How to make Vegan Fish Sauce! – a great substitute for Asian fish sauce that adds depth and umami flavor to Asian dishes without the fish or shellfish! Gluten-free adaptable!
Many of you have asked for a good substitute for fish sauce. Here’s a simple recipe for Vegan Fish Sauce – that you can easily make at home. It is so easy! Make a batch and refrigerate – it will keep for months in your fridge – a meat-free, plant-based, non-fishy substitute for fish sauce that works well in all Asian style recipes that call for fish sauce!
After sampling sips of straight fish sauce (now you know how much love you!) this is the recipe that I came up with.
It’s basically a very condensed broth infused with soy sauce -shoyu, tamari or gluten-free Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, dried shiitake mushrooms, seaweed and a few garlic cloves. The broth is simmered and reduced, and flavors become very concentrated. What remains is a very intense salty briny liquid that with deep umami flavor that to me, comes pretty close to fish sauce. The seaweed really hints of the sea and gives it the “fishiness” it needs without the fish!
Smoked Shoyu adds even more complexity if you can track it down. Grilled onions, black garlic or roasted garlic add even more depth. You can get pretty crafty when you start thinking about creating depth and umami, so please, feel free to experiment and play around.
Here is the simple recipe and of course feel free to embellish, leaving notes for other readers in the comments.
I prefer dried shiitake mushrooms in this recipe for Vegan Fish Sauce– but know they may be hard to track down for some. I also tried this with cremini mushrooms and they were a pretty good substitute. I like the dired shiitakes here better though.
Vegan Fish Sauce is delicious in Thai and Vietnamese Dishes! Try this in 15-minute pad thai, any of the curries on the site or Asian style soups like my Thai Broccoli Soup .
Here are also my favorite soul-warming, Thai Recipes that this vegan fish sauce would be really useful in!
Hope this helps. xo
Vegan Fish sauce
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: sauces, condiments,
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
How to make Vegan Fish Sauce! – a great substitute for fish sauce that adds depth and umami flavor to Asian dishes. Gluten-free adaptable!
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- ¼ cup soy sauce– shoyu, tamari, or Braggs liquid amino acids
- 1/2 cup dried mushrooms like shiitakes
- 1 4 x 8 inch sheet of dried kombu ( seaweed) or wakame seaweed
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 ½ tablespoons salt
- optional additions- 1 fat shallot sliced, grilled (charred) onion, roasted garlic, black garlic, small splash rice wine, sherry, or rice vinegar. Smoked Shoyu if you can find it, is a great option for the soy sauce.
Instructions
Bring all to a simmer in a medium pot, uncovered, over medium heat. Simmer until reduced by half. You should have about 2 cups of liquid.
If you have time, let this steep over night, or up to 24 hours, covered on the counter. Then strain and pour into jar. If liquid is less that 2 cups, add water to make it 2 cups. This will ensure the right amount of saltiness.
Store in the fridge and use as you would fish sauce, one to one.
Keywords: vegan fish sauce, fish sauce substitute, asian fish sauce, how to make fish sauce, how to make vegan fish sauce, homemade fish sauce
Is 2 1/2 TABLESPOONS of salt correct in the vegan fish sauce? Seems like a lot. There’s already salty soy sauce in it.
Yes, it is a lot, but it gets it to the same level as fish sauce, which is very salty.
Looks great ! Could I make this without garlic to still get the “fish sauce” result ? Due to garlic intolerance 😔. Or suggest a replacement of the garlic? Thank you !
Yes, maybe add onion or shallot?
Waiting on my dried shiitake mushrooms to come in the mail; how long does the sauce keep in the fridge once made?
I had mine for 6 months and it was fine!
First, thank you for your wonderful recipes! You have really helped us get through quarantine with sanity. In our household we have both fish and nightshade allergies. Can we make this vegan fish sauce without mushrooms? Is there a substitute? Thank you!
Hey Judy- thanks so much. You could- but not quite sure you would get the depth and flavor here without mushrooms? You could try adding more seaweed, and maybe miso?
Tastes nothing like fish sauce. It isn’t bad tasting, but fish sauce doesn’t taste like this
Well yes, there is no fish in it, because it is vegan, but in recipes, it is a good substitute.
So I think I used too much seaweed. It was hard to judge an amount since I only had wakame flakes instead of a sheet to work with but boy did it expand to take over the pot. Regardless this recipe seems pretty forgiving because the end result still tastes awesome. Obviously it does not taste like fish sauce but it packs a powerful umami punch which is basically the point anyway. Thank you for providing a great ingredient to add to my vegetarian dishes that were juuuust missing something.
★★★★★
Thanks Crystal!