Main Dishes
Vegan Fish Sauce Substitute
Prep
5 minutes
Cook
20 minutes
Yield
1 Jar
Fish sauce is one of the key ingredients in a lot of Asian cuisines, which makes it hard for people like myself who are plant-based (or vegetarian) to enjoy the delicious flavors of Asian cuisine. The good news is, that I have a solution for you to be able to make a vegan-inspired fish sauce substitute right at home.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Vegan Fish Sauce Substitute
- Quick: This sauce will only take 5-minutes to make
- Long-lasting: You can store this sauce in your fridge for up to a month
- Flavorful: Fish sauce adds a lot of flavor to Asian food, this vegetarian fish sauce does not fall short
- Versatile: Throw it in recipes, use it on its own, make it into dips, you do you!
🍲 Ingredients
Dulse or Wakame: The seaweed is what will give you that “fish” taste you want in a vegan fish sauce substitute. Wakame is high-protein, high in calcium, and has iron and vitamin C in it. Dulse, another kind of seaweed, is a red sea plant and is also rich in iron as well as protein, and vitamin A. That’s right, this fish sauce substitute is nutrient-rich!
White Miso: Rich in essential minerals and a good source of B, E, and K vitamins, plus folic acid. Miso is seriously magical. It also adds a ton of flavor, and as a fermented food, it is great for your gut!
Coconut Aminos: Coconut aminos are the plant-based version of soy sauce, and it’s healthier too! It’s similar in color and consistency so it makes a great soy sauce swap as it also has that salty and savory taste to it.
👩🍳 How to Make Vegan Fish Sauce
My alternative and secret weapon? Seaweed!! The powerful seaweed mixed with the nutty/earthy flavor of wild dehydrated mushrooms really adds the flavor that you may get in non-vegan alternatives that are often in Vietnamese or other Asian dishes. Here’s how you make this vegan fish sauce:
- To a medium-sized saucepan, add the water, seaweed of choice, dried shiitake mushrooms, and sea salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes will lid off.
- Remove the mixture from heat. Pour it through a strainer (fine-mesh) into a bowl. Be sure to lightly press on the mushrooms and dulse with a spoon to get all that flavourful liquid.
- To this bowl, miso and coconut aminos. Taste test and add ingredients as needed.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Salt: Adding more salt will make it saltier. Miso will add umami. Coconut aminos will add a full-bodied flavor
- Coconut Aminos: You can use soy sauce instead of coconut aminos if you prefer, however, it is saltier so make sure you taste as you go
- Make Ahead: Make this vegan fish sauce ahead of time and store it in your fridge until you’re ready to use
🗒 Best served with
- Veggie Spring Rolls (swap for the mango salsa)
- Vegan Tuna Ramen
- Black Garlic Ramen
- Coconut Curry Potato Soup
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store in a sealed jar container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Make sure you give it a good shake before using it. What I like to do is make a batch of Vegan Fish Sauce and keep it in a sealed container in my fridge. I use it on dishes like salads or bowls I make.
🤔 Common Questions
Some manufacturers add ingredients that compromise soy sauce being vegan, such as flavor enhancers that have meat and fish.
You definitely can but they aren’t super easy to come by. You’re better off just making this easy recipe yourself.
This recipe can taste fishy to some people but the taste just comes from the seaweed.
Vegan Fish Sauce Substitute
Ingredients
- 2 cups of water
- 1/3 cup dulse or wakame
- 1/3 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tsp sea salt – good quality
- 2 tsp white miso
- 2 tbsp. coconut aminos – I used Bragg Brands
Instructions
- To a medium-sized saucepan, add the water, seaweed of choice, dried shiitake mushrooms, and sea salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes will lid off.
- Remove the mixture from heat. Pour it through a strainer (fine-mesh) into a bowl. Be sure to lightly press on the mushrooms and dulse with a spoon to get all that flavourful liquid.
- To this bowl, miso and coconut amonis . Taste test and add ingredients as needed.
Your recipe doesn’t specify fresh or dried seaweed.
dried!
Great vegan fish sauce option. A couple of notes:
1) mine was also very opaque, even after using a fine mesh strainer – ??
2) The instructions say “cover, reduce heat to low and simmer with the lid off” – I got confused, seems like maybe we want the lid ON?
Thank you!!
Hi,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I was wondering how you ended up with a clear liquid despite adding miso paste? Mine came out cloudy!
Thanks
Could i possibly substitute the dulse or wakame for some other sort of seaweed such as nori or kombu? If so, what would the substitute ratios be?
yes that’s fine, just the same!
does it matter what kind of dried mushrooms I use? I have dried Porcinni mushrooms that I bought at costco so I used those and I think it tasted pretty good but maybe it could be better with the shiitake
what do you think?
Any dried mushrooms are perfect! We just used shitake for a hint of its unique flavor.
what other recipes do you have that will use this sauce?
Lots of our Asian-Inspired recipes, like our ramen dishes or cabbage slaw, OR in the SILO Beluga Caviar!
cool recipe
Thank you Sam!!
I randomly stumbled across this recipe and thank god I did. I’m allergic to fish so whenever I’ve made asian dishes that needed fish sauce I just left that ingredient out and it tasted like it was missing something but now I have an option!!!!!
Hooray!! So happy 🙂 Be sure to check out more of our recipes, we have more awesome recipes that are great substitutes for traditional sauces/cooking staples!