Dulse substitute

Best substitute

Nori flakes or crumbled toasted nori

Use the same amount by volume as the dulse you are replacing

Best for sprinkling on popcorn, eggs and avocado toast

Different taste

Toasted laver sheets crushed into flakes, or the ready-made flakes sold as nori komi.

Other dulse substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Kelp granules or kelp powder
Different taste
Use ½ tsp for every 1 tsp dulse flakes
Dried kombu or other kelp ground to a coarse salt-like granule, often sold as a salt substitute.
What changes
Best for
seasoning at the table, soups and stews, dressings, seasoning vegetables and grains, replacing some of the salt in a dish
The strongest savoury match, because kelp is the most glutamate-rich seaweed and granules dissolve straight into a dish. What you get is deep umami and real salinity. What you do not get is dulse's smoke or its gentle red-seaweed sweetness, and kelp's iodine flavour is much more pronounced, so a heavy hand tastes medicinal rather than pleasant. Start at half the quantity and taste. Kelp is also very high in iodine, considerably higher than dulse or nori, so it is worth using it as a seasoning in small amounts rather than by the spoonful every day.
3Smoked paprika with flaky salt and nutritional yeast
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ tsp smoked paprika plus ¼ tsp flaky salt plus 1 tsp nutritional yeast for every 1 tbsp dulse flakes
A pantry blend aimed at dulse's smoky, savoury, bacon-adjacent flavour rather than at its seaweed character.
What changes
Best for
vegan bacon flavour, popcorn, roast potatoes and vegetables, creamy dressings, sprinkling on avocado toast
The right answer when dulse was in the recipe as a vegan bacon substitute, which is much of the reason it has become popular. This trio covers what people actually want from it: smoke from the paprika, salt, and a rounded savoury depth from the yeast. It is honestly unlike dulse in one big respect, which is that there is nothing marine about it at all, so a dish loses the ocean entirely and tastes more like barbecue seasoning. If you want the sea back and have any seaweed in the house, a pinch of nori or a scrape of kombu alongside this blend gets you remarkably close.
4Wakame flakes, ground
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
Dried wakame crushed or blitzed to a coarse powder rather than left to rehydrate as strands.
What changes
Best for
soups and broths, seasoning rice and grains, salads, sprinkling on fish and vegetables
A reasonable option if wakame is what is in the cupboard, though you have to grind it or it will swell into slippery ribbons instead of staying a seasoning. Ground wakame is mild, gently sweet and clean, which makes it easy to use in quantity without overwhelming anything. Set against dulse, it is decidedly quieter: less salt, no smoke, and none of the deep reddish-brown savour, so the dish tastes lightly of the sea rather than distinctly seasoned. Add a pinch of extra salt and consider a tiny amount of smoked paprika to bridge the gap.
5Furikake
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume, and reduce salt elsewhere
A Japanese rice seasoning of nori, toasted sesame, salt, sugar and often bonito or dried fish.
What changes
Best for
rice and grain bowls, eggs, popcorn, roast vegetables, salads and noodles
Excellent when dulse flakes were simply being used to make food taste more interesting, which is most of the time. Furikake covers the same territory of salty, savoury, seaweed-tinged seasoning and adds toasted sesame crunch on top, so dishes often taste better rather than merely different. The caveats are that most blends contain sugar, so the flavour is rounder and slightly sweet, many contain bonito or dried fish and are therefore not vegetarian, and all are quite salty, so cut back on any other salt in the dish. It contributes no smoke.
6Dried mushroom powder with salt
Different taste
Use 1 tsp mushroom powder plus ¼ tsp salt for every 1 tbsp dulse flakes
Dried shiitake or porcini blitzed to a fine powder, or a ready-made mushroom seasoning powder.
What changes
Best for
soups and stews, gravies and braises, seasoning beans and grains, kitchens with no seaweed at all
The least-bad option when you have no seaweed and the point of the dulse was savoury depth rather than sea flavour. Mushroom powder is genuinely rich in umami and disappears into a soup or a stew, deepening it in a way that reads as more cooked and more meaty. It goes in a different direction from dulse, being earthy and woody rather than briny and mineral, so a broth made with it tastes hearty rather than coastal. In a raw application like a salad or popcorn seasoning it is less convincing, since it tastes faintly of dried mushroom rather than of anything you would sprinkle.

What is Dulse?

Dulse is Dulse, known in Ireland as dillisk, is a soft reddish-purple North Atlantic seaweed sold as dried whole leaves or as coarse flakes, and it is the one seaweed that tastes distinctly smoky and bacon-like when it hits hot fat.

Cooking tips

Treat dulse and its substitutes as salt first. A tablespoon of dulse flakes carries a meaningful amount of sodium, which is exactly why it makes food taste better, and it is also why dishes go wrong when you swap in something saltier like kelp granules or furikake. Add the seaweed, stir, taste, and only then reach for the salt cellar. Many cooks use dulse specifically to cut the salt in a dish by a third.
The bacon trick works only with whole leaves and hot fat. Tear dried dulse leaf into pieces, drop it into a thin film of hot oil or butter, and it crisps and turns smoky in about twenty seconds, then burns. Flakes will not do this; they scorch immediately. If crisp savoury shards are what the recipe wanted, whole-leaf dulse or torn nori sheets are the only realistic options, and they need to be watched every second.
Grind your own flakes and they will taste better. Whole dried dulse, nori sheets or wakame blitzed for a few seconds in a spice grinder or crushed in a mortar makes a fresher, more aromatic seasoning than anything from a shaker, which has usually been sitting around losing its volatile aroma. Store it in a small airtight jar away from light and make it in small batches.
Add seaweed seasoning off the heat, at the end. Boiling drives off the delicate aromas that make dulse and nori worth using and can turn kelp faintly bitter and gluey. Finish soups, stews and braises with the seasoning after the pot comes off the hob, in the same way you would add fresh herbs, and sprinkle over eggs, popcorn or salads at the table.
Use it where it flatters fat and starch. Dulse is at its best on buttered popcorn, in scrambled eggs, on avocado toast, over roast potatoes, in soda bread and stirred into creamy dressings, because salt and smoke need something rich or bland to season. All the substitutes here follow the same rule, so if a swap tastes odd, the problem is often the dish rather than the seaweed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for dulse flakes?

Crumbled toasted nori, at the same volume, for almost any sprinkling use. It has the same salty, briny, mineral character and you can make flakes from a sheet in seconds. If you want more savoury punch, kelp granules deliver it, but use half as much because they are saltier and much more strongly iodine-flavoured. And if the reason you bought dulse was that it tastes smoky and bacon-like, then smoked paprika with flaky salt and a spoon of nutritional yeast honestly gets you closer than any other seaweed will.

Can I use kombu or a nori sheet instead of dulse?

Nori yes, kombu not really. A nori sheet crushes straight into flakes and does the same seasoning job as dulse. Kombu is a thick leathery kelp designed to be steeped in liquid to release glutamate and then removed, so it never becomes something pleasant to eat or sprinkle. If kombu is all you have, either use it to make a small amount of savoury broth to add to the dish, or grind a piece of it in a spice grinder into kelp granules and use about half as much as the dulse called for.

Does dulse really taste like bacon?

Only in one specific situation. Dried dulse eaten straight from the bag tastes salty, mineral and faintly smoky, not much like bacon. Fry a whole leaf in hot oil for fifteen to twenty seconds, though, and it crisps and develops a genuinely smoky, savoury, bacon-adjacent flavour, which is where the reputation comes from. Flakes cannot do this because they burn instantly. If it is that fried, crisp effect you want and you have no dulse, torn nori sheets fried very briefly are the closest option.

Can I just leave the dulse out?

Usually yes, as long as you account for the salt. In most recipes dulse is a seasoning rather than a structural ingredient, so a soup, salad or loaf of bread will be perfectly good without it, just less savoury and less interesting. Because it is contributing sodium as well as flavour, taste the dish and add a little salt to compensate, plus something else with depth if the recipe leaned on it, such as a splash of soy sauce, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, or a spoonful of miso in a soup.

Is it safe to eat seaweed seasonings every day?

In modest amounts, seaweeds like dulse, nori and wakame are widely eaten daily in coastal cuisines. The one to be careful with is kelp, sold as kombu, kelp granules or kelp powder, because it concentrates far more iodine than other seaweeds and regular large servings can supply many times the recommended daily intake. Hijiki is a separate case, since several national food agencies advise against eating it regularly because of naturally high inorganic arsenic. Using seaweed as a seasoning rather than as a vegetable keeps quantities sensible, and anyone with a thyroid condition should raise it with their doctor.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Dulse substitute

Other dulse substitutes

2Kelp granules or kelp powder

3Smoked paprika with flaky salt and nutritional yeast

4Wakame flakes, ground

5Furikake

6Dried mushroom powder with salt