Better Than Bouillon substitute

Substitutes for Better Than Bouillon with ratios

1. 2Ready-made broth or stock, replacing the base and the water together

   Different taste

   1 cup broth replaces 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon plus 1 cup water

   The cleanest-tasting option.

   What changes

   Rather than trying to replace the concentrate, replace the finished broth it was going to make, and remove the water the recipe added alongside it.

   Best for

   soups, risotto, gravy, braises, cooking grains

   Much less salty than the base, so the dish will need salt of its own; start with a quarter teaspoon per cup and taste. It is also cleaner and lighter, without the concentrated roasted note the base has, which some people prefer and others find thin. If the recipe uses the base as a dry seasoning with no water at all, this route does not work; reduce a cup of broth down to about two tablespoons instead.

2. 3Any other brand of soup base or stock concentrate

   Close match

   Use the same amount by volume, then taste

   Minor's, Orrington Farms, Tone's, Knorr Concentrated Stock and Knorr Stock Pots are all the same category of product and interchange freely with Better Than Bouillon at the same measurement.

   What changes

   Best for

   everything Better Than Bouillon is used for

   Salt levels vary a good deal between brands, so taste the mixed broth before it goes into the pot and adjust. The Knorr Stock Pot style is more gelatinous and sets like jelly, which gives sauces a slightly silkier body. Restaurant bases such as Minor's are often less salty and more meat-forward, and they are usually the better product.

3. 4White miso plus soy sauce and onion powder

   Different taste

   Use 1 teaspoon white miso plus ½ teaspoon soy sauce plus a pinch of onion powder for every 1 teaspoon of base

   A pantry route that works genuinely well for the vegetable and mushroom varieties.

   What changes

   Miso supplies the salt, the paste texture and the fermented savoury depth, soy sauce supplies glutamate and colour, and onion powder supplies the aromatic sweetness that soup bases lean on heavily.

   Best for

   vegetable soups, vegan gravy, braises, noodle broths, beans and grains

   Tastes distinctly of miso: beanier, a little sweeter, and cloudier in the pot. It is a poor imitation of the roasted chicken and beef varieties, whose flavour comes from actual roasted meat, but it is a very good stand-in for vegetable base. Whisk the miso into hot rather than boiling liquid so it stays smooth.

4. 5Rendered fat plus soy sauce plus salt

   Different taste

   Use 1 teaspoon chicken fat, butter or bacon fat plus ½ teaspoon soy sauce plus ¼ teaspoon salt for every 1 teaspoon of base

   This takes the base apart into its three actual jobs, which is fat for roundness, glutamate for savoury depth, and salt, and rebuilds it from things most kitchens have.

   What changes

   Surprisingly effective in gravy and pan sauces.

   Best for

   gravy, pan sauces, stir-fries, rice, braises

   Not as complex as the base, and it will not make anything you would drink as broth on its own, but in a dish with other ingredients it is close. Schmaltz or bacon fat make it noticeably better than butter does. Soy sauce darkens things, so use less in a pale sauce and add a pinch of MSG instead if you have it.

5. 6The honest answer: nothing else is this convenient

   Different taste

   Better Than Bouillon's real advantage is not flavour, it is that a jar lives in the fridge for months and a teaspoon turns water into broth on demand.

   What changes

   No substitute reproduces both the taste and that convenience at once, which is why a bouillon cube is the answer for most people rather than anything homemade.

   Best for

   deciding what to buy next time

   One thing genuinely worth knowing: the base is very salty, considerably more than an equivalent volume of broth, so any recipe written around it has usually had its added salt reduced to compensate. When you swap to a less salty option such as carton broth, you almost always need to add salt back, and the dish tasting flat is the most common complaint after this substitution.