Fish sauce substitutes

Fish sauce substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount

Also called nam pla, nuoc mam, patis, colatura di alici, anchovy sauce

Use thisBest of 6 options

Use Soy sauce + Worcestershire

Per 1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp Worcestershire

For 1 tablespoon of fish sauce in a cooked dish, use 1 tablespoon of soy sauce plus 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. The Worcestershire is the important half: it is fermented with anchovies, so it puts back the funk that soy sauce alone cannot. Fish sauce is also about 1.6 times as salty as soy sauce, so taste before you add any other salt.

Verdict —: Tweak it
The tweak —: Stir 1 tbsp soy sauce with 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce; finish the dish with a squeeze of lime.
Best for —: curries, stir-fries and braises
Pantry —: Likely in your cupboard

Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps

But first: what’s the fish sauce doing?

Pick your case

Does the fish sauce get cooked, or does it go into something raw?

This is the forgiving case. Heat drives off most of the aroma anyway, so soy sauce plus a teaspoon of Worcestershire per tablespoon gets you very close. See for pad Thai and Thai fish sauce.
Notes on soy sauce + Worcestershire or anchovy paste + soy sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp Worcestershire per 1 tbsp fish sauce
Nothing cooks here, so the fermented smell is the dish and every substitute is exposed. Soy sauce turns the dressing dark brown and makes it taste of soy. If you must, use 2 tsp soy sauce with extra lime, sugar and water - and expect a soy-lime dressing, not nuoc cham.
Skip the Worcestershire, anchovy and oyster rows - all three contain fish or shellfish. Use soy sauce or tamari with ¼ tsp rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar, and simmer a 1-inch piece of kombu in the dish if you have any. There is a longer version at vegan fish sauce.
Notes on soy sauce + rice vinegar or miso paste + water
1 tbsp soy + ¼ tsp vin
Do not improvise. The salt concentration in a fermented pickle is a safety control, not a seasoning choice. Follow the tested recipe as written, and if it offers a vegan variant, use that variant's own quantities. See for kimchi.

One question decides this page: is the fish sauce cooked or not? In anything that goes in a hot pan, heat drives off most of the aroma anyway, and 1 tbsp of soy sauce plus 1 tsp of Worcestershire per tablespoon will pass. In anything raw - nuoc cham, a papaya salad dressing, a dipping bowl - the aroma is the point and nothing substitutes for it; make a soy-lime dressing and call it what it is. Then check the salt: fish sauce is the saltiest bottle in the kitchen at about 1,410 mg of sodium a tablespoon, so taste before adding any more.

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Fish sauce is the salt of the dish at about 1,410 mg of sodium a tablespoon, plus a year's worth of fermented glutamates, plus a pungent aroma that in an uncooked dipping sauce is the whole point.

Saltprimary

About 1,410 mg of sodium per tablespoon, against 880 mg for soy sauce. In most Thai and Vietnamese recipes fish sauce is the only salt in the dish, so any swap has to be measured against that number rather than poured in by eye.

Umami & savory depthprimary

A year of fermentation breaks the anchovy protein down into free amino acids, chiefly glutamate. That is why half a teaspoon makes a broth taste finished, and why leaving fish sauce out entirely makes a curry taste thin no matter how much salt you add.

Aroma & flavor identityprimary

The pungent smell is volatile compounds from the ferment. Heat drives most of them off, which is why fish sauce smells strong in the bottle and simply savoury in a finished stir-fry - and why in an uncooked dipping sauce, where nothing burns off, no substitute passes.

Every option, one card

Ranked · per 1 tbsp fish sauce

Fish Sauce substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of 1 tbsp fish sauce	Verdict
1	Soy sauce + Worcestershirecurries, stir-fries and braises	1 tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauceTweak it	Tweak it
2	Anchovy paste + soy saucewhen you want the fermented fish note itself	½ tsp + 2 tsp soy sauce + 1 tsp waterTweak it	Tweak it
3	Soy sauce alonewhen the only bottle in the house is soy sauce	1 tbsp + up to 1/8 tsp fine salt, to tasteYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
4	Soy sauce + rice vinegarvegan and vegetarian cooking	1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari + ¼ tsp rice vinegar + 1/8 tsp sugarYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
5	Oyster sauce, thinnedChinese-style stir-fries rather than Thai curries	2 tsp + 1 tsp water, plus up to 1/8 tsp salt to tasteYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
6	Miso paste + watersoups and braises where cloudiness does not matter	1 ½ tsp white miso whisked into 1 tbsp warm waterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it

What changesWhat changes, option by option6 options

Soy sauce + Worcestershire

close in a cooked dish; slightly sweeter and less sharp

The best everyday swap, because Worcestershire is itself a fermented anchovy sauce - it supplies the funk that plain soy sauce has no way of producing.

Covers: Salt; Umami & savory depth; Aroma & flavor identity

What these mean

Amount: 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: Stir them together and add as you would the fish sauce. Taste the dish before adding any other salt.
Best for: curries, stir-fries and braises, when you want the closest match from a Western pantry, any dish where the sauce gets cooked
Texture: the same - both are thin liquids
Look: the dish comes out darker and browner, because soy sauce colours far more strongly than fish sauce
Prep: Stir 1 tbsp soy sauce with 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce; finish the dish with a squeeze of lime.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: dairy-free
Contains: fish, soy, wheat

Taste before adding salt, and if it is flat add 1/8 tsp fine salt rather than more soy sauce. Fish sauce carries about 1,410 mg of sodium per tablespoon against soy sauce's 880 mg, so matching it with soy alone would mean nearly two tablespoons and a much darker dish.
Add a squeeze of lime at the end. Fish sauce has a brightness that soy sauce lacks, and ½ tsp of lime juice per tablespoon closes most of that gap.
Worcestershire is sweet and tangy from tamarind and molasses, so cut any sugar or vinegar in the recipe by about a quarter.

Worcestershire contains anchovies, so this mix is not vegetarian and is not safe for a fish allergy. It does, however, contain them in tiny quantity, which is exactly why 1 tsp is enough.

Cooked dishes only. In an uncooked dipping sauce the soy flavour is obvious and the colour is wrong.

Anchovy paste + soy sauce

the closest of any swap, marginally fishier and rounder

The nearest thing to fish sauce you can build, because it is the same raw material: salted, fermented anchovy. Two mashed anchovy fillets from a tin do the same job as the paste.

Covers: Salt; Umami & savory depth; Aroma & flavor identity

What these mean

Amount: ½ tsp anchovy paste + 2 tsp soy sauce + 1 tsp water for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: Mash the paste into the soy sauce with a fork until no lumps remain, or melt it in the hot oil at the start of cooking, where it dissolves in about 30 seconds.
Best for: when you want the fermented fish note itself, curries and braises with time to melt the paste in, cooking for people who will not know it is there
Texture: the same once the paste has dissolved
Look: slightly cloudier in a clear broth, and darker overall from the soy sauce
Prep: Mash ½ tsp anchovy paste into 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp water, or melt the paste in the hot oil first.
Suits: dairy-free
Contains: fish, soy, wheat

Melt the paste in oil or hot liquid before the vegetables go in. Stirred into a finished dish it stays in specks and tastes patchily strong.
Keep it at ½ tsp per tablespoon of fish sauce. Anchovy paste is much more concentrated in flavour than fish sauce is, though less salty per spoonful.
If you use tinned anchovy fillets instead, 2 fillets equal about ½ tsp of paste, and rinse them if they are packed in heavy salt.

Anchovy paste keeps for months in the fridge and does this job better than anything else in a Western kitchen. Contains fish, so it is out for an allergy or a vegetarian meal.

Give it heat and time. In a cold sauce it will not disperse and you get salty specks.

Soy sauce alone

good but flatter; noticeably a soy-sauce dish rather than a fish-sauce one

It seasons the dish and adds savoury depth, and it will taste good. What it cannot do is the fermented-fish note, so the dish tastes like a soy-seasoned version of itself.

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

What these mean

Amount: 1 tbsp soy sauce + up to 1/8 tsp fine salt, to taste for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: Add the soy sauce first, taste, then decide about the salt. Finish with a squeeze of lime.
Best for: when the only bottle in the house is soy sauce, vegetarian versions of cooked Thai and Vietnamese dishes, dishes with plenty of chilli, lime and herbs to lead the flavour
Texture: the same
Look: distinctly darker and browner - a pale coconut curry will turn beige
Prep: Use 1 tbsp soy sauce, taste, then add up to 1/8 tsp salt and ½ tsp lime juice.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free
Contains: soy, wheat

Do not go above 1 tbsp of soy sauce per tablespoon of fish sauce to chase the saltiness. Add 1/8 tsp of fine salt instead - more soy sauce darkens the dish and makes it taste of soy.
Add ½ tsp lime juice and a pinch of sugar per tablespoon. Fish sauce is brighter and slightly sweeter than soy sauce, and this puts both back.
Add ¼ tsp of miso, or a 1-inch piece of kombu to the simmering liquid, if you have either - both add ferment depth that soy sauce alone lacks.

Use tamari if you need it gluten-free. Real fish sauce, oddly enough, usually is gluten-free - it is just fish, salt and sometimes sugar - while most soy sauce is not.

Not in a raw dipping sauce, where the colour and the soy flavour are both obvious.

Soy sauce + rice vinegar

savoury and bright but without the fermented-fish backbone

The vegan and vegetarian route. The vinegar and sugar imitate the tang and slight sweetness of fish sauce, which is what makes it feel less like plain soy sauce.

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

What these mean

Amount: 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari + ¼ tsp rice vinegar + 1/8 tsp sugar for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: For more depth, drop a 1-inch square of kombu into the pan while the dish simmers and take it out before serving; do not let it boil hard or it turns slippery and bitter.
Best for: vegan and vegetarian cooking, fish and shellfish allergies, cooked dishes where you can simmer kombu or mushrooms alongside
Texture: the same
Look: darker than the original, and a clear broth stays clear
Prep: Mix 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari with ¼ tsp rice vinegar and 1/8 tsp sugar; simmer with kombu for extra depth.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free
Contains: soy, wheat

Keep the vinegar at ¼ tsp per tablespoon. More and the dish tastes sour, which fish sauce is not.
Add ½ tsp of soaking liquid from dried shiitake, or ¼ tsp of white miso, for the fermented depth. Dried mushrooms and kombu together produce more savour than either alone.
Finish with lime rather than more vinegar - the brightness belongs at the end.

Bottled vegan fish sauces do exist, built on seaweed or pineapple, and work spoon for spoon - but if you had one you would not be reading this. See vegetarian fish sauce.

Do not use this as a raw dipping sauce and call it nuoc cham. It is a soy-lime dressing, which is a good thing to eat but a different thing.

Oyster sauce, thinned

sweeter and rounder, briny rather than fermented

Another fermented seafood sauce, so the savoury depth is real, but it is thick and sweetened where fish sauce is thin and dry. Best where you are stirring it into something already saucy.

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

What these mean

Amount: 2 tsp oyster sauce + 1 tsp water, plus up to 1/8 tsp salt to taste for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: Whisk the water in first so it pours rather than clumps.
Best for: Chinese-style stir-fries rather than Thai curries, when a little sweetness will not hurt the dish, sauces that are already thick
Texture: thicker; it clings where fish sauce would run
Look: clouds a clear broth and darkens a pale sauce
Prep: Whisk 2 tsp oyster sauce with 1 tsp water, then taste for salt.
Suits: dairy-free
Contains: shellfish, soy, wheat

Add up to 1/8 tsp salt: oyster sauce is only about 490 mg of sodium per tablespoon, roughly a third of fish sauce.
Cut other sugar in the recipe - oyster sauce is sweetened.
Do not use it in a clear soup or a thin dressing; the starch in it clouds the liquid.

There is a fuller comparison at fish sauce vs oyster sauce. Both bottles are fermented seafood, but one is a thin salt and one is a thick glaze - that difference decides whether it works.

Not for anyone avoiding shellfish, and not in a clear soup or a raw dressing.

Miso paste + water

savoury but distinctly of miso - sweeter, maltier, unmistakably Japanese

A fermented paste standing in for a fermented liquid. The savour is genuinely there, but miso is soy-and-rice fermented, so the dish tastes Japanese rather than Thai or Vietnamese.

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

What these mean

Amount: 1 ½ tsp white miso whisked into 1 tbsp warm water for 1 tbsp fish sauce
Then: Whisk until completely smooth before it goes in, and add it late so it does not boil hard.
Best for: soups and braises where cloudiness does not matter, vegan cooking when there is no soy sauce in the house, when you need savoury depth more than accuracy
Texture: slightly thicker and it settles if the dish stands
Look: the liquid turns cloudy and opaque; a clear broth is no longer clear
Prep: Whisk 1 ½ tsp white miso into 1 tbsp warm water until smooth; add near the end of cooking.
Suits: vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free
Contains: soy

Use 1 ½ tsp of white miso; if you only have red miso use ¾ tsp, since red is about twice as salty.
Add ¼ tsp of fine salt as well, and taste. A spoonful of miso brings nowhere near fish sauce's salt - white miso is about 370 mg of sodium a tablespoon against fish sauce's 1,410 mg.
Add it in the last minute of cooking. Boiled hard, miso loses its aroma and can go grainy.
Add ½ tsp lime juice to sharpen it.

This is the row to use when nothing else is in the house, not the row to plan around. It changes what cuisine the dish tastes like.

Never in a clear soup or a dipping sauce that should be translucent.

Don’t swap it here

4 cases

The sauce is raw - nuoc cham, a green papaya salad dressing, a larb dressing, a dipping bowl for spring rolls.Make it as a soy-lime dressing and call it that: 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp sugar, 4 tbsp water, garlic and chilli. Or buy a bottle of fish sauce - it keeps for years and one bottle covers dozens of meals.
SafetyYou are making kimchi, a fermented cucumber pickle, or anything cured or canned to a tested recipe.Follow a tested recipe exactly, and if you need a vegan kimchi use a recipe written as vegan rather than substituting inside one that is not. The National Center for Home Food Preservation publishes tested recipes free at https://nchfp.uga.edu/.
SafetyAnyone at the table has a fish or shellfish allergy.Use soy sauce or tamari with ¼ tsp rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar, and add depth with kombu, dried shiitake or a little miso. Check bottled curry pastes and stir-fry sauces too - many contain shrimp paste or fish sauce.
You double the soy sauce to try to match fish sauce's saltiness.Use 1 tbsp of soy sauce and make up the difference with 1/8 tsp of fine salt, then add a squeeze of lime for brightness.

Safety

2 notes

Allergen
Fish sauce contains fish, and so do the two closest substitutes - Worcestershire sauce lists anchovies, and anchovy paste is anchovy. Oyster sauce contains shellfish. For a fish or shellfish allergy, use soy sauce or tamari with rice vinegar, kombu or mushroom for depth, and check bottled curry pastes, XO sauces and stir-fry sauces, many of which contain shrimp paste or fish sauce without saying so on the front.
Canning
Do not change the salt or the acid in a tested fermenting, pickling, canning or curing recipe, and that includes swapping fish sauce for soy sauce in kimchi. In a ferment the salt concentration is what suppresses spoilage organisms while the lactic bacteria acidify the food, and in canning the acidity is what prevents Clostridium botulinum from growing. Use a tested recipe as written, or a recipe written for the diet you need.
Source — National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab)

If it went wrong

4 fixes

The curry or stir-fry tastes flat, as though something is missing, even though it is salty enough.Salt went in but savoury depth did not. Fish sauce contributes glutamates as well as salt, and plain salt or plain soy sauce cannot replace that part.Off the heat, stir in ¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce, or ¼ tsp mashed anchovy paste, or ¼ tsp miso per serving, then a squeeze of lime and a pinch of sugar. Taste after each addition.
The dressing came out dark brown and tastes of soy sauce.Soy sauce was used in a raw dipping sauce, where it colours and flavours everything and there is no heat to marry it in.You cannot lighten it back. Start again with 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp sugar and 4 tbsp water, and treat it as a soy-lime dressing rather than nuoc cham.
The dish is too salty.A substitute went in spoon for spoon on top of salt that was already in the recipe, or the recipe's own salt was added before tasting.Add unsalted liquid - water, coconut milk, unsalted stock - a tablespoon at a time, plus ½ tsp sugar and a squeeze of lime to rebalance. Serve with plenty of plain rice. Do not add more acid alone; it makes salt taste sharper.
There are salty specks through the dish and some mouthfuls are much stronger than others.Anchovy paste or miso was stirred into a finished dish instead of being dissolved first.Whisk a spoonful of the dish's liquid into the remaining paste until smooth, stir it back in, and next time melt the paste in the hot oil at the start.

Measure it

7 measures

1 tbsp fish sauceabout 1,410 mg sodiumSoy sauce is about 880 mg and oyster sauce about 490 mg per tablespoon. Fish sauce is the saltiest bottle in the cupboard, which is why every swap here needs salt added rather than removed.
1 tsp fish sauceabout 470 mg sodiumUseful when a recipe asks for a teaspoon to finish a dish - that is already a third of a teaspoon of table salt's worth.
What is in the bottleanchovies and salt, roughly 3 parts fish to 1 part salt, fermented 12 months or moreGood bottles list two or three ingredients. Sugar and hydrolysed protein on the label mean a cheaper, less savoury sauce.
The N number on Vietnamese bottlesdegrees of nitrogen - 40N is far more concentrated than 25NA high-N first-press sauce goes further, so start with two thirds of what a recipe asks if you have upgraded bottles.
Nuoc cham, for reference2 tbsp fish sauce + 2 tbsp lime juice + 1 tbsp sugar + 4 tbsp waterPlus garlic and chilli. Note how little else is in it - which is exactly why substitutes cannot hide in this one.
Glutenfish sauce is usually gluten-free; most soy sauce is notRead the label - fish, salt and sugar is what you want to see. If you swap to soy sauce for a coeliac, use tamari.
Storagekeeps for years; it darkens rather than spoilsRefrigeration after opening slows the darkening and keeps the aroma fresher. Salt at this concentration is its own preservative.

Questions

8 questions

What is fish sauce made from?

Anchovies and salt, in roughly three parts fish to one part salt, packed together and left to ferment for a year or more until the fish breaks down into a clear amber brine. That long ferment is what fills it with free glutamates, and it is why the flavour cannot be imitated by salt alone. Good bottles list two or three ingredients and nothing else.

What is the best substitute for fish sauce?

In a cooked dish, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce plus 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce per tablespoon of fish sauce. Worcestershire is fermented with anchovies, so it supplies the funk soy sauce cannot. If you have anchovy paste, ½ teaspoon of it mashed into 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of water is even closer.

How much soy sauce equals fish sauce?

Use 1 tablespoon of soy sauce per tablespoon of fish sauce and then taste. Fish sauce is about 1.6 times as salty - roughly 1,410 mg of sodium per tablespoon against 880 mg - so if the dish is flat, add up to 1/8 teaspoon of fine salt rather than more soy sauce. Doubling the soy sauce turns a pale curry brown and makes everything taste of soy.

What is a vegan or vegetarian fish sauce substitute?

One tablespoon of soy sauce or tamari plus ¼ teaspoon of rice vinegar and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon of fish sauce. To get closer to the fermented depth, simmer a 1-inch piece of kombu in the dish, or add ½ teaspoon of dried shiitake soaking liquid - seaweed and dried mushrooms together produce far more savour than either alone. Avoid Worcestershire, anchovy paste and oyster sauce, which all contain fish or shellfish.

Can I substitute fish sauce in a dipping sauce like nuoc cham?

Not convincingly. Nuoc cham is fish sauce, lime, sugar, water, garlic and chilli, and it is never heated, so nothing drives off the fermented aroma and nothing hides a substitute. Soy sauce also turns it dark brown when it should be pale amber. Make a soy-lime dressing - 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon sugar, 4 tablespoons water - and treat it as its own thing.

Is fish sauce gluten-free?

Usually yes, because it contains only fish, salt and sometimes sugar, but the label is the final word - a few brands add wheat-based ingredients. Note the irony of the swap: most soy sauce does contain wheat, so replacing fish sauce with soy sauce in a coeliac household means using tamari.

Can I use fish sauce in non-Asian dishes?

Yes, and half a teaspoon is often enough. It works the way anchovies work in a Caesar dressing or a Bolognese: at low doses it reads as savoury depth rather than as fish. Start with ½ teaspoon in a pot of stew, taste, and add a second only if it still needs it.

Can I just leave fish sauce out?

You can, but the dish will taste thin rather than merely less salty, because you are removing the main source of savoury depth as well as the salt. If you have nothing to replace it with, add salt to taste plus a squeeze of lime and a pinch of sugar, and if you have any fermented thing at all - miso, soy sauce, Worcestershire, a spoon of mushroom soaking liquid - use a little of it.

Tips for substituting fish sauce

7 tips

Fish sauce is the salt of most Thai and Vietnamese dishes, not an extra seasoning on top. Add it, then taste, before you reach for any salt.
The smell in the bottle is not the taste in the dish. Heat drives off most of the volatile compounds, which is why a stir-fry seasoned with fish sauce smells savoury rather than fishy - and why the swap only gets hard in uncooked sauces.
Add fish sauce to a broth or curry with a few minutes of simmering left. Boiled hard for half an hour it loses its brightness and just tastes salty.
A squeeze of lime and a pinch of sugar go with fish sauce nearly everywhere it appears. If a substituted dish tastes flat, those two are usually what is missing.
One tablespoon of fish sauce carries about 1,410 mg of sodium, against 880 mg for soy sauce. When you swap in soy sauce, add 1/8 tsp of salt rather than a second tablespoon of soy, which would turn a pale curry brown.
Real fish sauce is usually gluten-free - fish, salt and sometimes sugar. If you swap to soy sauce for a coeliac, you have to switch to tamari to keep it that way.
An open bottle keeps for years. It darkens over time rather than spoiling; the fridge slows that down.

Sources — USDA FoodData Central (opens in a new tab), National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab)

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