Fish Fumet substitute

Best substitute

Fish Stock or Bottled Fish Broth plus White Wine

Use 1 cup fish stock + 1 tbsp dry white wine for every 1 cup fumet

Best for poaching fish

Close match

For all practical purposes this is fumet. The only real distinction is that fumet is made with wine and aromatics from the start and simmered briefly, so adding a spoonful of dry white wine to bought fish stock closes the gap almost exactly. Bottled versions are usually saltier and thinner in body than homemade fumet, which matters most if you plan to reduce the liquid hard for a sauce.

Other fish fumet substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Clam Juice Cut with Water
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ cup bottled clam juice + ½ cup water + 1 tbsp dry white wine for every 1 cup fumet
The most reliable supermarket option.
What changes
It gives you genuine marine flavour, but it is a different note: sharply briny and mineral where fumet is soft, delicate and faintly sweet. It is also very salty, which is the real danger. A sauce reduced from clam juice concentrates that salt fast, so a beurre blanc built on it can become unservable. Excellent in chowder, where cream and potato absorb it.
Best for
chowder, cioppino, seafood pasta, steaming mussels, seafood risotto
Add no salt at all to a dish made with clam juice until it is finished. Clams are molluscs, so this is not shellfish-allergy safe.
3Light Chicken Stock, Diluted
Different taste
Use ¾ cup mild chicken stock + ¼ cup water + 1 tbsp dry white wine for every 1 cup fumet
Professional kitchens do this more often than menus admit, and it is a genuinely good answer.
What changes
Chicken stock brings the body and gelatin that make a sauce gloss, which most fish substitutes lack, and diluting it keeps it from overpowering delicate fish. The result tastes rounder and clearly less marine, and it never tastes wrong, only different. Use a pale stock, not a dark roasted one, which would swamp a piece of sole.
Best for
pan sauces for fish, poaching, risotto, seafood stews, chowder
Use unsalted or low-sodium stock so you can reduce it for a sauce. A strip of lemon peel or a piece of nori added while it warms nudges it toward the sea.
4Shrimp or Shellfish Stock
Different taste
Use the same amount
If you have shrimp shells or a shellfish stock, this delivers plenty of marine flavour and real body.
What changes
The difference is direction: it is sweeter, richer and pinker than fumet, and it announces itself. That is a bonus in bisque, chowder and cioppino, where the sweetness suits the dish, and a distraction under a delicate poached sole or a beurre blanc, where the point is a clean, almost neutral backdrop.
Best for
bisque, cioppino, seafood risotto, chowder, paella
Not suitable for a shellfish allergy. Do not simmer shellfish shells beyond about 30 to 40 minutes or the stock turns bitter.
5Court Bouillon, or Just Water with Wine and Aromatics
Taste and texture differ
Use ¾ cup water + ¼ cup dry white wine + a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and a slice of onion for every 1 cup fumet
Court bouillon is this same vegetable-and-wine poaching liquid, and it gets used in the same dishes as fumet, so the two are easy to confuse.
What changes
The difference that matters is that neither contains fish, and therefore neither has any gelatin. For poaching, that is fine and genuinely viable: the fish flavours the liquid as it cooks and a fillet poached this way tastes clean and good. For a reduction sauce it is the honest limit, because there is nothing in the liquid to concentrate and reducing it just gives you salty wine.
Best for
poaching fillets, steaming, quick fish stews, emergency substitution
Do not reduce this looking for flavour. Poach the fish, lift it out, then finish the small amount of liquid with cold butter or a spoonful of cream to supply the body fumet would have given.
6Kombu Dashi
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
A useful vegetarian and vegan route with a clean, mineral, unmistakably oceanic taste and a surprising amount of savoury depth from the kelp's natural glutamates.
What changes
It is also very quick. What it does not have is fat, gelatin or richness, so it makes an excellent light broth and a poor base for a classic reduction sauce, which will taste lean and stay watery no matter how long you reduce it.
Best for
light fish broths, steamed fish, noodle soups, vegan seafood-style dishes
Steep a 4 inch piece of kombu in a quart of water below a simmer for 20 minutes and remove it before it boils, or the broth turns slippery and bitter.

What is Fish Fumet?

Fish Fumet is Fish fumet, or fumet de poisson, is a pale, delicate stock made by sweating aromatics in butter, then simmering lean white-fish bones with water and a splash of dry white wine for only twenty to thirty minutes.

Cooking tips

If you are making fumet rather than substituting, use only lean white-fish bones, heads and frames: sole, turbot, halibut, snapper, cod or bass. Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and bluefish make a strong, greasy, faintly rancid stock that overwhelms whatever it goes into.
Rinse the bones under cold water and remove gills and any blood before they go in the pot. Blood is the main cause of a fumet that comes out grey and bitter instead of pale and sweet.
Twenty to thirty minutes is the entire cooking time, and this is the one rule not to bend. Unlike beef stock, fish bones give up everything they have quickly and then start releasing bitter, glue-like compounds. Never let it boil either; keep it at a bare shiver and skim the surface.
Do not salt fumet. It is almost always reduced later in a sauce, or absorbed by rice in a risotto, both of which concentrate whatever salt is present. Season the finished dish instead.
Freeze it in an ice cube tray, since a pan sauce for two rarely needs more than a quarter cup. Fumet is delicate and loses its fresh character in the fridge within about two days, faster than meat stocks.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between fish fumet and fish stock?

In practice they are used interchangeably, and most recipes calling for one accept the other. Strictly, fumet has aromatics sweated in butter first and includes dry white wine, and it is simmered only twenty to thirty minutes for a delicate result. Fish stock is the broader term and may be made without wine. Adding a tablespoon of white wine per cup to fish stock effectively turns it into fumet.

Can I use clam juice instead of fish fumet?

Yes, and it is the easiest supermarket swap, but dilute it: half clam juice, half water, plus a tablespoon of dry white wine per cup. It is much saltier and sharper than fumet, so add no salt to the dish until the end, and be careful about reducing it hard for a sauce because the salt concentrates. A pinch of sugar takes off the metallic edge.

Can I use chicken stock instead of fish fumet?

Yes, and it works better than most people expect. Use a mild, unsalted chicken stock diluted with about a quarter of its volume in water, plus a splash of dry white wine. It brings body and gelatin that fish-free substitutes lack, so sauces still gloss. The dish will taste rounder and less marine, which is a difference rather than a fault. A strip of lemon peel or a small piece of nori nudges it seaward.

Can I just leave the fumet out and use water?

For poaching, yes, and it is a legitimate approach: water with a splash of wine, a bay leaf and a slice of onion poaches fish perfectly, and the fish flavours the liquid itself. For a reduction sauce, no. There is nothing in water to concentrate, so reducing it leaves you with nothing, and you will need to build the sauce on butter or cream instead.

Where can I buy fish fumet?

It is rarely labelled fumet outside specialist shops. Look for fish stock or fish broth in cartons near the other stocks, fish base in the jarred bases section, or bottled clam juice near the canned fish. Any of those plus a splash of dry white wine covers what a recipe means when it asks for fumet.

Related substitutes

More soups substitutes

Fish Fumet substitute

Other fish fumet substitutes

2Clam Juice Cut with Water

3Light Chicken Stock, Diluted

4Shrimp or Shellfish Stock

5Court Bouillon, or Just Water with Wine and Aromatics

6Kombu Dashi