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It tastes like the real thing! This genius hack makes the best Worcestershire sauce substitute with pantry ingredients you have on hand.
Making a recipe that calls for Worcestershire sauce and don’t have it? Or need a vegan substitute? Worcestershire sauce is a common condiment that’s intensely savory and complex. It adds umami (savory flavor) to recipes of all kinds, from Caesar dressing to chili to the classic Bloody Mary. Worcestershire sauce was invented in Britain in the mid-1800’s. Its flavor is tangy, salty, sweet, savory, and a little funky all at once! It includes cured anchovies, meaning that Worcestershire is not vegetarian or vegan.
Don’t have Worcestershire sauce on hand, or want a vegan substitute? Here’s a genius hack that uses ingredients you likely have on hand in your pantry! It tastes very similar to the real thing…and it takes 1 minute to put together. It also works as a vegan Worcestershire sauce recipe!
How to say Worcestershire sauce? Say it like “wusster-shir sauce.” Yep, us Americans have a hard time with this one!
Best Worcestershire sauce substitute: a genius hack!
1. Soy sauce, ketchup and white wine vinegar
The best Worcestershire sauce substitute? A combination of soy sauce, ketchup, and white wine vinegar! This combination is a mix of pantry ingredients that tastes oddly similar to the real thing. Here’s what you need for a small batch (multiply as needed):
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos)
- 1 dash hot sauce (optional)
You’ll find this mix of ingredients brings in just the right elements: tangy, salty, savory, and a little sweet. If you have it, hot sauce adds a bit of the spice that Worcestershire sauce brings from chili extract. You could even add a dash of fish sauce, but it’s not needed. Use tamari (gluten free) or coconut aminos (gluten free and soy free) as soy sauce substitutes.
2. Other ideas: soy sauce or vinegar
Don’t have all of the ingredients above? The overriding flavors in Worcestershire sauce are salty and tangy. If you don’t want to make the recipe above, you could use soy sauce, vinegar, or a mix of the two. You could also use miso in combination with either of the two. But the recipe above is really the best fit!
Worcestershire Sauce Substitute (Genius Hack!)
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 1 minute
- Yield: 2 ½ tablespoons 1x
Description
It tastes just like the real thing! This genius hack makes the best Worcestershire sauce substitute with pantry ingredients you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or ½ tablespoon white vinegar)
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos)
- 1 small dash hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together until smooth.
- Category: Essentials
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Diet: Vegan
Keywords: Worcestershire Sauce Substitute, Worcestershire Substitute
Related recipes
Here are some recipes where you could use this Worcestershire sauce substitute:
Pretty good substitute, and yes, I did use the dash of hot sauce 😃which gave it a little something something! Thank you for a quick and tasty recipe!
★★★★★
One word. F A B U L O U S
I was making a larger meatloaf (5lbs sirloin) got EVERYTHING except worshistire sauce🤦 Now worshistire sauce is literally that one ingredient that we ALWAYS have available🤷
Google must like your hack as well, bc here you are to save the day! Perfect. I LOVE it and I definitely subscribed! Truly Rockstars. So excited to find you guys & I’ll stay tuned 🥳
★★★★★
Super easy and did not change the dish at all.
★★★★★
Thank you, I saved a trip to the grocery store while making beef stew. Turned out awesome!
★★★★★
Great substitution. I added a little more soy to mine.
★★★★★
was thrilled to find this as I am allergic to all forms of fish, sea food, shell fish, fresh water fish and mushrooms there are a lot of sauces and stuff I have to be careful with for example even some brands of ranch dressing has anchovy paste. So to be able to find alternates that taste like the original are a blessing and hard to find ty
★★★★★
Wow this turned out tasting amazing! I used a good amount of tobasco siracha and a dash of crystal hot sauce.
★★★★★
Simply amazing! I was skeptical as I measured and mixed, but delightfully surprised when I tasted the result! Was perfect in the recipe needing the Worcestershire, could not tell it wasn’t the bought bottled stuff!
★★★★★
Love this! Especially because we travel full-time in an RV. We don’t use Worcestershire sauce enough to cart around a bottle with us. This recipe is the perfect solution! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Great substitute for Worcestershire! Actually tastes very similar. Thank you!
★★★★★
This totally worked… I didn’t have white wine vinegar but I did have rice vinegar. Will definently be using this in the future. Thanks! You saved tonight’s dinner 😅
★★★★★
There I was in the middle of making my yearly real Chex Mix, circa 2003, when I ran out of Worcestershire Sauce……URG and no time to run to the store. I did a internet query and up popped “A Couple Cooks” recipe. Everything was in my refrigerator/ pantry… the day was saved (this might be a little dramatic!!), and I could keep cooking. The end result was a little sweet, but I’m sure I would be the only one that would notice. Thanks “A Couple Cooks” and Happy New Year to all………
★★★★★