Cabernet Sauvignon substitute

Best substitute

Syrah, Shiraz or Malbec

Use the same amount as the cabernet sauvignon you are replacing

Best for short ribs and pot roast

Different taste

Any dry red wine works, and the closest matches are syrah or shiraz and malbec, one for one, because they share cabernet's dark colour and firm structure. Merlot is the most common thing people have to hand and swaps one for one too, but it is much softer and plummier, so a braise made with it tastes rounder and sweeter and the sauce feels less grippy against the fat; a teaspoon or two of red wine vinegar at the end puts the edge back. What cabernet is really contributing to a pot roast or short ribs is tannin, which cuts through fat, plus acid, dark fruit and colour. Avoid any sweet red and avoid red cooking wine, which is salted.

Other cabernet sauvignon substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Merlot or a cabernet-merlot blend
Different taste
Use the same amount plus 1 to 2 tsp red wine vinegar at the end
The soft, plummy, low-tannin red most likely to be open in the house already.
What changes
Best for
beef stew and braises, tomato-based sauces, meatballs, everyday cooking
Completely usable, with one predictable difference. Merlot has far less tannin, and tannin is what gives a red wine sauce its grip and its ability to cut through fatty meat. A pot roast made with merlot tastes rounder, softer and slightly sweeter, and the sauce can feel a little flabby next to the beef fat. Two easy fixes: add a teaspoon or two of red wine vinegar right at the end to restore the edge, or brown a tablespoon of tomato paste in the pan before the wine goes in, which adds both acid and savoury depth. Any bottle labelled Bordeaux, Merlot-Cabernet or simply dry red blend is doing the same job.
3Chianti, Sangiovese or Rioja
Different taste
Use the same amount
Higher-acid Italian and Spanish dry reds with sour cherry fruit and moderate tannin.
What changes
Best for
ragu and tomato sauces, braised pork, beef stew, bean dishes
The right choice when the dish contains tomato, because their higher acidity and sour-cherry fruit sit naturally alongside it, which is exactly why Italian ragu recipes call for them. Compared with cabernet the sauce comes out brighter and more savoury, less black and jammy, with a slightly leaner body and a faint dried-herb note. Rioja made from tempranillo adds a dill-and-vanilla character from American oak that suits pork and beans. All three carry enough acid that you should taste before adding lemon or vinegar at the end, since they may not need it.
4Any bottle labelled dry red table wine
Close match
Use the same amount
An unspecified dry red blend, a Cotes du Rhone, a Portuguese or southern French red, or a supermarket house red.
What changes
Best for
braises and stews, deglazing, marinades, budget cooking
In the great majority of recipes that specify cabernet, the recipe writer just wanted a dry red with some structure, and an inexpensive blend does the job for a fraction of the price. Two things to check on the bottle. It should say dry, not semi-sweet or sweet, because residual sugar turns a reduction into a sticky glaze over the meat. And avoid anything heavily oaked, since concentrated oak in a sauce reads as coconut and vanilla, which is odd against beef. Beyond that the differences between mid-priced dry reds mostly vanish after an hour in a braising pot.
5Cranberry or pomegranate juice with beef broth and vinegar
Different taste
For 1 cup: ½ cup unsweetened juice, ½ cup beef broth, 1 tsp red wine vinegar
The alcohol-free version, built to supply tannin, savoury depth and acid separately.
What changes
Best for
alcohol-free braises, beef stew, pot roast, cooking for children
The best non-alcoholic red wine stand-in, and the reason it works is that cranberry and pomegranate skins carry real tannin, so you get some of the grip a good cabernet gives rather than just colour and sweetness. The broth supplies savoury depth that juice alone cannot. What changes is unmistakable: the finished sauce is noticeably fruitier and less complex, and it lacks the alcohol that dissolves and carries aroma, so the dish smells less. Use unsweetened juice, not cranberry cocktail, and add salt only at the very end, because broth reduces into a salt bomb. Watch the pan, since fruit juice caramelises sooner than wine.
6Sweet red wine or red cooking wine, both to avoid
Taste and texture differ
Not recommended
Lambrusco, sweet kosher wine, sweetened supermarket red blends, and the salted bottles labelled cooking wine.
What changes
Best for
knowing what not to use, avoiding oversalted sauces, avoiding sweet braises
Worth naming so you do not make the mistake. Sweet reds reduce into something closer to a dessert glaze, and once a pot roast has gone sweet there is no way to take the sugar back out; a squeeze of lemon helps a little and that is all. Red cooking wine carries a great deal of added salt, so reducing a cup of it concentrates roughly a dish's worth of seasoning into a few spoonfuls of sauce. If either is genuinely all you have, use half the quantity, make up the volume with broth or water, do not reduce hard, and season only at the end after tasting.

What is Cabernet Sauvignon?

Cabernet Sauvignon is Cabernet Sauvignon, often shortened to cabernet or cab sauv, is a dry, deeply coloured, firmly tannic red wine grown almost everywhere wine is made, tasting of blackcurrant and dark plum with cedar or vanilla notes when it has seen oak.

Cooking tips

Tannin concentrates as the wine reduces, so a big oaky cabernet boiled down hard can turn drying and bitter. Reduce it by about half, then taste. If it grips the tongue unpleasantly, swirl in a knob of cold butter or a teaspoon of sugar rather than adding more wine.
Oak matters more than price. A heavily oaked cabernet pushes coconut, vanilla and cedar into your sauce, which tastes strange against beef. A plainer, lightly oaked or unoaked bottle is the better kitchen choice even if it costs less.
Add it to a hot pan and let it bubble down to a syrupy film before the stock goes in. Wine added late tastes raw and sharply alcoholic, and no amount of simmering afterwards fully fixes it.
Braise in stainless steel, enamelled cast iron or ceramic rather than bare cast iron or unlined aluminium. Hours of contact between a high-acid red and bare iron gives the sauce a metallic edge and dulls the colour to brown-grey.
A recipe rarely wants a whole bottle. Freeze the rest in two tablespoon ice cube portions and you have deglazing wine for months, which is far better than a half bottle going stale on the counter.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the cabernet out?

In a stew or braise, yes, provided you replace the liquid and put some acid back. Use the same volume of beef broth plus a teaspoon of red wine vinegar and brown a tablespoon of tomato paste in the pan for depth. The result is a good stew that tastes savoury rather than winey, and the sauce will be paler and less complex. In a dish built on the wine, such as a bordelaise sauce, coq au vin or a boeuf bourguignon, leaving it out means cooking a different dish.

Does the cabernet have to be expensive?

No. The nuance and perfume you pay for in a good bottle are the first things an hour of simmering removes. What you do want is a wine that is not faulty, not sweet and not overwhelmingly oaky. A modest bottle of dry red in the ten to fifteen dollar range is a better cooking wine than an expensive, heavily oaked one.

Is merlot or cabernet better for cooking?

It depends on the dish. Cabernet's tannin gives a sauce grip and helps it cut through fatty meat, which is why it suits short ribs, pot roast and steak sauces. Merlot is softer and fruitier, which suits tomato sauces, meatballs and anything you plan to reduce hard, because it will not turn bitter. If you swap merlot into a cabernet recipe, finish with a splash of red wine vinegar.

When a recipe says dry red wine, does cabernet count?

Yes, cabernet is a textbook dry red. It sits at the fuller, more tannic end of that category, so in a delicate dish it can dominate, and in something like a light mushroom sauce or a fish dish a pinot noir would be a better read of the instruction. For beef, lamb and long braises, cabernet is exactly what dry red wine means.

Can I use red cooking wine instead?

Only with care. Cooking wine has a large amount of salt added so it can sit on a grocery shelf, so if you use it one for one and season the recipe as written the dish comes out oversalted, and reducing it to a glaze makes that far worse. Use half as much, make up the volume with broth or water, and salt only at the end after tasting.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Cabernet Sauvignon substitute

Other cabernet sauvignon substitutes

2Merlot or a cabernet-merlot blend

3Chianti, Sangiovese or Rioja

4Any bottle labelled dry red table wine

5Cranberry or pomegranate juice with beef broth and vinegar

6Sweet red wine or red cooking wine, both to avoid