asian fish sauce

How to make Vegan Fish Sauce! - a plant-based substitute for fish sauce that adds depth and umami flavor to Asian dishes. Gluten-free adaptable!

Vegan Fish sauce 

water

soy sauce– shoyu, tamari,

dried mushrooms (like dried shiitakes)

x 8 inch sheet of dried kombu (seaweed) or wakame seaweed

garlic cloves, sliced

salt

shallot

Bring all to a simmer in a medium pot, uncovered, over medium heat. Simmer on low until reduced by half.  You should have about 2 cups of liquid.

If you have time, let this steep overnight, or up to 24 hours, covered on the counter. Then strain and pour into a clean glass bottle or  jar.

***If liquid is less than 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.

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.

Wow! Liquid gold, I add both roasted garlic &amp; greatly roasted red onion. So happy to now be able to make my favourite Thai dishes for my vegan and shellfish allergic friends.  This fish sauce recipe is even better than the real stuff, cheers

How do you measure 1/2 cup dried shiitakes? Lots of air around those stuff caps &amp; stems! Can you tell us the weight, please?

This is my go-to vegan fish sauce. My husband became a vegetarian 2 years ago after having increasingly horrible digestive issues. 

He is a huge lover of Asian cuisine and we found your sauce and make it in large quantities. We store it in bpa free squirt bottles in our fridge. 

I am half Filipino and use it on any native dish that calls for “Patis”, our traditional fish sauce. 

I even use it in meat-based dishes to add extra flavor. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.

Thank you so much for a Vegan fish sauce that can easily be adapted to be gluten or even soy free (via coconut aminos or the like).  We use tamari since I have a gluten intolerance.  Have made this fishless sauce/seaweed sauce three times now.  Letting it steep overnight and filtering it right away.  Letting it steep overnight is definitely a must!  Gives a deeper color and richer flavor.  A little goes a long way when using it.  Recently I made it with kelp sheets instead of kombu, and I actually like the flavor even more.  I usually use a 1 oz package of dried shiitakes, because they are expensive if bought organic.  Not sure how many cups that comes out to.  We always add a shallot or a quarter of red onion or both!  The other thing I love about this sauce is that it can stand in and add those umami flavors that processed Chinese or Asian sauces do in recipes without the preservatives, caramel color, wheat gluten and added sugars.  Thank you again!

In SE Asian cooking, fish sauce is an essential component of the Thai holy flavour grail of hot, sour, salty, sweet. But it's no good if you avoid consuming animals. My vegan fish sauce, on the other hand, delivers that essential umami-bomb, is really easy to make, and is good to go in only two minutes. I call that a win!

How To Make Vegan Fish Sauce

nori

tbsp all-purpose soy sauce

1½ tbsp dried shiitake powder

1½ tbsp white miso paste

tsp bean curd

tsp rice vinegar

garlic powder

½ tsp double concentrate tomato purée ((aka tomato paste))

⅛ tsp coarsely-ground black pepper

Blender

Put all of the ingredients into a high-speed blander, and blitz for a few seconds, until you have a liquid with no discernible bits.

Strain through a piece of muslin into a glass bottle or jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Keep in the fridge for up to three months.

Use 1:1 in recipes which call for fish sauce

Mine turned out a milky colour and filtering the bits of nori etc out was nearly impossible. Gunna just see how it turns out after a week in the fridge as the sediment settles. It Tastes good but I dont think the fermented bean curd I got is the same as yours. Mine is salty and very tasty but I wouldnt say its funky, it has little to no smell.

Ewwww I enjoyed hearing about the literal translations but also kind of wish I didn't know them now haha. This looks great and a much more appealing alternative. I'm not sure if I've ever seen fermented tofu before - is there a specific name it goes by?

Just in right time! Speaking of synchronicity, hehe... just what we needed. Because about the year ago we got all crazy for Corean cuisine which has many great plant based dishes but apart from soy sauce, most common ingredients are fish sauce and oyster sauce.  As vegetarian/vegan family we were eager to cook all those great dishes but weren't so eager to use something that was made from fish or oysters. And what to use instead? Especially in our corner of the world where such condiments are rare, expencive and mostly, you don't know the brands, you don't know what are they made of really (with all those E-xyz things in ingredients list, especially thickening agents, hidden gelatines and stuff). 

So it's so great to find a post like this. So informative, smart and with right informations for vege/vegan people to know. Especially if you've been places, seen stuff, done your homework thoroughly with historical facts... and then presenting it to us.

Thank you, Nico, we'll be using this sauce soon! It's simple, we do have everything we need in our pantry so I'm off to make some!

Nico, firstly "leakage of anchovies" ewwwww.
Secondly I can't tell you how many times people have asked me how I sub for fish sauce.
 I tell them the extra little things I add to a recipe to get that funky umami flavour like miso, nori and fermented sh@*. Now I can just send them your way and get them out of my hair.
 Great recipe! You are a work horse. -Hanne

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Top 2 asian fish sauce recipes from across the web

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Vegan Fish sauce

How To Make Vegan Fish Sauce

The most viewed asian fish sauce recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine