The Best Simple Cooking Sake Substitutes

If my Irishman hadn’t bought 2 bottles of cooking sake, it’s not an ingredient I would normally have in the house. There are plenty of cooking sake substitutes, that make it hard to justify extra space in your pantry.

Especially if you only cook Japanese food occasionally.

Here are my favourite substitutes…

What is cooking sake?

Sake is a fermented Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. Because it is going to be exposed to heat and other flavors cooking sakes are generally on the cheaper end of the spectrum. However if your budget allows you can use any sake you have in the house for Japanese cooking.

Best Cooking Sake Substitutes

(in order of preference)

1. Shao Xing Cooking Wine

The closest match is Chinese Rice Wine also called Shaoxing Wine. At the risk of over simplifying, this is essentially the Chinese version of Japanese sake which undergoes a similar fermentation process or brewing process.

If you were planning to sit down and drink a glass on it’s own, there are marked differences. Most noticeably that Shao Xing contains salt (presumably to stop people drinking it from the bottle) which means it has more umami flavour and less of the mild sweetness of cooking sake.

But once used in cooking, soups, broths, chicken dishes or marinades, especially in small quantities it’s practically impossible to tell them apart.

2. Dry Sherry

Sherry is made from grapes, not rice. However the flavour profile of sherry is similar enough to sake to make it an excellent substitute.

If you only have sweet sherry in the house, it could be used. But will contribute some sweet flavours which may or may not be a good thing.

3. White Wine

Any white will work in a recipe as a cooking sake substitute. But given sake has an alcohol content around 14.5%, bigger more alcoholic wines like Chardonnay will give the closest match.

4. Water

While it won’t provide any of the flavour or mild acidity that you get from sake, water is a liquid. And sake is a liquid so at least water will substitute that function. If you need to keep your dish alcohol-free, water would be my go-to as the best non-alcoholic substitute.

5. Kombucha

If you are brewing your own kombucha and happen to have a bottle floating around (like I do), it adds a similar acidity at a pinch. Although you won’t get the alcohol. And it may offend any purists of Japanese culture.

Commercial kombuchas tend to be sweeter so be careful with those. Don’t use komuchcha with strong fruity flavors that may clash with your delicate Japanese cuisine.

6. Mirin

Mirin isn’t higher on my list of cooking sake substitutes because it’s so much sweeter in flavor than sake. So it will radically change the profile of your dish.

That being said if you don’t mind the extra sweet taste you can give it a try. It would work well in glazes because if the extra sugar.

Whats the difference between Cooking Sake and Sake?

As far as I know cooking sake and sake are the same thing… Alcoholic beverages made from fermented rice.

What about soy sauce

I wouldn’t use it. The intense salty umami flavour of soy sauce will completely overpower your dish if you try to use it as a sake substitute.

More Ingredient Substitutes

Also see see the Simple Ingredients Substitutes Index.

Have fun in the kitchen!

With love,
Jules x

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