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Belacan substitute

Best substitute

Indonesian terasi

Use the same amount as the belacan you are replacing

Best for sambal belacan

Close match

Indonesian terasi is the closest swap at 1:1 and is toasted the same way. Wet Thai shrimp paste from a jar works if you use about half again as much, since it is looser and less concentrated, and you fry it in oil rather than dry-toasting it. If you have neither, one tablespoon of fish sauce per teaspoon of toasted belacan covers the salt and the umami but none of the toasty depth. Belacan's job is to be the deep savoury floor under a sambal, supplying salt and concentrated fermented umami, so any swap needs to deliver those two things at minimum.

Other belacan substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Belacan with ratios

  1. 2Thai shrimp paste in a jar (kapi)

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1.5 teaspoons wet paste for every 1 teaspoon belacan

    Very common and easy to buy, but wetter and milder, so the handling changes.

    What changes
    Best for
    curry pastes, sambal for cooked dishes, stir-fried greens, nam prik style dips

    Kapi comes as a soft dark paste with a lot more moisture in it, so measure generously and expect it to loosen your sambal. Crucially, do not try to dry-toast it: it will scorch and stick. Instead fry it in a teaspoon of oil for a minute or two until it stops smelling raw. The flavour is saltier and sweeter in a slightly cleaner way, with much less of the toasted, almost roasted-nut depth belacan gets from being cooked over dry heat. It reads Thai rather than Malaysian in a finished dish.

  2. 3Fish sauce

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1 tablespoon fish sauce for every 1 teaspoon belacan

    The most likely thing in your cupboard, and it covers salt and umami and nothing else.

    What changes
    Best for
    cooked sambals, stir-fries, curry and noodle sauces, soups

    Fish sauce and belacan come from the same fermentation family, so the savoury direction is right, but fish sauce is a thin liquid and belacan is a dense concentrate. The finished sambal will be looser, brighter and noticeably thinner-tasting, without the heavy, sticky, almost bitter depth belacan brings. It also adds a lot of salt, so cut back the salt elsewhere in the recipe. Half a teaspoon of brown or palm sugar alongside it helps mimic belacan's rounded, slightly fermented sweetness.

  3. 4Dried shrimp, toasted and ground

    Different taste

    Use 2 tablespoons dried shrimp for every 1 teaspoon belacan

    Closer in texture and body than fish sauce, but nowhere near as funky.

    What changes
    Best for
    sambal, kangkung belacan and stir-fried vegetables, chili pastes, rojak dressings

    Toast the dried shrimp in a dry pan for two or three minutes until fragrant, then pound or blitz them to a coarse powder. They give you real shrimp flavour and enough body to thicken a paste, which fish sauce cannot do. What is absent is the fermentation: dried shrimp taste sweet and cleanly of the sea, whereas belacan tastes pungent, deep and slightly cheesy. Adding a teaspoon of fish sauce alongside them narrows the gap noticeably. Expect a slightly gritty texture unless you grind them very fine.

  4. 5Anchovy paste or mashed tinned anchovy fillets

    Taste and texture differ

    Use 1 teaspoon anchovy paste for every 1 teaspoon belacan

    A Mediterranean stand-in that delivers salty savouriness in a different accent.

    What changes
    Best for
    cooked sambals, curry pastes, stir-fried greens, braises

    It works because it is also salted, cured seafood and it also dissolves into a sauce and disappears while leaving depth behind. It is oilier, straightforwardly fishy rather than fermented, and less pungent, so the dish will taste savoury but not distinctly Southeast Asian. Add a quarter teaspoon of sugar to round it out. This is fine in a cooked sambal or a curry base and clearly wrong in a raw sambal belacan pounded with fresh chili and lime, where the belacan flavour is the whole point.

  5. 6Miso plus soy sauce and a pinch of ground seaweed

    Different taste

    Use 1 teaspoon red or brown miso plus ½ teaspoon soy sauce and a pinch of ground kombu for every 1 teaspoon belacan

    The shellfish-free option, and honest about being a different flavour rather than a copy.

    What changes
    Best for
    vegetarian and vegan sambal, shellfish allergies, curry pastes, stir-fried greens

    Darker miso brings fermented saltiness and a similar thick, concentrated texture, the soy adds a savoury edge, and a pinch of ground kombu or nori supplies the marine note miso completely lacks. Together they produce a sambal that is rounder, beanier and less pungent, and unmistakably not made with shrimp. It is a good sauce in its own right. Fry the miso mixture in a little oil first, as you would the paste, so it loses its raw taste.

What is Belacan?

Belacan is Malaysian and Singaporean shrimp paste, also spelled blacan, sold as a hard, dry, brick-like block of salted fermented shrimp that has to be toasted before it goes into a dish, where it supplies deep savoury funk and most of the salt.

Cooking tips

  • Belacan has to be toasted, and this is the step that separates it from wet shrimp pastes. Wrap the amount you need in a double layer of foil, flatten it, and dry-fry it in a pan for two to three minutes a side until it darkens slightly and crumbles easily. Untoasted belacan tastes raw and harsh in a sambal.
  • Toasting belacan smells extremely strong and will fill the house. Open a window, turn the extractor fan on, and consider doing it outdoors on a portable burner. The foil parcel method keeps the smell down considerably compared with toasting it naked in the pan.
  • A little goes a very long way. One teaspoon of toasted belacan is enough for a sambal to serve four, and doubling it does not make the dish twice as good, it makes it acrid. If a recipe calls for a whole tablespoon, check whether it is feeding a crowd.
  • Store the block double-wrapped in cling film inside an airtight jar, and keep it away from anything absorbent. It is stable at room temperature for a very long time, but its smell will migrate into butter, bread, rice and anything else with fat or starch in the same cupboard.
  • For sambal belacan specifically, the toasted block is pounded with fresh red chilies, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of calamansi or lime, and served uncooked. Because there is nowhere for a substitute to hide in that recipe, this is the one dish where it is worth buying the real thing.

Frequently asked questions

Is belacan the same as shrimp paste?

Belacan is one specific form of shrimp paste, not a synonym for it. The Malaysian and Singaporean version is dried and pressed into a hard block that you toast before use, whereas Thai kapi and most jarred shrimp pastes are soft and wet and get fried in oil instead. Indonesian terasi is the closest relative to belacan. The difference matters in the kitchen because the dry block is far more concentrated, so quantities and handling are not interchangeable.

Can I just leave the belacan out?

You can, and the dish will still be edible, but it will taste noticeably flat and one-dimensional. Belacan is what makes a Malaysian sambal taste savoury and deep rather than just hot and sour, so removing it is like leaving the anchovy out of a Caesar dressing. If you have to omit it, add a tablespoon of fish sauce and half a teaspoon of sugar to put back some of the salt and depth, and expect a lighter, brighter sambal.

Do I really have to toast it?

Yes, for the dry block form. Toasting drives off moisture, mellows the raw pungency, and develops the deep roasted note that belacan is prized for. Untoasted, it tastes sharp and slightly soapy, and it will not break down properly when you pound it. Wet jarred shrimp paste is the exception: fry that briefly in oil instead, because it will burn on dry heat.

Why does belacan smell so bad?

Because it is shrimp that has been salted and fermented for weeks to months, which produces the same class of pungent compounds you get in fish sauce, aged cheese and anchovies. The smell is far stronger than the taste, and cooking transforms it: a sambal made with belacan tastes savoury and rich rather than fishy. If the raw smell puts you off, that is normal and not a sign anything is wrong with the block.

What can I use if someone has a shellfish allergy?

Use a teaspoon of red or brown miso with half a teaspoon of soy sauce and a pinch of ground kombu or crumbled nori, fried briefly in oil, per teaspoon of belacan. That combination gives you fermented saltiness, savoury depth and a hint of the sea. It will not taste like belacan, but it will make a good sambal. Avoid fish sauce, anchovy paste and dried shrimp entirely, and check jarred sambals and curry pastes, most of which contain shrimp paste.

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