Olive Brine substitute

Best substitute

Caper Brine

Use the same amount as the olive brine you are replacing

Best for dirty martinis

Close match

Caper brine is the best substitute and goes in 1:1, because it is salty and briny with the same green bitterness, just a little sharper and more floral. Pickle juice works 1:1 in cooking and about half and half in a drink, though the dill, garlic and often sugar are unmistakable, so you end up with a pickle martini rather than a dirty one. Pepperoncini or banana pepper brine also swaps 1:1 and adds a whisper of heat. If you have olives but no usable liquid, crush three green olives into two tablespoons of water with a quarter teaspoon of salt, rest five minutes and strain. Olive brine is salt plus a little acid plus a savoury bitter olive aroma, and it is the aroma that nothing quite replaces.

Other olive brine substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Pickle Juice
Different taste
Use the same amount in cooking, half pickle juice and half water in a cocktail
The liquid from a jar of dill pickles.
What changes
In a drink, dilute it, and taste before committing to a full measure.
Best for
brining chicken, brining pork, salad dressings, Bloody Marys, potato salad, marinades
The salt and acid are correct and it is in almost every refrigerator, which is why it is the most common improvisation. It does not hide, though. Dill, garlic, mustard seed and often sugar are all present, so in a martini you get a genuinely enjoyable pickle martini rather than a dirty martini, and in a Mediterranean pan sauce the dill sits oddly next to lemon and oregano. In a brine for chicken it is excellent and arguably better.
3Pepperoncini or Banana Pepper Brine
Different taste
Use the same amount
The liquid from a jar of mild pickled peppers, used straight.
What changes
Best for
dirty martinis, Bloody Marys, salad dressings, brining chicken, sandwiches, pan sauces
A good and underrated swap. It is salty and vinegary with a low hum of capsaicin heat and a fruity pepper note, so a martini made with it lands savoury with a faint warm finish, which many people like more than the original. It is more acidic and less salty than olive brine, so a dish may need a pinch of salt, and it is thinner and clearer so the drink will be less cloudy than a true dirty martini.
4Homemade Olive Brine From Whole Olives
Different texture
Use 3 crushed green olives plus 2 Tbsp water and ¼ tsp salt, rested 5 minutes and strained, for every ½ oz brine
Crush the olives with the flat of a knife, muddle them into the salted water, leave five minutes, then strain out the solids.
What changes
Best for
dirty martinis, salad dressings, pan sauces, marinades
This is what to do when you have a jar of olives whose liquid has been used up or thrown out. Because you are extracting flavour in five minutes rather than months, it is milder and cleaner than jar brine, so use a little more than the recipe asks for. It also lacks the slight cloudiness and viscosity of aged brine, so the martini will look clearer. Flavour-wise it is much closer than any other option here.
5Salted Water With a Few Drops of Lemon or Dry Vermouth
Different taste
Use ¼ tsp salt in 1 Tbsp water plus 2 drops lemon juice, for every ½ oz brine
Dissolve the salt fully in the water, add the lemon or a splash of dry vermouth, and use immediately.
What changes
Best for
dirty martinis in a pinch, brining, seasoning sauces
The honest least-bad option and it is worth understanding exactly what it does and does not do. It supplies the salt and a trace of acid, which is genuinely most of what brine contributes to a sauce or a brining liquid. What it cannot supply is the bitter-green olive aroma, which is the whole character of a dirty martini. The drink comes out salty rather than dirty, and tastes noticeably flatter and less savoury.
6Sauerkraut Juice or Cabbage Brine
Different taste
Use the same amount in cooking only
The liquid from a jar of sauerkraut, used in marinades, brines and braises rather than in a cocktail.
What changes
Best for
brining pork, brining chicken, braises, soups, marinades, dressings
Salty, quite sour and full of lactic tang, which makes it a very effective seasoning liquid for meat and a genuinely good brine for pork. Its cabbage aroma is unmistakable, however, so in anything delicate or Mediterranean it announces itself, and in a martini it is simply wrong: the drink turns sour and vegetal rather than savoury. Dilute it a little if it is a strongly fermented brand.
7Artichoke or Giardiniera Brine
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount plus a pinch of salt
The liquid from a jar of marinated artichoke hearts or Italian pickled vegetables.
What changes
Strain out any oil and herbs before using.
Best for
salad dressings, pan sauces, Bloody Marys, marinades, pasta salads
Mild, vegetal and pleasantly herbal, and it fits naturally into anything Mediterranean. Two caveats. It is usually much less salty than olive brine, so season the dish afterwards rather than assuming the brine has done it. And it often carries oil, oregano and celery seed, which is fine in a dressing and turns a martini murky and greasy. Strain it well.

What is Olive Brine?

Olive Brine is Olive brine, sold on its own as olive juice or martini olive juice, is the salty liquid from a jar of brine-cured olives: water, a great deal of salt, a little acid and dissolved olive flavour.

Cooking tips

Do not pour the jar liquid down the sink. Olive brine keeps for months in the refrigerator once the olives are gone, and it is a free seasoning that supplies salt, acid and savour in one splash. A tablespoon transforms a vinaigrette, a pan sauce for chicken or fish, a potato salad or a Bloody Mary. This is the single most useful thing to know about the ingredient.
Unstuffed olives give a cleaner brine than stuffed ones. A jar of pimiento-stuffed olives leaks red pepper sugar and starch into the liquid, so the brine ends up sweeter, cloudier and slightly thicker. For a dirty martini, brine from plain pitted green olives tastes crisper and more bracing. Blue cheese or garlic stuffed olives make a brine you probably do not want in a drink at all.
Oil-cured and dry salt-cured olives have no usable brine at all, because they were never in liquid. If your olives came in a tub of oil or arrived wrinkled and dark, there is nothing to pour off. Make brine from the olives themselves instead, or reach for caper brine.
For a dirty martini, start at half an ounce of brine per drink and adjust from there. An ounce gives you a filthy martini and about a quarter ounce gives a whisper. Add the brine to the mixing glass with the gin and vermouth and stir cold, or shake if you like the cloudiness, and taste before you strain, since brands vary enormously in saltiness.
Olive brine is far too salty to use undiluted as a meat brine. If you are brining chicken or turkey, use at most one part brine to three parts water and add no additional salt at all, then taste the liquid; it should be pleasantly salty like seawater, not harsh. Rinse and dry the meat before cooking, since surface brine burns and darkens quickly.
Always use a clean dry spoon or pour straight from the jar, and keep the remaining olives submerged. Brine that has been contaminated by a used spoon goes cloudy and can develop a film of yeast, and once the olives are above the liquid they discolour and soften.

Frequently asked questions

Is olive brine the same thing as olive juice?

Yes. Olive juice is the name it is sold under in bottles for cocktail use, and it is simply olive brine, the salty liquid the olives were cured and packed in. There is no juicing involved, since olives contain very little liquid of their own. Recipes and cocktail menus use the two terms interchangeably, and a bottle of olive juice and the liquid in your olive jar are the same ingredient.

Can I just leave the brine out of a martini?

Of course, and then you have a martini, which is one of the great drinks. The brine is what makes it dirty: it adds salt, a savoury cloudiness and a bitter-green olive aroma, and taking it away gives you a cleaner, sharper, more juniper-forward cocktail. If you wanted the savoury quality and have no brine at all, a couple of dashes of celery bitters or a pinch of salt gets you partway.

How much olive brine goes in a dirty martini?

Half an ounce per drink is the standard starting point against two and a half ounces of gin or vodka and half an ounce of dry vermouth. A quarter ounce makes it barely dirty, and a full ounce makes it filthy. Brands vary a lot in saltiness, so taste the mixing glass before straining. Stirring keeps it clearer; shaking makes it cloudier and colder.

Can I use olive brine to brine chicken?

Yes, and it works well, but dilute it. Olive brine is far saltier than a brining solution should be, so use roughly one part brine to three parts water, add no extra salt, and brine chicken pieces for two to four hours or a whole bird overnight. Rinse and pat the meat thoroughly dry before cooking, because the residual salt and sugar on the surface will brown and burn fast.

How long does olive brine keep once the olives are gone?

Several months in the refrigerator in a sealed jar, and it is remarkably stable because it is extremely salty and mildly acidic. Keep it capped and always use a clean utensil. Discard it if it develops a fuzzy film, turns ropy or stringy, or smells rancid or yeasty rather than sharply briny. A little natural cloudiness or sediment is normal and harmless.

Related substitutes

More liquids substitutes

Olive Brine substitute

Other olive brine substitutes

2Pickle Juice

3Pepperoncini or Banana Pepper Brine

4Homemade Olive Brine From Whole Olives

5Salted Water With a Few Drops of Lemon or Dry Vermouth

6Sauerkraut Juice or Cabbage Brine

7Artichoke or Giardiniera Brine