Fino Sherry substitute

Best substitute

Manzanilla sherry

Use the same amount as the fino sherry you are replacing

Best for gambas al ajillo

Close match

The closest substitute for fino sherry is manzanilla sherry, which is the same style and works 1:1. If you do not have it, use dry white vermouth 1:1, or a very dry unoaked white wine such as Muscadet or Pinot Grigio 1:1 plus a small pinch of salt. Do not reach for cream sherry or bottled 'cooking sherry' here; both are sweetened and the second is salted, and either one will make a savoury Spanish sauce taste like dessert.

Other fino sherry substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Dry white vermouth (blanc or extra dry)
Different taste
Use the same amount
A fortified white wine like fino, so it holds up to heat the same way, but it is flavoured with botanicals, so you gain a herbal, slightly bitter edge and lose the salted-almond note.
What changes
Best for
pan sauces, deglazing, shellfish, chicken, risotto
The most reliable supermarket answer. Vermouth is a little sweeter than fino, so cut any sugar in the recipe and finish the dish with an extra squeeze of lemon to bring the dryness back. Bonus: an open bottle keeps for months in the fridge.
3Dry amontillado sherry
Different taste
Use the same amount
Fino that has been allowed to keep ageing after the flor dies, so it turns amber and picks up strong roasted-hazelnut and dried-orange-peel flavours.
What changes
Best for
mushroom dishes, beef and oxtail braises, onion soup, long-cooked sauces
Much bigger and more oxidative than fino. It will tint a pale sauce light brown and can bully delicate white fish or shellfish. In a long braise it is arguably better than fino; in a squid or prawn dish, use two-thirds amontillado topped up with water.
4Very dry unoaked white wine plus a pinch of salt
Different taste
Use the same amount plus a pinch of fine salt per ¼ cup
Muscadet, Picpoul, Pinot Grigio or Verdejo give you the same dry acidity and the same alcohol to lift aromas out of the pan, but they taste of citrus and green apple rather than yeast and almond.
What changes
Best for
deglazing, shellfish, chicken, vegetables, quick pan sauces
The gap is savouriness, not dryness, which is why the pinch of salt helps more than you would expect. Regular table wine is also weaker, around 12 percent alcohol against fino's 15, so reduce it about 30 seconds longer to get the same concentration.
5Dry sake
Different taste
Use the same amount
Also pale, dry and around 15 percent alcohol, with a soft savoury depth of its own, but almost no acidity and none of fino's saltiness.
What changes
Best for
shellfish, steamed clams, chicken, light braises
Works better than people expect in Spanish shellfish dishes because both wines are doing the same job of dry savoury liquid. Add a small squeeze of lemon at the end to replace the acidity sake does not have.
6Stock plus sherry vinegar (alcohol-free)
Different taste
For ¼ cup fino, use ¼ cup chicken, mushroom or vegetable stock plus 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
This is honestly a rebuild rather than a substitute: the stock supplies the savoury body and the vinegar supplies the sharpness and a genuine trace of the Jerez flavour, since sherry vinegar is made from the same wine.
What changes
Best for
alcohol-free cooking, pan sauces, braises, rice dishes
There is no good non-alcoholic match for flor-aged sherry, and this is the least-bad option. Expect a rounder, more broth-like result with less aromatic lift, because it is alcohol that carries those smells into the air. Add the vinegar at the end, off the heat, or it turns harsh.

What is Fino Sherry?

Fino Sherry is Fino is the palest, driest style of sherry, a fortified white wine from Jerez in southern Spain that is aged under a living film of yeast called flor, which strips out any sweetness and leaves it bone dry, salty and faintly almond-like.

Cooking tips

Fino is doing two jobs at once in a Spanish recipe: it is the acid that cuts through olive oil and garlic, and it is a savoury seasoning in its own right, with a salty, almondy, bread-crust quality from the flor yeast. That savoury half is what generic white wine misses, and it is why a pinch of salt closes so much of the gap.
An open bottle of fino goes flat and stale within about a week even in the fridge, faster than ordinary white wine, because it has almost no sweetness or tannin to protect it. This is the one sherry style you should not keep for months. Buy the small 375ml bottle if you only cook with it occasionally, or freeze it in an ice cube tray.
Ignore anything sold as 'cooking sherry'. It is sweetened, heavily salted so it cannot be drunk, and will wreck the seasoning of a dish that already has cured ham or olives in it. A cheap real bottle of fino costs about the same and tastes vastly better.
In gazpacho, salmorejo and sherry vinaigrettes the fino is never heated, so its raw flavour is fully exposed and substitutions show up much more clearly. In those recipes stay in the sherry family if you possibly can, or use dry vermouth and accept a herbal note.
When you deglaze with fino, let it bubble for a good 30 to 60 seconds before adding stock. Half-cooked sherry tastes sharply of raw alcohol, and unlike wine it started at 15 percent, so it needs a little longer.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the fino sherry out?

In a braise or stew with plenty of other liquid, yes: replace it with the same volume of stock and add a teaspoon of sherry vinegar or lemon juice at the end so the dish is not flat. In a dish where sherry is the point, such as gambas al ajillo, kidneys in sherry or sherry-braised mushrooms, leaving it out removes the actual flavour of the recipe and you would do better to make something else that night.

Is fino the same as dry sherry?

Fino is a dry sherry, but not every dry sherry is fino. Fino and manzanilla are the pale, flor-aged, bone-dry styles. A bottle labelled simply 'dry sherry' is usually one of those, though it can also be a dry amontillado, which is darker and nuttier. If a recipe calls for fino specifically, it wants the pale, saline, delicate version.

Can I use cream sherry instead of fino?

Not without changing the dish. Cream sherry is sweetened, roughly the same sugar level as a dessert wine, so in a garlic and prawn dish it will reduce to something sticky and cloying. If it is genuinely all you have, use half as much, top the rest up with water or stock, add a squeeze of lemon, and remove any sugar or honey the recipe called for.

What about sherry vinegar, is that the same thing?

No. Sherry vinegar is fino or oloroso taken one step further and soured, so it is far more acidic and has no alcohol left. You cannot pour it in where the recipe wanted a quarter cup of wine. But a teaspoon of it added to stock is the best trick available for faking fino when you are cooking without alcohol.

Does the alcohol cook off?

Most of it, but not all. Sherry starts at around 15 percent alcohol, and a short deglaze of a minute or two leaves a measurable trace behind, with longer simmering reducing it further without ever reaching zero. If you are cooking for someone avoiding alcohol entirely, use the stock and sherry vinegar route instead.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Fino Sherry substitute

Other fino sherry substitutes

2Dry white vermouth (blanc or extra dry)

3Dry amontillado sherry

4Very dry unoaked white wine plus a pinch of salt

5Dry sake

6Stock plus sherry vinegar (alcohol-free)