Amontillado Sherry substitute

Best substitute

Dry Sherry Plus a Splash of Cream Sherry

Use the same amount total volume (3 tbsp dry sherry + 1 tsp cream sherry per ¼ cup) as the amontillado sherry you are replacing

Best for Spanish almond soup

Close match

The closest home-kitchen rebuild of amontillado: dry sherry supplies the saline, nutty backbone and the small amount of cream sherry adds back the rounder, raisin-edged depth that oxidative ageing gives amontillado.

Other amontillado sherry substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Dry Sherry (Fino or Manzanilla)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Plain dry sherry is the same wine from the same region at an earlier stage of its life, so the acidity, alcohol level and salinity are all right where a recipe expects them.
What changes
Best for
deglazing pans, soups, risotto and rice dishes, sauteed mushrooms, seafood
Brighter, sharper and much less nutty. What you lose is the roasted-almond and dried-walnut aroma, which is exactly the note a recipe usually wants amontillado for. Toasting a tablespoon of slivered almonds into the dish, or adding 1/2 teaspoon of brandy per 1/4 cup, gets most of it back.
3Dry Madeira (Sercial or Verdelho)
Close match
Use the same amount
Madeira is also aged in contact with air, so it shares amontillado's nutty, faintly bruised-apple character rather than tasting like fresh wine.
What changes
Best for
mushroom dishes, pan sauces for pork and chicken, onion soup, consomme and clear soups
Very close in the direction of flavour, with a little more caramel and cooked-apple and less of the sea-salt edge that comes from Jerez. Buy a dry style: Bual and Malmsey are sweet and will make a savoury sauce taste like a glaze.
4Dry Marsala
Different taste
Use the same amount
A Sicilian fortified wine with a comparable alcohol level and a nutty, oxidised profile, widely stocked in supermarkets that do not carry sherry at all.
What changes
Best for
chicken and veal pan sauces, mushroom sauces, beef stews, tomato-based braises
Noticeably sweeter and more raisin-and-brown-sugar than amontillado, so the finished sauce reads rounder and a little candied. If the recipe has any added sugar or honey, leave it out. Choose Marsala labelled secco, not dolce.
5Dry White Wine Plus Brandy
Different taste
3 parts dry white wine to 1 part brandy, used 1:1 for the amontillado
A pantry rebuild that gets the two mechanical jobs right: the wine brings acidity and deglazing power, the brandy brings the higher alcohol and a little barrel warmth.
What changes
Best for
deglazing, quick pan sauces, braises where the sherry is a background note
Fresher, more acidic and distinctly grapey. It has none of the oxidised nuttiness, so a dish like Spanish almond soup, where amontillado is the main aroma, will taste plainly of white wine instead. Fine when the sherry is one of ten ingredients, poor when it is the point.
6Broth Plus Sherry Vinegar (Non-Alcoholic)
Different taste
Use the same amount total (¼ cup broth + ½ tsp sherry vinegar)
Mushroom, chicken or vegetable broth supplies savoury depth and the small amount of sherry vinegar supplies the acidity and a genuine whiff of Jerez, since it is made from the same wine.
What changes
Best for
alcohol-free cooking, soups, braises, sauces for children
The dish will be less aromatic and less complex, because alcohol carries aromas that water does not. Add the vinegar off the heat so it does not cook away, taste before adding salt, and expect a flatter, more broth-forward result. Unsweetened white grape juice with the same amount of vinegar also works but pushes the dish sweeter.

What is Amontillado Sherry?

Amontillado Sherry is Amontillado is a dry Spanish fortified wine from Jerez that begins as a pale fino under a veil of flor yeast and then ages in contact with air, which gives it an amber colour and a toasted-almond aroma without making it sweet.

Cooking tips

Amontillado's job in savoury cooking is aroma and acidity, not sweetness. Pour it into a hot pan, let it bubble for 30 to 60 seconds to drive off the raw alcohol edge, then build the sauce around it.
Do not swap in supermarket cooking sherry one-for-one. It is salted so it can be sold in grocery aisles, so if you use it you need to cut the recipe's salt by about half a teaspoon per 1/4 cup and taste before seasoning.
Once opened, amontillado holds up far better than fino. Recork it, refrigerate it and it stays good for cooking for three to four weeks, whereas a fino goes tired in about five days.
In Spanish almond soup and in mushroom dishes, add half the sherry early to cook down and half at the very end off the heat. The first half builds depth, the second half puts the nutty aroma back on top.
If you are drinking it rather than cooking with it, serve amontillado lightly chilled, around 55F, in a normal wine glass. Ice-cold it tastes of nothing, and warm it tastes of the alcohol.

Frequently asked questions

Is amontillado sherry sweet?

No. Amontillado is dry to very slightly off-dry. Its nutty, almost caramelly aroma tricks people into expecting sugar, and the Edgar Allan Poe story makes it sound like a rare dessert wine, but a real bottle tastes savoury and saline. This matters when you substitute: cream sherry, sweet Madeira and sweet Marsala are all sweet, so using them straight will make a savoury dish taste glazed.

What is the difference between amontillado, dry sherry and cream sherry?

They are three points on the same scale. Fino and manzanilla, sold as dry sherry, are pale, crisp and aged under a protective layer of yeast. Amontillado, the medium sherry, starts that way and then loses the yeast veil and ages in contact with air, turning amber and picking up toasted-almond depth while staying dry. Cream sherry is oloroso that has been deliberately sweetened. For cooking, amontillado sits neatly between dry sherry's brightness and cream sherry's richness, which is why blending the two is the best substitute.

Can I just leave the amontillado out?

You can, but replace its volume with liquid or the dish will be too thick, and replace its acidity or it will taste flat and heavy. For every 1/4 cup of sherry, use 1/4 cup of broth and stir in 1/2 teaspoon of sherry vinegar or lemon juice at the end. In a mushroom or almond soup you will notice the loss, because the sherry is most of the aroma. In a long-simmered stew where it is one flavour among many, it barely registers.

Can I use amontillado and dry sherry interchangeably?

In cooking, yes, almost always, and the reverse holds too. Dry sherry in place of amontillado gives a lighter, sharper result; amontillado in place of dry sherry gives a slightly deeper, nuttier one. The only place the swap really shows is a dish built around the sherry itself, such as Spanish almond soup or a sherry-heavy mushroom sauce, or a cocktail like an Adonis or a Bamboo, where the nutty middleweight character is the whole reason the recipe names amontillado.

What can I use instead of amontillado in a cocktail?

This is the hardest case, because nothing is being cooked off and the sherry is a main ingredient rather than a seasoning. Dry Madeira is the closest bottle most bars have. Failing that, use two parts dry sherry to one part oloroso or cream sherry, which gets you close to amontillado's weight. A non-alcoholic version is not really achievable here; the drink will not taste like the recipe.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Amontillado Sherry substitute

Other amontillado sherry substitutes

2Dry Sherry (Fino or Manzanilla)

3Dry Madeira (Sercial or Verdelho)

4Dry Marsala

5Dry White Wine Plus Brandy

6Broth Plus Sherry Vinegar (Non-Alcoholic)