The Simple Fish Sauce Alternative That Vegans Can Use

There are recipes that call for certain components in very small quantities, but leaving them out can significantly affect the flavor. Fish sauce is definitely one of these ingredients. When you use fish sauce in your cooking, it brings distinct tasting notes that combine saltiness, savoriness, and earthiness with subtle yet powerful umami. This unique flavor is found in only a select few foods, making fish sauce a truly special ingredient.

However, for individuals with fish allergies, vegans, or folks who consider fish to be meat and exclude it from their diet, fish sauce is not an option. Fortunately, there is soy sauce! It's a fish sauce alternative that not only provides similar flavors but is more than likely already in your fridge or pantry.

Soy sauce is a fermented product made from soybeans, water, salt, and wheat, which altogether creates a rich, savory umami flavor. This strong flavor is mainly due to the amino acids naturally occurring within soybeans. For recipes that call for fish sauce, soy sauce can be swapped in using a 1-to-1 ratio. For a brighter substitute, you can combine equal amounts of soy sauce and vinegar with just a small pinch of salt. While soy sauce alone can impart sweeter notes, vinegar helps balance the flavors, and the salt replenishes any savoriness that may have been diluted.

Though soy sauce works in a pinch because both fish sauce and soy sauce have that same umami flavor, fish sauce nonetheless does still have a distinct taste and smell from the actual seafood within it. So if you want to capture the same aroma in a dish that fish sauce imparts, you can add a sprinkling of fresh or dried seaweed to your soy sauce substitute. It naturally possesses the same bold and briny aroma as fish.

Individuals following a gluten-free diet can use tamari instead of soy sauce because it is still soy-based but typically does not contain wheat. Check the product's ingredient list to make sure! There is a difference between soy sauce and tamari when it comes to taste; tamari has less pronounced umami notes, but it still has a lovely rich flavor. Fish sauce can be substituted with tamari in a 1-to-1 ratio as well, and the addition of seaweed will amp up its suitability as a fish sauce stand-in.

Lastly, there are always store-bought vegan fish sauces that have done the hard work for you and can be used as a backup. No matter which substitution you choose, excluding these desirable salty flavors in a dish would be a disservice, especially since there are many viable options.