Dashi stock substitutes

Dashi stock substitutes — 5 options, ranked, with the exact amount

Also called dashi, dashi broth, Japanese soup stock, awase dashi, ichiban dashi, kombu dashi

Use thisBest of 5 options

Use Dried shiitake, steeped

2 mushrooms for every 1 cup dashi stock

The closest thing you can make from a normal kitchen is dried shiitake steeped in water: 2 dried mushrooms per cup, covered with just-boiled water for 30 minutes, or with cold water in the fridge overnight. If you need something in the next two minutes, use ½ cup of low-sodium chicken broth topped up with ½ cup of water per cup of dashi - diluting it matters, because dashi carries no salt and broth does.

Verdict —: Tweak it
The tweak —: Steep 2 dried shiitake per cup of water, 30 min in just-boiled water or 8 hours cold in the fridge; strain without squeezing.
Best for —: vegan and vegetarian cooking

Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps

But first: what’s the dashi stock doing?

Pick your case

Is the dashi hiding behind something, or is it the thing you taste?

The dashi is the backbone rather than the flavour, so a substitute has room to hide. Steeped dried shiitake is closest; diluted low-sodium chicken broth is fastest. Either way, hold back the recipe's soy sauce and miso until you have tasted.
Notes on dried shiitake, steeped or low-sodium chicken broth, diluted
2 mushrooms per 1 cup
There is nowhere to hide. A meat broth turns it cloudy and yellow, miso turns it opaque, and the smoky bonito note is simply absent. Use instant dashi granules if you have any, or serve something else tonight.
Notes on dried shiitake, steeped
2 mushrooms per 1 cup
Traditional dashi contains fish, and so do instant dashi granules and hondashi. Steeped kombu, dried shiitake, or the two together, make a genuinely good vegan dashi - kombu's glutamate and shiitake's guanylate multiply each other the same way bonito does.
Notes on dried shiitake, steeped or vegetable broth, diluted
2 mushrooms per 1 cup
If the dish is miso soup, this is not a substitution - you already have the miso, and the dashi is the part that is missing. Miso in plain water gives you salty miso water. Steep shiitake or kombu in the water first, even for 20 minutes, and then add the miso.
Notes on dried shiitake, steeped
2 mushrooms per 1 cup

Two things decide it. First, how exposed is the dashi? In miso soup, a noodle broth or a simmered dish a substitute can hide behind the miso and soy sauce; in a clear soup or chawanmushi it cannot, and the honest answer is to cook something else. Second, salt: dashi has essentially none and every carton of broth has plenty, so dilute half and half and hold back the recipe's soy sauce and miso until you have tasted. If you have thirty minutes, steeped dried shiitake beats anything from a carton.

Job by job3 jobs

Dashi is almost pure savoury depth in water: kombu's glutamate and bonito's inosinate multiply each other. It is the dish's whole liquid volume, and it is unsalted - seasoning comes later.

Moisture & hydrationsecondary

Dashi is the liquid the dish is made of, not a spoonful of seasoning - a cup means a cup. It is also essentially unsalted, so anything salted that you swap in has to be diluted or the recipe's own soy sauce and miso will double up on the salt.

Umami & savory depthprimary

Kombu is dense in glutamate and dried bonito in inosinate. Combining a glutamate with a nucleotide like inosinate multiplies perceived savouriness rather than adding to it, which is why dashi tastes deep without long simmering, fat or salt.

Aroma & flavor identitysecondary

Bonito flakes give a clean, faintly smoky smell that is the entire character of a clear soup. In a miso soup or a noodle broth it is a background note; in suimono or chawanmushi it is the dish, which is why those two appear at the top of the do-not-swap list.

Every option, one card

Ranked · per 1 cup dashi stock

Dashi Stock substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of 1 cup dashi stock	Verdict
1	Dried shiitake, steepedvegan and vegetarian cooking	1 cup water steeped with 2 dried shiitake mushroomsTweak it	Tweak it
2	Low-sodium chicken broth, dilutedwhen the soup has to be on the table in ten minutes	½ cup + ½ cup waterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
3	Vegetable broth, dilutedvegan cooking in a hurry	½ cup + ½ cup waterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
4	Fish sauce + waterwhen there is no broth and no dried mushroom	¼ tsp + 1 cup water, up to ½ tsp if the dish is strongly flavouredYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
5	Miso paste + waterbraises and simmered dishes that are already cloudy	1 tsp white miso whisked into 1 cup warm waterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
Not a swap	Beef broth or a beef bouillon cube	not a swap — if beef stock is all you have, use ¼ cup with ¾ cup water and expect a beef-flavoured dishNot for this	Not for this

What changesWhat changes, option by option5 options

Dried shiitake, steeped

genuinely savoury, but earthy and mushroomy where dashi is clean and marine

The closest thing to dashi you can build without Japanese ingredients, because it works the same way: dried mushrooms are dense in guanylate, a savoury compound that multiplies the effect of glutamate exactly as bonito flakes do. It is unsalted, like dashi, so nothing else in the recipe needs adjusting.

Covers: Moisture & hydration; Umami & savory depth
Misses: Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup water steeped with 2 dried shiitake mushrooms for 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: Cover with just-boiled water and leave 30 minutes, or cover with cold water and refrigerate 8 hours for a cleaner, less muddy flavour. Lift the mushrooms out rather than squeezing them - squeezing pushes grit and bitterness through. Slice them and put them in the soup.
Best for: vegan and vegetarian cooking, miso soup and noodle broths, when you have half an hour and want the closest match
Texture: the same - a thin, unthickened liquid
Look: a shade darker and browner than dashi's pale gold, and slightly less clear
Prep: Steep 2 dried shiitake per cup of water, 30 min in just-boiled water or 8 hours cold in the fridge; strain without squeezing.
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free

Add a 4-inch piece of kombu to the same water if you have any. Kombu plus shiitake is a real vegan dashi, and the two together taste considerably stronger than either alone.
Do not boil the soaking liquid hard. Keep it below a simmer, around 175F/80C, or the flavour turns muddy.
If it tastes weak, reduce it by a quarter rather than adding salt - it is depth you are short of, not seasoning.

Make a jug of it while you prepare everything else - it needs no attention. It keeps three or four days in the fridge and freezes well in an ice cube tray.

Not for a clear soup meant to taste of bonito. In miso soup and noodle broths the mushroom note disappears entirely.

Low-sodium chicken broth, diluted

meatier and rounder, with chicken fat in the background where dashi is clean

The fastest usable swap, and the dilution is the whole trick. Canned broth runs around 860 mg of sodium a cup where dashi has almost none, so a straight cup-for-cup swap over-salts the dish before the miso or soy sauce has even gone in.

Covers: Moisture & hydration; Umami & savory depth
Misses: Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth + ½ cup water for 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: If you have kombu, drop a 4-inch piece into the diluted broth as it heats and take it out before it boils - that one addition moves this row much closer to dashi.
Best for: when the soup has to be on the table in ten minutes, noodle broths, nimono and other dishes with soy sauce in them, using up an open carton of broth
Texture: very slightly heavier in the mouth
Look: cloudier and more yellow; dashi is pale gold and almost clear, and a chicken broth soup never looks like it
Prep: Mix ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth with ½ cup water; steep kombu in it if you have some.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: dairy-free

Dilute half and half with water, and if the carton is full-salt rather than low-sodium, use 1/3 cup broth to 2/3 cup water.
Hold back the recipe's soy sauce, miso and salt until you have tasted the finished soup - this is the correction people miss.
Add ¼ tsp soy sauce and a pinch of sugar at the end if it still tastes like chicken soup rather than a Japanese broth.

This is the swap most people make, and the dilution is the step most people skip. Skipping it is the single commonest reason a substituted miso soup comes out too salty.

Not in a clear soup or chawanmushi, where the cloudiness alone gives it away.

Vegetable broth, diluted

sweeter and more vegetal, with carrot or celery often recognisable

The vegan version of the fast route. The catch is that most cartons are built on carrot, onion and tomato, so they are sweeter and more coloured than dashi and can pull a Japanese soup towards minestrone.

Covers: Moisture & hydration; Umami & savory depth
Misses: Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup vegetable broth + ½ cup water for 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: Add a 4-inch piece of kombu or 1 dried shiitake while it heats, and take the kombu out before the liquid boils.
Best for: vegan cooking in a hurry, dishes with miso or soy sauce to lead the flavour, when there is no dried mushroom in the house
Texture: the same thin liquid
Look: often orange-tinged and cloudier than dashi's pale gold
Prep: Mix ½ cup vegetable broth with ½ cup water; steep kombu or a dried shiitake in it as it heats.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free

Dilute half and half, and hold back the recipe's soy sauce and miso until you taste.
Choose the palest carton you have. Tomato-heavy broths tint the soup orange and are the hardest to disguise.
Add ¼ tsp soy sauce and, if you have it, ½ tsp of dried shiitake soaking liquid to push it back towards savoury rather than sweet.

A mushroom-based vegetable broth is far better than a carrot-based one here. Read the front of the carton before choosing.

Not in a clear soup, and not where the broth's own vegetables would clash with the dish.

Fish sauce + water

savoury but sharp and fermented rather than clean and smoky

Both are savoury liquids built on fermented or dried fish, so the family is right. The difference is concentration: fish sauce is one of the saltiest things in the kitchen and dashi is one of the least salty, so this is a quarter-teaspoon job.

Covers: Umami & savory depth
Misses: Moisture & hydration — not covered; Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ¼ tsp fish sauce + 1 cup water, up to ½ tsp if the dish is strongly flavoured for 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: Stir it in and taste before anything else goes in. Start at ¼ tsp - it is far easier to add than to take out.
Best for: when there is no broth and no dried mushroom, strongly flavoured noodle broths and braises, adding savoury depth to plain water in two minutes
Texture: the same - it is water with seasoning in it, so it has no body at all
Look: stays clear, which is the one thing it gets right, though a shade grey rather than gold
Prep: Stir ¼ tsp fish sauce into 1 cup water, taste, then reduce the recipe's soy sauce by a quarter.
Suits: dairy-free, gluten-free
Contains: fish

Keep it at ¼ tsp per cup. Fish sauce carries about 1,410 mg of sodium per tablespoon, so half a teaspoon already brings more salt into the cup than dashi ever would.
Cut the recipe's soy sauce or miso by about a quarter to allow for it.
Add ¼ tsp of sugar or a 2-inch piece of kombu to round out the sharpness.

Contains fish, so it does not solve a fish allergy or a vegan meal - and unlike dashi it brings real salt with it, which is why the amount is so small.

A quarter to half a teaspoon per cup, no more. Not in a clear soup, where the fermented smell is obvious.

Miso paste + water

distinctly of miso, and salty from the start rather than neutral

Fermented soybean paste in water is savoury, but it is opaque and salty where dashi is clear and unsalted, and it makes every dish taste of miso.

Covers: Umami & savory depth
Misses: Moisture & hydration — not covered; Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 tsp white miso whisked into 1 cup warm water for 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: Whisk it smooth in a small bowl with a little of the water first. This is for dishes that are not miso soup - if you are making miso soup, see the note below.
Best for: braises and simmered dishes that are already cloudy, when the only Japanese ingredient in the house is a tub of miso
Texture: slightly thicker, and it settles if the dish stands
Look: cloudy and opaque - a clear soup is no longer clear
Prep: Whisk 1 tsp white miso into a little warm water until smooth, then make up to 1 cup.
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free
Contains: soy

Use 1 tsp per cup, not a tablespoon - a tablespoon per cup is the ratio for finished miso soup, not for a stock.
Cut the recipe's other salt and soy sauce, since white miso carries about 370 mg of sodium a tablespoon and dashi carries none.
Add 1 dried shiitake or a piece of kombu to the water first if you have either; it turns this from an emergency into something usable.

This row is often recommended for miso soup, which is circular advice: the missing ingredient is the stock, not the seasoning. Steep something in the water first, even for 20 minutes.

Not for miso soup. If you are making miso soup you already have the miso; what is missing is the dashi, and adding more miso only makes salty miso water.

Beef broth or a beef bouillon cube

heavy, meaty and salty; it overwhelms tofu, seaweed and white fish completely

Dashi is a light, clean, unsalted stock. Beef broth is dark, heavy, fatty and heavily salted, and it does not sit behind a dish - it becomes the dish. It is listed because a bouillon cube is what many people have in the cupboard.

Misses: Moisture & hydration — not covered; Umami & savory depth — not covered; Aroma & flavor identity — not covered

What these mean

Amount: Not a substitute; if beef stock is all you have, use ¼ cup with ¾ cup water and expect a beef-flavoured dishper 1 cup (240 ml) dashi
Then: A cube dissolved in a cup of water brings roughly a whole teaspoon of salt's worth of sodium with it, which is the opposite of what dashi does.
Best for: understanding why a substituted soup tasted like gravy, nothing else on this page
Texture: heavier and sometimes greasy on the surface
Look: dark brown instead of pale gold, with fat spots on top
Prep: Not recommended. At a quarter strength with no added salt it is survivable, not good.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: dairy-free

If you use it anyway, dilute to a quarter strength and add no other salt at all until you have tasted.
Add a piece of kombu and ¼ tsp of rice vinegar to lighten it - it will still taste of beef.

Plain water with 1 dried mushroom steeped in it beats beef broth here, which is a fair summary of what dashi is for.

Do not use it in miso soup, a clear soup, chawanmushi or any dish where delicate ingredients are meant to be tasted.

Don’t swap it here

4 cases

The dish is a clear soup - suimono, chawanmushi, ozoni - or a dashi-rolled omelette.Use instant dashi granules or hondashi if you have any - they are made for exactly this. If not, make miso soup or a noodle broth instead tonight, where a substitute can hide.
You pour a carton of broth in cup for cup and then add the recipe's miso or soy sauce as written.Dilute half and half with water - a third broth to two thirds water if the carton is full-salt - and hold back all the recipe's soy sauce, miso and salt until you have tasted the finished soup.
You are making miso soup and planning to whisk miso into plain water.Steep 2 dried shiitake or a 4-inch piece of kombu in the water for 20 to 30 minutes first, off the boil, then whisk in 1 tbsp of miso per cup off the heat.
SafetyYou are cooking for a fish allergy, or for vegans and vegetarians.Make kombu and shiitake dashi: a 4-inch piece of kombu and 2 dried shiitake per cup of water, steeped 30 minutes off the boil. It is a traditional vegan dashi rather than a compromise, and the seaweed and mushroom multiply each other's savour.

Safety

2 notes

Allergen
Dashi made with bonito flakes contains fish, and so do instant dashi granules, hondashi and most bottled dashi concentrates, which often do not say so prominently. For a fish allergy or a vegan meal, use kombu and dried shiitake, which make a traditional vegan dashi rather than a compromise.
Diet
Traditional dashi is not vegetarian. Kombu-and-shiitake dashi is vegan, soy-free and gluten-free, and needs nothing but water and 30 minutes.

If it went wrong

4 fixes

The soup is too salty and you have not even added the miso yet.A carton of broth went in cup for cup. Dashi is unsalted and broth is not.Add plain water until it tastes mild - it should taste under-seasoned at this stage - and then add the miso or soy sauce gradually, tasting as you go. Do not add the full amount the recipe states.
The broth tastes like chicken soup rather than a Japanese stock.Undiluted meat broth, with its fat and its roasted notes, dominates the delicate ingredients dashi is meant to support.Dilute with water to half strength, drop in a 4-inch piece of kombu and heat it below a simmer for 10 minutes, then take the kombu out. Finish with ¼ tsp of soy sauce per cup.
The kombu stock came out slimy and bitter.The kombu boiled. Above a gentle simmer it releases compounds that make the liquid slippery and the flavour harsh.Strain it and dilute with an equal volume of water, which will make it usable in a miso soup. Next time take the kombu out at about 175F/80C, before any bubbles break the surface.
The clear soup came out cloudy.Miso, a meat broth or squeezed mushrooms went in. None of them can be un-clouded.Serve it as a miso-style soup rather than a clear one - add tofu, spring onion and a little more miso so it reads as intentional. Clarity cannot be recovered once it is gone.

Measure it

8 measures

1 cup dashi240 ml, and essentially unsaltedThis is the fact the whole page turns on. Every broth you might swap in is already salted, so it has to be diluted.
Canned chicken broth, for comparisonaround 860 mg sodium per cupLow-sodium cartons run considerably lower - read the label. Either way, dilute and taste before adding the recipe's soy sauce.
Kombu dashi, if you have kombu10 g kombu per 1 litre (4 cups) waterSoak 30 minutes, heat to about 175F/80C for 10 minutes, then lift the kombu out before it boils. Boiled kombu turns the stock slippery and bitter.
Awase dashi, the standard version1 litre water, 10 g kombu, 20-30 g bonito flakesTake the kombu out just before boiling, kill the heat, add the flakes, steep 1 to 2 minutes, then strain without pressing them.
Vegan dashi4-inch kombu + 2 dried shiitake per 1 cup waterKombu's glutamate plus shiitake's guanylate multiply each other, which is why this tastes far stronger than either ingredient alone.
Dried shiitake steeping30 minutes in just-boiled water, or 8 hours cold in the fridgeThe cold overnight soak is cleaner and less muddy. Do not squeeze the mushrooms when you lift them out.
Miso soup ratio1 tbsp miso per 1 cup dashiWhich is why 1 tsp of miso per cup is the right amount when miso is standing in for the stock rather than seasoning it.
Keeping it3 to 4 days in the fridge, or frozen in an ice cube trayDashi is quick enough to make that most Japanese kitchens make it fresh, but frozen cubes make a weeknight soup a five-minute job.

Questions

9 questions

What is the best substitute for dashi stock?

Dried shiitake steeped in water - 2 mushrooms per cup, 30 minutes in just-boiled water or overnight in the fridge. It works the way dashi works, because dried mushrooms are dense in a savoury compound that multiplies the effect of glutamate, and like dashi it is unsalted. If you need something immediately, use ½ cup of low-sodium chicken broth topped up with ½ cup of water per cup of dashi.

How do I make dashi stock at home?

For a litre: soak 10 g of kombu in a litre of cold water for 30 minutes, then heat it to about 175F/80C and hold it there for 10 minutes. Lift the kombu out before the water boils, take the pan off the heat, add 20 to 30 g of bonito flakes, let them steep 1 to 2 minutes and strain without pressing them. The whole thing takes about 45 minutes, most of it unattended.

Can I use chicken broth instead of dashi?

Yes, diluted. Use ½ cup of low-sodium chicken broth plus ½ cup of water per cup of dashi, or a third broth to two thirds water if your carton is full-salt. The dilution is essential: dashi is unsalted and canned broth runs around 860 mg of sodium a cup, so an undiluted swap seasons the soup before the miso goes in. Expect a cloudier, more yellow, meatier soup.

What can I use instead of dashi in miso soup?

Steep something in the water before the miso goes in - 2 dried shiitake or a 4-inch piece of kombu per cup, 20 to 30 minutes off the boil. Adding more miso instead does not work: miso is the seasoning and dashi is the backbone, so miso in plain water tastes salty and hollow. In a hurry, diluted low-sodium chicken broth with 1 tablespoon of miso per cup will pass.

Is dashi stock vegetarian, and how do I make a vegan version?

Standard dashi is not - bonito flakes are dried fish, and instant dashi granules and hondashi contain fish too. Vegan dashi is traditional in its own right: a 4-inch piece of kombu and 2 dried shiitake per cup of water, steeped 30 minutes off the boil. The kombu supplies glutamate and the shiitake supplies guanylate, and together they taste far stronger than either alone.

Can I use fish sauce instead of dashi stock?

In small amounts. Use ¼ teaspoon of fish sauce per cup of water, up to ½ teaspoon in a strongly flavoured dish, and cut the recipe's soy sauce by about a quarter to allow for the salt. Fish sauce carries about 1,410 mg of sodium a tablespoon where dashi carries almost none, so this is a quarter-teaspoon job, not a spoonful.

Why does my kombu stock taste bitter and slimy?

It boiled. Kombu should be soaked in cold water and then heated only to about 175F/80C, and lifted out before any bubbles break the surface. Once it has boiled, the slipperiness and bitterness cannot be strained out - dilute it with an equal volume of water and use it in a miso soup, where it will pass.

What is the difference between dashi and chicken stock?

Dashi is steeped for fifteen minutes from seaweed and dried fish, carries no fat and almost no salt, and is meant to sit behind delicate ingredients. Chicken stock is simmered for hours from bones, carries fat and gelatine, and is usually salted. That is why dashi tastes clean and light while a chicken-stock version of the same soup tastes richer and looks cloudier.

How long does dashi keep?

Three to four days in the fridge, and several months frozen. Freezing it in an ice cube tray is the practical move: three or four cubes melted with a spoonful of miso is a bowl of soup in five minutes, which is faster than any substitute on this page.

Tips for substituting dashi stock

8 tips

Dashi is steeped, not boiled. Soak kombu in cold water 30 minutes, heat it to about 175F/80C for 10 minutes, lift the kombu out before it boils, then kill the heat, add bonito flakes, steep 1 to 2 minutes and strain.
Never let kombu boil. Above a gentle simmer it turns the stock slippery and bitter, and that cannot be fixed afterwards.
Do not press or squeeze the bonito flakes or soaked mushrooms when you strain them. Squeezing pushes bitterness and grit through and clouds the stock.
Dashi is essentially unsalted, which is the one fact that makes every substitution on this page work. Dilute any carton of broth half and half with water and taste before adding the recipe's soy sauce or miso.
Kombu and dried shiitake together make a proper vegan dashi - a 4-inch piece and 2 mushrooms per cup, steeped 30 minutes. Seaweed and dried mushroom amplify each other, so the pair tastes much stronger than either alone.
In miso soup, dissolve the miso in a ladleful of hot dashi in a small bowl and stir that in off the heat. Boiling the soup after the miso goes in dulls the aroma within a minute.
Make dashi in a batch and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Three cubes and a spoon of miso is a bowl of soup in five minutes.
Instant dashi granules and hondashi contain fish, and usually salt as well. If you use them, hold back some of the recipe's soy sauce.

Source — USDA FoodData Central (opens in a new tab)

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