Garlic Vinegar substitute

Best substitute

Vinegar Plus Fresh Crushed Garlic, Made On The Spot

Use 1 crushed or grated garlic clove for every ¼ cup vinegar, rested 10 minutes

Best for salad dressings

Close match

The correct answer, because this is what garlic vinegar is. Ten minutes of steeping gives you a clearly garlicky vinegar. It tastes a little sharper and more raw than a bottle that has sat for weeks, where the garlic has mellowed and rounded out, but in a dressing or a pot of greens the difference is small.

Other garlic vinegar substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Vinegar Plus Garlic Powder
Taste and texture differ
Use ¼ tsp garlic powder for every ¼ cup vinegar
Faster, keeps better and dissolves properly rather than leaving bits.
What changes
Garlic powder tastes toastier and slightly sweeter than fresh garlic and has none of the pungent bite, so a vinaigrette made this way reads mellow and savory rather than sharp and alive. It will also cloud the vinegar slightly.
Best for
dressings, dry-ish sauces and glazes, marinades, batch-mixed dressings kept in the fridge
Use garlic powder, not garlic salt, unless you account for the salt. Let it sit five minutes and stir again, since it clumps at first.
3Plain Vinegar, With The Garlic Added To The Dish Instead
Close match
Use the same amount vinegar, plus 1 clove of garlic per ¼ cup added to the pan or bowl
Often the best move in a cooked dish.
What changes
Instead of infusing, put the vinegar in as vinegar and the garlic in as garlic. In braised greens or a pepper sauce the outcome is essentially identical, and the garlic sauteed in the pan first will actually taste better, sweeter and nuttier, than raw garlic steeped in acid.
Best for
braised greens, stews and braises, pan sauces, cooked pepper sauces
This is the answer whenever the recipe involves heat. Infusing only really matters when the vinegar is used raw and cold.
4Apple Cider Vinegar As The Base
Close match
Use the same amount
If a recipe just says garlic vinegar and you are choosing a base, cider vinegar is the most versatile.
What changes
Its mild fruitiness suits garlic well and it is the traditional vinegar for Southern greens and many pepper sauces. Compared with a commercial garlic vinegar made on white wine vinegar, it tastes a little softer and rounder and slightly less crisp.
Best for
collard and turnip greens, pepper sauce, coleslaw, pork marinades
Cane, coconut or palm vinegar is the more authentic base for Filipino dishes, and white wine vinegar is the more neutral choice for European-style dressings.
5White Wine Or Rice Vinegar As The Base
Close match
Use the same amount
The choice when you want the garlic to be the only flavor and the vinegar to disappear behind it.
What changes
White wine vinegar is crisp and neutral, rice vinegar milder still. A dressing made on either tastes cleaner and more sharply garlicky than one made on cider vinegar, with no fruit note softening it.
Best for
vinaigrettes, Caesar-style and creamy dressings, seafood, dipping sauces
Rice vinegar is noticeably weaker, so a dressing built on it needs less oil to stay balanced.
6A Spoonful Of Garlic Paste In Vinegar, When You Want It Strong
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ tsp jarred garlic paste or minced garlic for every ¼ cup vinegar
Convenient and honest about its limits.
What changes
Jarred garlic has a slightly flat, sometimes faintly sour or metallic character compared with fresh, and it is usually packed in acid already. A dressing made with it tastes garlicky but somewhat dull, without the fresh pungency that makes garlic vinegar worth making.
Best for
quick marinades, cooked sauces, large batches of dressing
Fine in cooked applications where the flatness is masked. Fresh garlic is clearly better in anything raw.

What is Garlic Vinegar?

Garlic Vinegar is vinegar that has had garlic steeped in it until the liquid turns mellow and savory, sold as garlic-infused vinegar or vinagre de ajo, and it is doing two jobs at once in a dish: supplying the acid and supplying a background of garlic.

Cooking tips

Garlic vinegar is doing two jobs at once, acid and aroma. That means you never really need the bottle: put the acid in with vinegar and the aroma in with garlic, in whatever form you have. Understanding that is more useful than any single substitution.
Ten minutes of steeping in vinegar gets you most of the garlic flavor, and a few hours gets you nearly all of it. There is no need to wait days. What longer steeping does is mellow the harsh, hot edge of raw garlic, which acid softens over time.
Garlic steeped in vinegar is a normal, well-established preparation, and it works because vinegar is acidic. Garlic steeped in oil is a completely different and genuinely risky thing, because oil is not acidic and provides exactly the low-oxygen, low-acid environment that Clostridium botulinum needs. Never keep garlic in oil at room temperature. If you make garlic in oil at all, refrigerate it and use it within a few days.
Refrigerate homemade garlic vinegar and use it within a month or so. Do not use it, or any homemade infused vinegar, in place of the vinegar in a canning, pickling, fermenting or curing recipe, because the acidity is unknown and altering acidity in a preserved food is a botulism risk. Follow tested recipes exactly and see the National Center for Home Food Preservation for guidance.
Garlic in vinegar sometimes turns blue or green. That is a harmless reaction between sulfur compounds in the garlic and trace copper or the acid itself, more common with young or cold-stored garlic. It looks alarming and is perfectly safe to eat, though you may want to strain the cloves out for appearance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave garlic vinegar out?

If it is the acid in a dressing or a pot of greens, no, because the dish will taste flat. Use plain vinegar and add garlic separately, which takes no extra time. If the recipe already contains plenty of garlic elsewhere, plain vinegar on its own is genuinely fine and nobody will detect the difference.

How do I make garlic vinegar at home?

Smash three or four peeled cloves, drop them into a clean jar, cover with a cup of vinegar, and leave it at cool room temperature for a day, then refrigerate. It is usable within an hour. Strain the cloves out after a week or so if you want the flavor to stop developing. Keep it refrigerated and use it within a month.

Is garlic in vinegar safe? I have heard garlic can cause botulism.

Garlic in vinegar is safe as a short-term refrigerated infusion, because vinegar is acidic and botulism spores cannot grow in a properly acidic environment. The real hazard people are thinking of is garlic in oil, which is low-acid and oxygen-poor and must never be stored at room temperature. Keep any homemade garlic preparation in the fridge, and never use a homemade infusion in a canning recipe.

Which vinegar makes the best garlic vinegar?

Apple cider vinegar for Southern greens and pepper sauces, cane or coconut vinegar for Filipino dishes, and white wine vinegar for dressings where you want a clean, neutral background. Avoid balsamic, which is too sweet and dark for the savory role garlic vinegar usually plays.

Can I use garlic salt or garlic powder instead of fresh garlic?

Garlic powder works well and dissolves cleanly, at about a quarter teaspoon per quarter cup of vinegar, though it tastes toastier and less pungent than fresh. Garlic salt also works but brings a lot of salt with it, so reduce the salt elsewhere in the recipe or the dish will end up over-seasoned.

Related substitutes

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Garlic Vinegar substitute

Other garlic vinegar substitutes

2Vinegar Plus Garlic Powder

3Plain Vinegar, With The Garlic Added To The Dish Instead

4Apple Cider Vinegar As The Base

5White Wine Or Rice Vinegar As The Base

6A Spoonful Of Garlic Paste In Vinegar, When You Want It Strong