Chicken Base substitute

Best substitute

Chicken bouillon cubes or granules

Use 1 cube, or 1 teaspoon granules, for every 1 teaspoon chicken base

Best for gravy

Taste and texture differ

The exact functional equivalent, and the only swap that works whether the base is going into liquid or being used as a dry seasoning. Both products are engineered around the same dilution, one unit to one cup of water, so nothing else in the recipe has to change.

Other chicken base substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Carton chicken broth or stock, replacing the base and the water together
Different taste
1 cup broth replaces 1 teaspoon base plus 1 cup water
Rather than trying to replace a concentrate with a concentrate, replace the broth the concentrate was going to make and delete the water the recipe added next to it.
What changes
This is the best-tasting route in anything where the broth is the body of the dish.
Best for
soups, risotto, braises, poaching chicken, cooking grains, gravy
The trap is salt. Recipes built on chicken base have usually had their other salt reduced because the base is so salty, so switching to carton broth almost always leaves the dish tasting flat. Add about a quarter teaspoon of salt per cup and correct upward. The flavour is also cleaner and lighter, without the concentrated roasted note base has, which some people prefer. This route cannot work at all if the base is being used dry with no water in the recipe.
3Chicken stock reduced to a glaze (glace de volaille)
Close match
1 cup chicken stock simmered down to about 2 tablespoons replaces 2 teaspoons base; add salt to taste
What chicken base is a factory version of.
What changes
Simmer stock, ideally homemade, until it goes syrupy and coats a spoon, and you have a spoonable concentrate with real chicken flavour and real gelatine in it.
Best for
pan sauces, gravy, risotto, braises, enriching a soup at the end
This is the only substitute here that tastes better than the original rather than merely acceptable, and the only one where the fat and gelatine are genuinely present, so a pan sauce made with it has a glossy body that no cube can produce. Two honest catches: it takes 30 to 40 minutes of unattended simmering, and it contains almost no salt, so you must season the dish separately rather than relying on the concentrate to do it. A tablespoon of the jelly that sets under a roast chicken does the same job in seconds if you happen to have it.
4Pan drippings from a roast or rotisserie chicken
Close match
Use 2 tablespoons skimmed drippings plus ½ teaspoon salt for every 1 teaspoon base
The free option most people throw away.
What changes
The browned juices in the bottom of a roasting tin, or in the tray under a supermarket rotisserie chicken, are concentrated chicken flavour plus fat plus a little salt, which is precisely the description of chicken base.
Best for
gravy, pan sauces, rice cooked alongside a roast, soup made from the carcass, dressing and stuffing
Skim most of the fat off first or the sauce will be greasy, and scrape the sticky browned bits from the tin with a splash of water because that is where the flavour is. Seasoning is unpredictable: a supermarket rotisserie chicken is heavily brined and its drippings can be as salty as the base itself, while a plain home roast will need most of the half teaspoon of salt. Taste, then decide. Drippings also carry whatever the bird was seasoned with, so a lemon-and-herb chicken will push the dish in that direction.
5Vegetable base or mushroom seasoning powder
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
The right answer when the reason you are substituting is that you do not want poultry in the dish.
What changes
Both are built to the same one-teaspoon-per-cup dilution, so the recipe's mechanics do not change at all.
Best for
vegetarian and vegan soups, risotto, grains, braises, gravy
Neither pretends to be chicken, and that is fine in most dishes and obvious in a few. Vegetable base is sweeter and much more carrot and celery forward, which reads as slightly odd in something that is supposed to taste of poultry. Mushroom seasoning powder is earthier and deeply savoury and will darken a pale broth to beige. If you want the closest vegetarian match, use a teaspoon of white miso with a pinch of onion powder and a knob of butter, which gets the salt, the paste consistency and the fat right even though the flavour is beanier.
6Salt, a pinch of MSG and a knob of butter
Different taste
Use ¾ teaspoon salt plus ⅛ teaspoon MSG plus 1 teaspoon butter for every 1 teaspoon base
The honest answer for a single teaspoon of base disappearing into a large pot of chilli, curry, stew or rice, where most of what it was contributing was salt, a savoury lift and a trace of fat.
What changes
Best for
large pots of soup or stew, chilli and curry, rice and grains, braises, beans
Genuinely adequate in a dish that already has plenty of flavour of its own, and genuinely inadequate in anything where the chicken broth was the point. In a clear chicken soup, a matzo ball soup or plain rice this tastes like salted water, so use a cube there instead. MSG supplies the savoury depth without adding colour, which is why it beats soy sauce in a pale dish; a splash of soy sauce works just as well in anything already brown.

What is Chicken Base?

Chicken Base is Minor's, Better Than Bouillon and every supermarket own-brand jar of the same thing: a thick, intensely salty paste of cooked chicken and rendered chicken fat, sometimes sold as coarse granules instead, which turns hot water into broth at about one teaspoon per cup; what it contributes to a dish is salt, savoury chicken depth and a little fat, in that order of importance.

Cooking tips

Memorise the one line that matters: one teaspoon of chicken base equals one cup of broth equals one bouillon cube equals one teaspoon of granules. A tablespoon of base is therefore three cups of broth worth of seasoning, which is a useful sanity check when a recipe's numbers look surprising.
Notice whether the base is being used with liquid or without, because it changes the correct swap. Stirred into a pot with water it is broth, and carton broth replaces the pair cleanly. Rubbed onto chicken skin, creamed into softened butter or mixed into a stuffing it is a dry salty seasoning, and there a crushed cube or granules are the answer, never liquid broth.
Expect to add salt whenever you swap down in saltiness. Recipes built around chicken base usually have their other salt dialled back to compensate, so moving to carton broth, a homemade glaze or pan drippings leaves the dish underseasoned unless you put the salt back deliberately.
Dissolve base, cubes or granules in a few tablespoons of hot liquid to make a smooth slurry before it joins the pot. Dropped into cool or barely warm liquid they leave gritty flecks and salty pockets that never quite disappear.
Keep the jar in the fridge once opened and use a clean spoon each time. Chicken base is a moist, low-acid paste held together mainly by salt, so warm storage and a used spoon shorten its life considerably even though it looks indestructible.
If the base is the only source of chicken flavour in a recipe you care about, spend the extra time on the reduced-stock route instead. Chicken base is a convenience product doing an honest job, but nothing in a jar tastes like stock you reduced yourself.

Frequently asked questions

How much chicken base equals one cup of broth?

One teaspoon of base stirred into one cup of hot water. That dilution is essentially standard across brands, and it also means one teaspoon of base equals one chicken bouillon cube or one teaspoon of bouillon granules. If a recipe asks for two tablespoons of base, that is six teaspoons, which is six cups of broth worth of seasoning, so check the liquid quantity before you commit; a mismatch there is the usual reason a dish comes out inedibly salty.

Is chicken base the same thing as Better Than Bouillon?

Better Than Bouillon is a brand of chicken base, not a different product, so anything labelled chicken base, chicken soup base or chicken bouillon paste swaps for it one to one by volume. The category also includes Minor's, Orrington Farms and most supermarket own brands. What does vary between them is salt: restaurant-supply bases such as Minor's tend to be less salty and more genuinely chicken-forward than retail jars. Stir a teaspoon into a little hot water and taste it before it goes anywhere near the pot, then adjust the amount rather than trying to rescue the dish later.

What is the difference between chicken base and chicken broth?

Concentration, and roughly a factor of forty-eight. Base is broth with almost all the water driven off plus a lot of salt so it keeps, so a teaspoon of base and a cup of broth carry about the same amount of flavour. That is why you can never swap them measure for measure: a cup of base where a cup of broth was intended would be uneatable, and a teaspoon of broth where a teaspoon of base was intended would do nothing at all.

Can I just leave the chicken base out?

Only if you replace the salt. In a big pot of chilli, curry or a heavily spiced stew, three quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of MSG per teaspoon of base covers it and nobody will notice. In a chicken soup, a risotto or a pot of plain rice the base was the main source of flavour, and leaving it out gives you salted water, so use at minimum a bouillon cube. The one thing never to do is remove the base and its salt together, because underseasoned food tastes flat in a way no other adjustment fixes.

What can I use instead of chicken base in a vegetarian recipe?

Vegetable base or vegetable bouillon at the same one teaspoon per cup, or mushroom seasoning powder if you want more savoury depth and do not mind the earthier flavour and darker colour. A teaspoon of white miso with a pinch of onion powder and a small knob of butter is the best option built from ordinary pantry things, because it gets the salt, the paste texture and the fat right. None of them tastes of chicken, so choose by what the dish needs rather than expecting a match.

Does chicken base go bad, and can I freeze it?

It lasts a long time refrigerated because it is so salty, and most jars carry a use-by date well over a year out, but it is a moist low-acid paste rather than a shelf-stable powder, so it belongs in the fridge once opened and it does eventually darken, dry at the edges and taste stale. Freezing works well if you have more than you will use: spoon teaspoon-sized dabs onto baking parchment, freeze them solid and bag them, then drop one straight into hot liquid.

Related substitutes

More seasonings substitutes

Chicken Base substitute

Other chicken base substitutes

2Carton chicken broth or stock, replacing the base and the water together

3Chicken stock reduced to a glaze (glace de volaille)

4Pan drippings from a roast or rotisserie chicken

5Vegetable base or mushroom seasoning powder

6Salt, a pinch of MSG and a knob of butter