Mushroom Ketchup substitute

Best substitute

Worcestershire sauce

Use the same amount as the mushroom ketchup you are replacing

Best for steak and kidney pie

Different taste

Worcestershire sauce is the practical 1:1 swap and the one nearly everyone reaches for, though it is tangier and fruitier because of the tamarind and molasses in it. Closer still is a homemade mix of one part soy sauce to two parts strained dried-mushroom soaking water, with a few drops of malt vinegar and a pinch of ground allspice. Mushroom soy sauce also works 1:1 if you cut the salt elsewhere in the dish. What mushroom ketchup is doing in an old recipe is supplying salt plus deep earthy umami plus a faint spiced-vinegar background, and nothing else: it does not thicken, sweeten or add tomato, so if your substitute is sweet or red you have gone wrong.

Other mushroom ketchup substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Soy sauce plus dried mushroom soaking liquid
Close match
1 part soy sauce to 2 parts strained mushroom water, used 1:1 for the ketchup
Soak a small handful of dried porcini or shiitake in half a cup of hot water for twenty minutes, strain carefully to leave the grit behind, then mix with soy sauce.
What changes
Best for
stews and braises, gravies, mushroom-forward dishes, vegetarian cooking
This is the closest flavour match you can build without shopping for anything unusual, because it brings back the actual mushroom note that every bottled swap is missing. What still differs: it has no vinegar sharpness and none of the clove and allspice warmth of the original, so add about a quarter teaspoon of malt or cider vinegar and a pinch of ground allspice per tablespoon of finished liquid. Strain the soaking water through a coffee filter or let it settle and pour off the top, because dried mushroom grit is unpleasant.
3Mushroom soy sauce
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount then taste before adding any other salt
Chinese dark soy sauce infused with straw mushrooms, thick, very dark and strongly savoury.
What changes
Best for
braises, gravies, meat marinades, anything already dark in colour
What changes: it is considerably saltier and more soy-forward than mushroom ketchup, and much darker, so a pale sauce will go brown. The mushroom note is present but sits behind the soy rather than in front of it. Because it is saltier, taste the dish before adding salt at all, and if you are using more than a tablespoon, thin it with an equal amount of water first.
4Walnut ketchup
Different taste
Use the same amount
The other surviving historical British ketchup, made from green walnuts, vinegar and spice.
What changes
Best for
period recipes, beef and game, cold cuts and cheese
If you already have a bottle, this is a fair swap and belongs to the same family of thin spiced savoury condiments. What changes: walnut ketchup is sharper, more astringent and more heavily spiced, with a tannic bite that mushroom ketchup does not have. Use a slightly lighter hand in delicate sauces. Old recipes often list mushroom and walnut ketchup interchangeably, which tells you the swap was accepted long before we were arguing about it.
5Soy sauce on its own
Different taste
Use about three quarters as much
Plain soy sauce, the least-bad single-bottle answer when you have nothing else.
What changes
Best for
gravies, stews, meat rubs and marinades, emergencies mid-recipe
This is the honest least-bad option rather than a good one. It covers the salt and the savoury depth, which is most of the job, and in a stew with a dozen other ingredients almost nobody will identify the difference. What changes: no mushroom, no vinegar tang, no warm spice, so the result is flatter and more one-note, and the flavour reads faintly East Asian rather than old-fashioned British. Three quarters of the volume, because soy is saltier.
6Marmite or yeast extract, thinned
Different taste
Use Half a teaspoon dissolved in a tablespoon of hot water for every tablespoon of mushroom ketchup
Concentrated yeast extract loosened with hot water into a pourable savoury liquid.
What changes
Best for
beef stews, gravies, pie fillings, vegetarian dishes needing depth
Enormously savoury for the money, and it does rescue a flat gravy. What changes: yeast extract has an unmistakable bitter, malty, almost meaty edge that mushroom ketchup does not, and it can taste harsh if you overshoot. Dissolve it fully before adding, start with half the amount you think you need, and keep it to cooked dishes. Do not use it anywhere the sauce is served raw or spooned over cold meat, where the bitterness has nothing to hide behind.

What is Mushroom Ketchup?

Mushroom Ketchup is Mushroom ketchup, also spelled mushroom catsup, is a thin dark British seasoning liquid made by salting mushrooms, straining off their juices and simmering them with vinegar and warm spices, and despite the name it contains no tomato at all.

Cooking tips

The honest headline is that no bottle on a modern supermarket shelf tastes like real mushroom ketchup, because nothing else is built purely on mushroom juice. Worcestershire is the swap everyone uses and it works, but expect the dish to taste brighter and fruitier rather than deep and earthy. Knowing that in advance means you can pull back the vinegar elsewhere and land much closer.
Mushroom ketchup is a seasoning, not a sauce, and the quantities in old recipes reflect that. A tablespoon or two flavours a whole pie or stew. If a recipe seems to call for a startling amount, remember that historical bottles were often much weaker than a modern soy or Worcestershire, so start at half and taste.
If you are making your own, salting sliced mushrooms overnight and then straining is what concentrates the flavour, and you should keep the liquid, not the mushrooms. Simmering it with a blade of mace, a few cloves and a little black pepper for ten minutes is what makes it taste like the original rather than like mushroom water.
Homemade mushroom ketchup is not shelf stable and historical recipes are not tested for safe home canning. Keep it in a clean sealed jar in the refrigerator and use it within a couple of weeks, or freeze it in an ice cube tray. Do not water-bath or pressure can it from an old recipe, and never reduce the vinegar in a preserving recipe to make it taste better, because acidity is what makes a preserved food safe. Check the National Center for Home Food Preservation before altering any canning or pickling recipe.
Because it is dark and thin, mushroom ketchup contributes colour as well as flavour. If you are cooking something pale, such as a creamy chicken sauce, a dark swap like mushroom soy will grey it noticeably. In that case use the mushroom soaking liquid plus a light soy sauce instead and you will keep the colour.

Frequently asked questions

Is mushroom ketchup anything like tomato ketchup?

No, and this is the single most common confusion. It contains no tomato, is not sweet and is not thick. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ketchup, or catsup, simply meant a thin strained savoury seasoning liquid, and mushroom was the most popular kind. Tomato ketchup as we know it is the version that survived. If a recipe says mushroom ketchup and you reach for the red bottle, the dish will come out sweet and tomatoey, which is exactly wrong.

Can I just leave it out?

In a rich stew, pie filling or gravy with plenty of other savoury ingredients, yes, and you will still eat well. But you will notice a flatness, because the ketchup is supplying salt and umami rather than any decorative flourish. If you skip it, add an extra pinch of salt and something savoury you do have, such as a teaspoon of soy sauce, a squeeze of tomato paste browned in the pan, or a splash of the water from soaking dried mushrooms. In a dish where it is one of only three or four seasonings, such as a simple devilled sauce, leaving it out will leave an obvious hole.

How much soy sauce equals a tablespoon of mushroom ketchup?

Start with two teaspoons of soy sauce, which is about three quarters of a tablespoon, and taste from there. Soy is saltier and more concentrated, so a straight one-for-one swap can push a dish over the line. If you want to get closer, use one teaspoon of soy plus two teaspoons of strained dried-mushroom soaking water and a few drops of malt vinegar.

Is mushroom ketchup vegetarian, and is Worcestershire a safe swap if I need it to be?

Mushroom ketchup is vegetarian and usually vegan. Standard Worcestershire sauce is not, because it contains anchovy, so if that matters, use mushroom soy sauce, the soy plus mushroom-water mix, or a vegan Worcestershire instead. Vegan Worcestershire behaves the same way in a recipe but tends to be a little sweeter.

Where do I buy mushroom ketchup?

It is still made in Britain and turns up in British supermarkets, delicatessens, online specialist grocers and the odd American import shop, usually near the Worcestershire sauce. It is genuinely hard to find outside those channels, which is why most people cooking a historical recipe end up substituting. If you cook this style of food often, it keeps for a long time unopened and is worth ordering once.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Mushroom Ketchup substitute

Other mushroom ketchup substitutes

2Soy sauce plus dried mushroom soaking liquid

3Mushroom soy sauce

4Walnut ketchup

5Soy sauce on its own

6Marmite or yeast extract, thinned