Vegan Fish Sauce (Fish-less Sauce!)
It’s the (sort of) secret to Thai food- fish sauce. But if you’re like me, and don’t include fish on the menu this vegan fish sauce is the perfect alternative. It uses soy sauce, seaweed, and shiitake mushrooms to get that perfect, fishy, complex umami flavor that makes Thai food amazing, without harming a single fish. It is flavorful, easy to make, and a must-have in the fridge. Use it as a 1 for 1 substitution for fish sauce in recipes, or add a little in place of soy sauce to bump up the flavor in your dish.
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What is Fish Sauce?
Fish sauce is a common ingredient used many Southeastern and Eastern Asian cuisines, among those Thai food. It lends a distinctive umami flavor to many dishes, and Thai food really doesn’t taste like Thai food without it. Fish sauce is drizzled into just about every dish with the frequency we use salt. It is typically made by fermenting whole fish, or fish blood with salt- but fortunately there is also a vegan way to capture this flavor. A vegan fish sauce, or fish-less fish sauce. Also a heads up when eating Thai food- make sure you explicitly ask for your dish not to contain fish sauce, otherwise it’s fairly likely it will!
How to Use Fish Sauce
If you’ve made your fish sauce, tried it and were shocked by how salty it was, then came back here to read the recipe and see if you did anything wrong, chances are you didn’t! Fish sauce/vegan fish sauce is salty! It’s not meant to be eaten in large amounts, or on it’s own. Add a dash of vegetarian fish sauce to food the same way you would add soy sauce- add it to stir-fries, marinades, soups, noodles, vinaigrettes, or dipping sauces. If you’re following a non-vegan recipe, this vegan fish sauce can be substituted 1:1 for traditional fish sauce.
Looking to Use Your Vegan Fish Sauce? Try one of these recipes!
- TVP Vegan Larb: A Delicious Laotian Salad
- Spiralized Radish Thai Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)
- Vegan Chicken of the Woods Pad Kee Mao
- Substitute the soy sauce for vegan fish sauce in this Japchae
- Or in this Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Vegan Chick’n
The Secret is Seaweeds
The real secret to getting a fishy flavor without the fish is by finding underwater vegetation- seaweed. I used a couple different varieties I picked up when I spent a week up on Grand Manan Island, in New Brunswick. I got them at Roland’s Sea Vegetables, which provided at least a dozen different varieties of dried seaweeds- in the end I got 4-5 types and threw them all in this sauce. I used both of them in the creation of this fish sauce, and found the flavor deeper and more delicious than when I had made it in the past with only dulse. I highly recommend this combination of seaweeds when making this vegan fish sauce, but you should feel free to experiment with the types that are available to you. A quick note there- you are looking for seaweed that will produce a flavor broth, and not thicken your sauce. Something like Irish moss that is not flavorful and acts as a thickening agent is not what we’re going for!
Making Vegan Fish Sauce
This vegan fish sauce takes about 45 minutes to make, but it’s also really hands off. Put it on the stove (turn on a fan), and walk away. There are just two basic steps- the first step is to combine all the ingredients except the soy sauce in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Let that simmer for a while, and then drain it keeping the liquid, which is now basically a strong seaweed tea. Not something I’m drinking a mug of, but it’s perfect for this vegan fish sauce. The second step is to take that seaweed tea, add the soy sauce, and reduce it to concentrate the flavor. This shouldn’t take all that long as the liquid will have already reduced in the first step. Then just let the sauce cool down, and store it in the fridge where it’s handy any time you want to give your cooking a little “oomph”.
Vegan Fish Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 cups of water
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp. of Chinese peppercorn
- 40 grams dried seaweed (ideally a mix of seaweeds such as nori, dulse, alleria, kombu, wakame, sea lettuce, hijiki and more. Do not use seaweeds like irish moss that work as thickeners, or you will have a gel instead of a sauce)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- ½ cup soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce
Instructions
- In a medium sized sauce pan, add the water, garlic, peppercorn, dried mushrooms and seaweeds and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes.
- Strain the solids from the liquid, discard the solids and return the liquid to the pot on the stove. On medium-low heat add the soy sauce and continue to cook down, until the liquid tastes slightly fishy and very salty- you should end up with about 2-2 ½ cups. Refrigerate for future use.
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Let’s Hear from you…
- Have you ever had fish sauce before? What are your thoughts?
- What are your favorite dishes that use fish sauce?
- How long do you think you can keep a jar of vegan fish sauce in your fridge before you eat it all? 2 weeks?
Share your answers in the comments below!
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What an incredible idea! Really answers the “I can’t have that because it will contain fish sauce” issue!
Thank you!