Mint Sauce substitute

Best substitute

Homemade mint sauce

Use the same amount makes about ½ cup as the mint sauce you are replacing

Best for roast lamb

Close match

Chopped fresh mint steeped in sweetened vinegar, five minutes of work and no heat.

Other mint sauce substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Dried mint plus vinegar
Taste and texture differ
2 tsp dried mint + 3 tbsp vinegar + 1 tsp sugar + a pinch of salt
The pantry version, which needs a longer steep to work.
What changes
Best for
roast lamb, lamb kebabs and koftas, winter cooking when there is no fresh mint
Genuinely serviceable, and much better than no mint sauce at all. It tastes duller and slightly hay-like rather than bright and cooling, and there is no green fleck, so it looks brown and unappealing in the jug. Steeping is doing all the work here, so make it the moment you put the lamb in the oven, not while you are carving. Thirty minutes minimum, an hour is better.
3Mint jelly, loosened with vinegar
Taste and texture differ
Use 3 tbsp mint jelly + 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice for every ¼ cup mint sauce
The American shelf equivalent, brought back toward a sauce with added acid.
What changes
Best for
roast lamb, lamb chops, glazing lamb in the last ten minutes
Closer than it looks once you sharpen it, and it may be the only mint product in an American supermarket. Straight from the jar it is sweet, glossy and clinging, so it glazes the meat instead of cutting through it and the plate ends up sweeter rather than lighter. The added vinegar is what turns it from a jelly back into a condiment. Warm it slightly to help it slacken and stir hard.
4Salsa verde or chimichurri
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Herb, acid and salt in olive oil, with parsley and garlic instead of mint.
What changes
Best for
roast and grilled lamb, lamb chops, roast vegetables
Structurally the same idea and honestly delicious with lamb, but it takes the plate somewhere else. Olive oil makes it richer and more coating rather than thin and piercing, and garlic and oregano make it savoury and Mediterranean where mint sauce is cooling and sharp. Because it carries fat, it does less of the fat-cutting work, so keep the vinegar or lemon in it generous. A perfectly good dinner, just not a British one.
5Minted yogurt or mint raita
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount as a sauce
1/2 cup yogurt beaten with 2 tbsp chopped mint, 1 tbsp lemon juice and salt.
What changes
Best for
grilled and spiced lamb, koftas and kebabs, lamb flatbreads
It does have acid, from the lemon and the yogurt's own lactic tang, and it does have mint, so on paper it covers both jobs. In practice it coats the meat rather than cutting through it, so a fatty shoulder tastes creamier and richer rather than lighter and brighter, which is the opposite of what mint sauce is for. Excellent with grilled or spiced lamb, underwhelming with a plain Sunday roast.
6Parsley, capers and lemon, with no mint at all
Different taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley + 1 tbsp chopped capers + 2 tbsp lemon juice + ½ tsp sugar
The least-bad option when there is no mint in the house in any form.
What changes
Best for
roast lamb, lamb chops, an emergency at 6pm on a Sunday
Being honest: this is not mint sauce and does not taste of mint. What it does do is deliver the sharp, salty, herby hit that mint sauce exists to provide, and against roast lamb that is most of the value. Chop the capers finely so they distribute. If you have no capers, a chopped cornichon or a spoonful of pickle brine works. This beats an extra ladle of gravy, which only makes the plate richer.

What is Mint Sauce?

Mint Sauce is Mint sauce is a thin, sharp British table condiment of finely chopped fresh mint steeped in vinegar with a little sugar and salt, served with roast lamb, and quite different from the sweet set mint jelly sold in America.

Cooking tips

Chop the mint with the sugar on the board. The sugar crystals grip the leaves so they stop sliding away from the knife, and you get a much finer chop with far less bruising, which means less of that dark bitter edge you get from mashed mint.
Pour a splash of boiling water over the chopped mint before the vinegar goes in. It sets the green colour and stops the sauce going black, which is what happens when raw mint sits in neat vinegar for hours.
Malt vinegar is the traditional choice and tastes correct in a British context. White wine vinegar and cider vinegar are cleaner and milder and both work well. Avoid balsamic entirely: it is too sweet and too dark, and it turns the sauce a muddy brown and tastes wrong against lamb.
Make it at least 15 minutes ahead and taste it cold, because the steep is what moves the aroma into the vinegar and because cold suppresses sweetness. A mint sauce that tastes balanced warm will taste sharp from the fridge, so adjust the sugar at serving temperature.
It keeps a week refrigerated but the colour dulls badly after a day or two. Since it is five minutes of work with no cooking, make it fresh each time rather than doubling the batch.
Do not confuse mint sauce with mint jelly on the shelf. The sauce is a thin, pourable, sour vinegar condiment; the jelly is a firm, sweet, pectin-set preserve. They look nothing alike on a plate and behave completely differently, and swapping one for the other without adjusting the acid is the most common mistake here.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave mint sauce out?

Yes. Roast lamb with good gravy is a complete meal and nothing about the cooking depends on it. What you lose is the sharp acid that stops rich lamb fat from feeling heavy halfway through the plate. If you skip it, put something else acidic on the table instead: a wedge of lemon, pickled red cabbage, a spoonful of redcurrant jelly with a squeeze of lemon in it, or even a sharp pickle. Any of those does a good share of the same job.

Is mint sauce the same as mint jelly?

No, though they are made from the same herb and serve the same meal. British mint sauce is thin, sour and pourable, essentially mint steeped in vinegar with a little sugar. American mint jelly is a firm, sweet, pectin-set preserve, usually bright green, that you slice or spoon in a wobbling lump. You can use jelly in place of sauce if you loosen it with vinegar, but straight from the jar it makes the plate sweeter rather than sharper.

Can I use dried mint to make mint sauce?

Yes, and it is a reasonable option in winter. Use 2 teaspoons of dried mint to 3 tablespoons of vinegar with a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt, and steep it for a full 30 minutes or longer, because dried leaves release their aroma slowly. It tastes duller and more hay-like than fresh and it looks brown rather than green, so serve it in a jug rather than showing it off in a bowl.

What vinegar should I use for mint sauce?

Malt vinegar is the traditional British choice and gives the flavour most people recognise. White wine vinegar makes a cleaner, brighter sauce that lets the mint through more clearly, and cider vinegar sits between the two with a faint apple note. Rice vinegar is too mild. Balsamic is too sweet and too dark and should be avoided.

What else can I serve with roast lamb instead of mint sauce?

Redcurrant jelly with a squeeze of lemon is the most traditional alternative and pairs beautifully with lamb. Salsa verde or chimichurri are excellent if you want something herby with more body. A harissa or garlic yogurt suits spiced or grilled lamb. All of them work because they bring acid, salt and aroma against fat, which is the actual function you are replacing.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Mint Sauce substitute

Other mint sauce substitutes

2Dried mint plus vinegar

3Mint jelly, loosened with vinegar

4Salsa verde or chimichurri

5Minted yogurt or mint raita

6Parsley, capers and lemon, with no mint at all