein and calcium (brand claims). The list gives no oyster percentage and no scallop percentage, so it cannot be placed on the 40%/11% ladder from the list alone — and "extractives" (plural, unquantified) should not be read as "40%". Conpoy (dried scallop) is a separate seafood ingredient, adding a second mollusc/shellfish allergen consideration. Allergen: mollusc (oyster, scallop), wheat/gluten Oyster extract: % not stated

Lee Kum Kee Gluten Free Oyster Sauce — UK listing, verify SG pack

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (UK retail listing): Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extract 5% [Oysters (Molluscs) 90%, Water, Salt], Modified Corn Starch, Colour (Plain Caramel).

The gluten-free variant is also a lower-extract variant on this listing: 5%, below even Panda's 11%, with no wheat flour and no flavour enhancer listed. Whether the Singapore-sold gluten-free oyster sauce matches this UK 5% list (and whether it is sold in Singapore at all in this size) needs a direct check — it is panelled here as the only gluten-free oyster list retrieved, flagged as UK. Allergen: mollusc (oyster) Gluten-free (UK list) Oyster extract: 5% (UK list)

Amoy Oyster Sauce — Australian listing, verify SG pack

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, Australia): Water, Sugar, Salt, Thickener (E1442), Yeast Extract [Contains Soy Sauce (Water, Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Flavouring, Colour (E150c), Oyster Extractive (2%), Water, Oyster (Mollusc), Salt, Colour (E150c), Flavouring, Flavour Enhancer (E631, E627), Stabiliser (E415), Lactic Acid.

Quoted as transcribed, including its nested/bracketed structure, which is messier than the Lee Kum Kee lists — a sign this OFF transcription needs a pack check rather than silent tidying. What is unambiguous is the 2% oyster extractive figure: this is an oyster-flavoured sauce in substance, whatever the front label says, with soy sauce, yeast extract and flavour enhancers doing most of the savoury work. Amoy is an Ajinomoto-licensed brand; its SG oyster sauce (if the same product) needs a direct FairPrice/pack check. Allergen: mollusc (oyster), soy, wheat/gluten Oyster extract: 2% (AU list)

Vegetarian "oyster" sauce — no oyster, by design

Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce — Vegetarian

Pack size: 510g (FairPrice also lists 770g) · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice SG): Water, Sugar, Soya Sauce (Water, Salt, Soya Bean, Wheat Flour), Salt, Contain Permitted Food Conditioner (Modified Corn Starch), Permitted Colour (Caramel), Permitted Flavour Enhancers (Yeast Extract, Disodium 5'-Inosinate, Disodium 5'-Guanylate), Permitted Flavourings and Permitted Preservative (Sodium Benzoate)

FairPrice flags this as vegetarian oyster flavoured sauce. There is no oyster, no mushroom in this variant — the "oyster" character comes from soy sauce, sugar, caramel colour and flavour enhancers. The double comma and "Contain" wording are as printed on the FairPrice listing. Allergen: soy, wheat/gluten Vegetarian — no oyster

Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce — Golden Vegetarian (Mushroom)

Pack size: 510g · Made in: China (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice SG): Soy Sauce (Water, Salt, Soybeans, Wheat Flour), Sugar, Water, Contains Modified Corn Starch as Permitted Food Conditioner, Salt, Diced Mushrooms, Caramel as Permitted Colour, Stabilizer (Xanthan Gum) as Permitted Food Conditioner, Permitted Flavourings and Disodium 5'-Inosinate and Disodium 5'-Guanylate as Permitted Flavour Enchancers — Contains soyabeans, wheat

Unlike the plain Vegetarian variant, this one leads with soy sauce and adds diced mushrooms as a visible ingredient, plus xanthan gum as a stabiliser. "Golden" here is a product name, not an ingredient. The misspelling "Enchancers" is as printed on the FairPrice listing. Allergen: soy, wheat/gluten Vegetarian — no oyster Mushroom: diced mushrooms

Woh Hup Vegetarian Sauce — Shiitake Mushroom Oyster

Pack size: 500g · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice SG): Water, Sugar, Salt, Mushroom Powder, Modified Starch, Wheat Flour, Yeast Extract, Colour (Caramel/150C), Vegetable Gum (415), Acidity Regulator (Lactic Acid/270), Flavour Enhancer (631)

FairPrice describes this as made with 100% vegetarian ingredients. Mushroom powder is fourth — higher than in the Lee Kum Kee Golden variant, where diced mushrooms come after soy sauce, sugar, water, starch and salt. Woh Hup is a Singapore brand; its non-vegetarian oyster sauces (if any) are not panelled here because no lists were retrieved. Allergen: wheat/gluten (soy not stated — check pack) Vegetarian — no oyster Mushroom: mushroom powder

Wan Jia Shan Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Taiwan (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice SG, marketplace seller listing): Water, Sucrose, Soyabeans, Wheat, Salt, Starch, Yeast Extract, Mushroom Powder

The shortest vegetarian list panelled here: eight ingredients, mushroom powder last. FairPrice notes this listing was sold by a marketplace seller (VeggieTalk) and out of stock online at check time — availability and the seller-listing source are both reasons to verify on a pack before publish. "Sucrose" rather than "sugar" is as printed. Allergen: soy, wheat/gluten Vegetarian — no oyster Mushroom: mushroom powder

Little Farms check (added channel)

Little Farms was checked for oyster sauce. No bottled oyster sauce product was found in the Little Farms listings checked — its site returns oyster sauce only as an ingredient in recipes (stir-fried greens, beef stir-fry, sesame oil chicken, all calling for "oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce/mushroom oyster sauce)"). That negative finding is recorded here rather than omitted: Little Farms' pantry/condiments range does not appear to stock a bottled oyster or vegetarian oyster sauce as a retail product at check time, unlike its Spiral soy/tamari range. If a Little Farms bottled oyster sauce appears later, it belongs in seen-but-not-verified until its list is retrieved. In-store check recommended, since Little Farms' online catalogue may not mirror every shelf.

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

Lee Kum Kee Premium — Singapore FairPrice list — the SG ingredient section itself was not retrieved; EU (40%, yeast extract/inosinate/guanylate) and US-style (extractives first, MSG, no %) lists conflict, and a reported 9% vs 40% bottle discrepancy needs resolving from an SG pack. Premium in other sizes (255g, 907g, 2.27kg tin) is assumed to share the 510g list only provisionally — size/market may differ.
Lee Kum Kee Panda — Singapore pack order — percentage agrees at 11% across sources, but FairPrice SG transcriptions differ on salt/extract order; confirm from an SG pack.
Lee Kum Kee Panda Lo Mein Oyster Flavored Sauce (US) — a different product (sesame oil, chicken meat/broth, chicken fat, propylene glycol alginate, torula yeast, potassium sorbate) retrieved from a US nutrition source; not panelled as a Singapore product.
Amoy SG oyster sauce; Knorr, FairPrice house-brand, and other SG oyster sauces — no SG ingredient sections retrieved in this pass; the Amoy panel above is Australian.
Re-audit 5 Nov 2026 — new listings (no verbatim SG ingredient list retrieved): Tai Hua Premium Oyster Sauce (510g, FairPrice; Singapore brand, Tai Hua Food Industries, 12 Jalan Besut — retailer descriptions say "premium oyster extracts, sugar, salt, and seasonings" and conflict on MSG, with one listing saying no MSG and another saying it contains added MSG, so no list is panelled); Lee Kum Kee Supergrade Oyster Sauce (foodservice/professional range — Water, Sugar, Salt, Oyster Extract 5%, Modified Corn Starch, Colour E150a — SG retail availability not confirmed); Ong's Oyster Sauce (Open Food Facts — water 49.3%, sugar 21.2%, oyster extract 9.5%, soy bean extract 5.8%, salt 3.7%, modified starch, wheat flour, yeast extract, colour E150c, acidity regulator E270 — SG availability not confirmed); Chop Stick Oyster Sauce (Open Food Facts — water, sugar, oyster extract 20%, soy paste, salt, modified corn starch, MSG, plain caramel, preservative E202 — SG availability not confirmed); Blue Dragon Oyster Sauce (UK listing — dried oyster powder 0.3% only — SG availability not confirmed).
Little Farms bottled oyster / vegetarian oyster sauce — none found in online listings checked (recipes only); in-store check needed before concluding it stocks none.
Donki, Meidi-Ya, Mustafa, Le Petit Depot, Giant, Sheng Siong, Cold Storage, RedMart, Lazada, Shopee oyster sauces — Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and other import oyster/vegetarian sauces appear in marketplace listings; no additional verbatim lists verified in this pass. Donki Japanese oyster-flavoured sauces in particular need an in-store check.
Abalone sauce / XO sauce — related but different categories (abalone, dried seafood/chilli/garlic); deliberately excluded from this page, not hidden — they deserve their own comparison if added later.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

Oyster sauce is a salt-led category: sodium is the key column here. Salt = sodium × 2.5. Where a source prints salt rather than sodium, the sodium figure below is salt ÷ 2.5 and the printed salt figure is shown; where a source prints sodium, the salt equivalent is sodium × 2.5 in brackets. Sugars are total sugars as printed — most packs list total sugars, not added sugars, so a total-sugars figure below is not labelled "added sugar". All figures are per 100 g, as sold. No Nutri-Grade is assigned, and no health score is given.

Product	Basis	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Saturated fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce (EU/UK shop listing)	Per 100 g, as sold	553 kJ (130 kcal)	1.5 g	<0.5 g	<0.1 g	31 g	25 g	4,520 mg (salt 11.3 g, as printed)
Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Oyster Sauce	Per 100 g, as sold — wholesale/retail listing for the 11% extract product	496 kJ	1.2 g	<0.5 g	<0.1 g	27 g	21 g	4,600 mg (salt 11.5 g, as printed)
Lee Kum Kee Gluten Free Oyster Sauce (UK/NZ listing)	Per 100 g, as sold	492 kJ	—	—	—	28 g	24.5 g	4,720 mg (salt 11.8 g)

Conflicts flagged, not silently resolved: Premium oyster sauce listings conflict on protein, carbohydrate and sugars at the same salt level — other Premium listings give 578 kJ (136–138 kcal), carbohydrate 29 g, sugars 23 g and protein 5.0 g per 100 g (salt 11.3 g), and another gives sugars 21 g with protein 5 g and salt 11 g, vs the row above (31 g carbohydrate, 25 g sugars, 1.5 g protein). These look like different market/size formulations sharing the Premium name, which is the same warning already given for its ingredient list. Panda listings are close but not identical: a New Zealand retail listing gives 499 kJ, carbohydrate 26.5 g, sugars 21.3 g and sodium 4,580 mg per 100 g, vs the row above (496 kJ, 27 g, 21 g, 4,600 mg).

What the numbers say, as numbers only: sodium per 100 g is 4,520 mg (salt 11.3 g) for Premium, 4,600 mg (salt 11.5 g) for Panda, and 4,720 mg (salt 11.8 g) for Gluten Free. Sugars per 100 g are 25 g (Premium, EU/UK shop listing), 21 g (Panda) and 24.5 g (Gluten Free).

Seen but not verified (nutrition) — do not panel until checked: Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce — Dried Scallop; Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Oyster Sauce; Lee Kum Kee Golden Vegetarian (Mushroom); Woh Hup Shiitake Mushroom Vegetarian; Wan Jia Shan Vegetarian Mushroom; Amoy Oyster Sauce; Tai Hua Premium Oyster Sauce (re-audit 5 Nov 2026 — no nutrition panel retrieved; one non-SG listing gives per-100g figures only via a truncated source, not used).

No nutrition panel was retrieved for these in this pass. A UK mushroom vegetarian stir-fry listing (sugars 27 g, salt 11.1 g per 100 g) was found but is not used here, because its ingredient list (dried shiitake 0.3%) differs from the Singapore panelled vegetarian lists.

How to read an oyster sauce list — the jargon, in plain English

Oyster extract / extractives: The liquid obtained by simmering oysters (traditionally, the liquid left when oyster soup is reduced). "Extract" with a percentage (40%, 11%, 5%, 2%) is a quantity claim; "extractives" without a percentage is not — it tells you oyster is present, not how much.
Oyster flavoured sauce: A sauce flavoured to taste like oyster sauce, which may contain a small amount of oyster extract (e.g. 2% or 11%) or none at all (vegetarian versions). The word "flavoured" on the pack is a legal distinction, not modesty — read it as a warning to check the percentage.
Conpoy: Dried scallop, used in Lee Kum Kee's Dried Scallop oyster sauce as a second seafood ingredient. It adds scallop flavour and a second shellfish allergen.
Modified corn starch / modified starch: Starch treated to thicken reliably and survive cooking/freezing. It is what makes oyster sauce viscous and glossy — the thickness does not come from oyster content.
Caramel (E150a / E150c): Colouring that darkens the sauce. Oyster sauce is naturally dark, but caramel is still added to most commercial sauces for consistent colour. E150a is plain caramel; E150c is ammonia caramel — different classes, both just colour here.
MSG / E621, inosinate / E631, guanylate / E627: Flavour enhancers that boost savoury (umami) taste. MSG alone is common in everyday sauces; inosinate + guanylate are often paired with yeast extract in premium/vegetarian sauces. Their presence does not prove low oyster content — Premium has them too — but their absence would be notable.
Yeast extract: A savoury flavouring made from yeast, used as a flavour enhancer. It is not the same as MSG, though it serves a similar purpose, and it appears in both premium and vegetarian sauces here.
Vegetarian oyster sauce: A sauce imitating oyster sauce's colour, thickness and savouriness using soy sauce, mushroom, sugar, caramel and enhancers, with no oyster. "Vegetarian" here means no animal ingredients at all in the panelled products — but always check the pack, because some imitation sauces elsewhere use animal-derived flavourings.

What this page is not

Not a taste test, not a ranking, and not a price comparison. A 2% sauce can be the right choice for a lightly seasoned dish; a 40% sauce can overpower one.
Not complete. The Singapore Premium list, the Singapore Panda pack order, Amoy SG, and all import/house-brand oyster sauces are deliberately left unpanelled or flagged for the verification reasons given.

Sources and method

Checked 5–6 November 2026, re-audited 5 November 2026 from FairPrice brand listings (Tai Hua Premium Oyster Sauce), foodservice/retail lists (Lee Kum Kee Supergrade) and Open Food Facts (Ong's, Chop Stick, Blue Dragon). Re-audit added 0 panels and 5 new seen-but-not-verified entries; panelled total stays 9 products. Residual gap: no SG ingredient section was retrievable for Tai Hua Premium, Amoy SG, Knorr, FairPrice house-brand or any Donki/Meidi-Ya/Mustafa import oyster sauce, and the SG Premium/Panda pack-order questions remain open. Not 100% complete. Original sources: NTUC FairPrice product pages (ingredient sections) for Lee Kum Kee Dried Scallop, Vegetarian, Golden Vegetarian (Mushroom), Woh Hup Shiitake Mushroom and Wan Jia Shan Vegetarian Mushroom; Lee Kum Kee official/regional pages and customs samples for Panda (11%) and Premium (40% EU list, with US-style conflict noted); UK retail listing for Gluten Free (5%); Open Food Facts Australia for Amoy (2%); Little Farms site search (recipes only, no bottled product found). Nutrition addition, 5–6 November 2026: figures standardised to per 100 g where the source gives per-100 figures; per-serving-only figures are quoted exactly as printed and not converted; sugars shown are total sugars as printed, not added sugars, and salt = sodium × 2.5. Full per-fact source list, including nutrition sources, is in the accompanying research notes.