Best Substitutes for Cooking Wine?Good Questions

Q: I can't use wine in my food. Is there any ingredient that I can use?

Sent by Kirn

Editor: Kirn, this depends on the recipe, but often something that gives a little acidity and depth to the dish, like balsamic vinegar, can play a similar role to wine. Also, reduced stocks can offer an extra depth of flavor. We are also intrigued by this Dry Gourmet project, working to create powdered non-alcoholic wines for cooking.

Readers, what are your best substitutes and tips for cooking without wine?

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Related: Technique: Cooking With Wine

(Image: Dry Gourmet)

Categories: Main, Drinks, Advice, Questions, Wine

Posted by Faith Durand

Faith Durand is the executive editor of The Kitchn and the author of Bakeless Sweets: Pudding, Panna Cotta, Fluff, Icebox Cake, and More No-Bake Desserts. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
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Comments (8)

Apple juice with a splash of apple cider can be substituted for white wine in most dishes. If you need less apple flavor then white grape with a dash of apple of cider.

It really depends on what effect you need from the wine. If it is a dry wine I usually use 1 part vinegar and 3 parts chicken (or vegetable) broth. For a sweet wine grape juice and vinegar.

Thanks for mentioning The Dry Gourmet. A quick update on our project: We're planning to launch this Summer...and we'll have both a Dry Red and a Dry White cooking wine.

You can sign-up here to be notified of our launch. (http://www.drygourmet.com)

Cheers!

Ben
The Dry Gourmet

If I'm deglazing and I want acid I'll use lemon juice in the alternative. I also go with a stock/vinger mix for a larger quantity.

It would help to know why you can't use wine. Is it an issue with alcohol, tannins, acidity...?

I usually just use stock + lemon juice. Just don't do what my mom does and sub plain water. It rarely works out very well. :)

I don't use wine either so looked up what to use instead of white wine in a favourite recipe and one of the suggestions was gingerale, so I've been using that and it works!

I find pomegranate juice with a splash of balsamic vinegar is a great sub for red wine.