Date Vinegar substitute

Best substitute

Apple cider vinegar with date syrup

Use 1 tbsp cider vinegar plus ½ tsp date syrup for every 1 tbsp of date vinegar

Best for Iraqi and Gulf stews and marinades

Close match

The best reconstruction and easy to buy. Cider vinegar is fruit-fermented and moderately mellow to begin with, and date syrup contributes exactly the dark, raisiny sweetness that makes date vinegar distinctive. The result is a touch sharper and more obviously appley than the real thing, and slightly thicker. In a stew, a marinade or a dressing nobody would identify the swap.

Other date vinegar substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Balsamic vinegar diluted with water
Different taste
Use 2 tsp balsamic plus 1 tsp water for every 1 tbsp of date vinegar
A natural fit, because balsamic is the other everyday vinegar that is dark, sweet and mellow rather than sharp.
What changes
Diluting it brings the intensity down to something closer to date vinegar's gentler register. The difference is character: balsamic tastes of cooked grape and wood, so an Iraqi stew made with it reads faintly Italian, with a slightly winey note that date vinegar does not have. In a cooked dish the gap narrows a lot.
Best for
stews, braises and tagine-style dishes, marinades, dressings for grains and lentils, roasted vegetables
Use ordinary supermarket balsamic, not an aged bottle. If your balsamic is very sweet, use less water and no added sweetener.
3Red wine vinegar with date syrup or brown sugar
Different taste
Use ¾ the amount of vinegar, plus ½ tsp date syrup for every tbsp of date vinegar
Works well when a dish needs real backbone.
What changes
Red wine vinegar is sharper and more tannic than date vinegar, so scale it back and sweeten it, and you end up with a dark sweet-sour liquid that does the job. It stays noticeably brighter and grapier, and a little more astringent on the finish, so a slow-cooked dish tastes zippier and slightly less rounded. Good in dressings, very good in a pan sauce.
Best for
dressings and marinades, pan sauces for lamb and chicken, bean and lentil dishes, deglazing
Cut the vinegar with a teaspoon of water per tablespoon as well if the dish is delicate - date vinegar is much less bracing than red wine vinegar.
4Tamarind paste thinned with water
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 tsp paste plus 2 tsp water for every 1 tbsp of date vinegar
Not a vinegar, but often the right answer for the cuisine, since tamarind is the other great souring agent of Iraqi and Gulf cooking and frequently appears in the same dishes.
What changes
It brings fruity, dark, sweet-sour depth with a distinctive tang, so a stew made with it tastes deeper and more sour-fruity and less clean than one made with date vinegar. It also adds body and a brownish colour. Adjust for sweetness, as concentrates vary from mildly tart to intensely sour.
Best for
Iraqi and Gulf stews, especially with fish, okra or aubergine, sauces and marinades, lentil and bean dishes, chutney-style condiments
Taste as you go. Some tamarind concentrates are three times as sour as others, and unlike vinegar the acidity does not cook off, so add early and adjust late.
5Malt vinegar
Different taste
¾ the amount, plus a pinch of sugar
An unexpected but decent match on the qualities that matter: it is brown, it is mellower than wine vinegar, and it has a grainy, faintly sweet depth rather than a sharp bite.
What changes
What it brings instead of dates is a distinct malty, beery note, so the dish tastes savoury and slightly toasty and definitely not Middle Eastern in origin. Better in a braise or a marinade than in a raw dressing, where the malt is unmistakable.
Best for
braises and stews, marinades for beef and lamb, sauces and condiments, roasted vegetables
Malt vinegar is made from barley, so it is not gluten free. Add a pinch of sugar or a little date syrup to steer it toward date vinegar's roundness.
6Pomegranate molasses with wine vinegar
Different taste
2 tsp wine vinegar plus 1 tsp pomegranate molasses
Stays firmly within the same cuisine, which counts for a lot, and gives you dark colour, fruit and acid together.
What changes
Pomegranate is brighter and more tannic than dates, so the result is sharper and more astringent, with a puckering edge where date vinegar is soft. Excellent on roasted vegetables, lamb and salads; less right in a gentle stew where the mellowness was the point.
Best for
salads, salatim and mezze, lamb and chicken, roasted vegetables, dressings for grain and herb salads
Taste your molasses first - the sour brands need no extra vinegar at all, while the sweet ones need the full amount.
7Distilled white vinegar, as a last resort
Taste and texture differ
½ the amount, plus ½ tsp sweetener
The least-bad fallback, and honestly a step down.
What changes
It is stronger, thinner and completely without fruit, so it delivers sourness and nothing else - a dish that should taste mellow and lightly caramelised comes out sharp and simple. Use half the quantity, add date syrup, honey or brown sugar, and add a splash of water. It will season the dish correctly; it will not make it taste like the recipe intended.
Best for
cooked dishes with many strong flavours, quick pickles, situations where nothing else is available
If you have any dark dried fruit in the cupboard - dates, raisins, prunes - simmering a couple of them in the vinegar for a few minutes and mashing them through a sieve does a surprising amount to close the gap.

What is Date Vinegar?

Date Vinegar is Date vinegar, khal tamr in Arabic and sometimes sold as date wine vinegar, is vinegar fermented from dates, and it comes out dark brown and unusually mellow - sour but rounded, with a raisiny, faintly caramel sweetness behind the acid rather than a hard sharp edge.

Cooking tips

Date vinegar is mellow, so recipes that use it often use a lot - a quarter cup in a stew is not unusual. Never carry that quantity across to a sharper vinegar; halve it, sweeten it, and taste as you go.
It works especially well where dates already appear, which is much of Iraqi and Gulf cooking: braised lamb, stuffed vegetables, rice dishes, aubergine, and dressings for herb-heavy salads. If you swap in something sharper, a teaspoon of date syrup anywhere in the dish will keep the flavours joined up.
Add it in two stages. A little early gives the acid time to work into meat and pulses, and a splash at the end restores the freshness that long cooking flattens - this is how you keep both the mellowness and the lift.
Do not confuse date vinegar with date syrup, which is thick, sweet and not sour at all. They often sit next to each other in Middle Eastern shops with similar labels, and using the syrup where the recipe wanted vinegar leaves the dish cloying and heavy.
Look for it in Iraqi, Gulf, Persian and general Middle Eastern groceries as khal tamr or date vinegar. It is frequently unfiltered, so a sediment or a haze is normal - shake it and keep the bottle in a cool cupboard, where it lasts for years.
For canning and shelf-stable pickles, use the vinegar and strength the tested recipe specifies. Date vinegar and homemade fruit vinegars often fall short of the 5 percent acidity such recipes assume, and the finished acidity is what makes the jar safe - follow the recipe as written and check National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for date vinegar?

Apple cider vinegar with a little date syrup - 1 tablespoon of vinegar plus half a teaspoon of syrup for each tablespoon of date vinegar. That reproduces both the gentle fruit acidity and the dark, raisiny sweetness. Balsamic vinegar diluted with an equal amount of water is the next best option, and both are far closer than plain white vinegar.

Is date vinegar the same as date syrup or date molasses?

No, and the labels are easy to mix up. Date syrup, also sold as dibis or silan, is a thick, sweet, unfermented reduction with almost no sourness. Date vinegar has been fermented all the way to acetic acid, so it is genuinely sour. If you have syrup and need vinegar, add cider or wine vinegar to it; if you have vinegar and need syrup, no amount of adjusting will get you there.

Can I make date vinegar at home?

It is possible - dates soaked in water ferment readily, first to a date wine and then, given weeks of air exposure, to vinegar - but the finished acidity is unpredictable, which matters if you were planning to pickle with it. For cooking, the mixture of cider vinegar and date syrup gets you most of the flavour in a minute, and is the sensible option unless fermenting is the point.

Can I just leave it out?

Not where it is the acid balancing a rich dish - a stew or dressing without it tastes heavy and sweet with no lift. Replace it with any of the swaps above, or at minimum a squeeze of lemon. If a recipe uses only a teaspoon as a finishing splash, you can skip it and add lemon at the table.

What does date vinegar taste like?

Softer than most vinegars. It is clearly sour, but the acid arrives wrapped in a dark, raisiny, faintly caramel fruitiness, closer in feel to a mild balsamic than to white wine vinegar. Unfiltered bottles taste rounder and slightly funky. That mellowness is why recipes can use it generously without the dish turning sharp.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Date Vinegar substitute

Other date vinegar substitutes

2Balsamic vinegar diluted with water

3Red wine vinegar with date syrup or brown sugar

4Tamarind paste thinned with water

5Malt vinegar

6Pomegranate molasses with wine vinegar

7Distilled white vinegar, as a last resort