Pomegranate Vinegar substitute

Best substitute

Red wine vinegar plus pomegranate molasses

Use 2 tsp red wine vinegar plus 1 tsp pomegranate molasses for every 1 tbsp of pomegranate vinegar

Best for salad dressings and fattoush-style plates

Close match

The closest match you can assemble, and often better than a cheap bottle of the real thing. Red wine vinegar supplies clean grape-based acid and some tannin, and pomegranate molasses supplies exactly the fruit, colour and astringency that define pomegranate vinegar. The result is a shade sweeter and slightly thicker than the bottled vinegar, which is usually an advantage in a dressing. Add a few drops more vinegar if your molasses is on the sweet side.

Other pomegranate vinegar substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Reduced pomegranate juice with wine vinegar
Close match
1 tbsp juice reduced to 1 tsp, plus 2 tsp wine vinegar
The freshest-tasting option.
What changes
Simmering 100 percent pomegranate juice down concentrates its fruit and tannin without the caramelised note that bottled molasses has, so the finished mixture tastes brighter and more like fresh fruit. Use white wine vinegar if you want to keep the colour pure ruby, red wine vinegar for more depth. Slightly less complex than a fermented pomegranate vinegar, which has a rounder, aged quality.
Best for
delicate dressings, dressing fruit, cucumber and tomato salads, finishing roasted vegetables, pan sauces for duck and chicken
Reduce it gently and stop while it is still syrupy rather than sticky - overcooked pomegranate juice turns bitter. Unsweetened juice only.
3Pomegranate molasses thinned with water
Taste and texture differ
Use 2 tsp molasses plus 1 tsp water for every 1 tbsp, then taste for acid
Works when the molasses is all you have.
What changes
Thinning gets it to a pourable consistency and the sourness of a tart brand may be enough on its own. What you may be short of is real acidity - many brands are sweet enough that the dressing ends up tasting like fruit syrup - so taste and add lemon juice or wine vinegar until it makes your mouth water rather than just tasting nice. Colour and fruit character are spot on.
Best for
dressings for robust salads, glazing roasted vegetables and meat off the heat, drizzling over labneh, feta and hummus, dips and spreads
The most common failure here is not enough sharpness. Check the label - if sugar or glucose is listed high up, you will definitely need to add acid.
4Red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar on its own
Different taste
¾ the amount, plus a pinch of sugar
Both are dark, tannic wine vinegars and will balance a dish correctly, which is most of the job.
What changes
What is missing is fruit: a muhammara made with plain red wine vinegar tastes savoury and nutty and noticeably less bright, and the flavour points toward the Mediterranean rather than toward Persia. Sherry vinegar adds a nutty, oxidised depth that is lovely in its own right but even further from pomegranate. Use slightly less than the recipe says since neither has sweetness buffering the acid.
Best for
vinaigrettes with strong companions like garlic and mustard, marinades, cooked dishes and pan sauces, bean and lentil dishes
If there are pomegranate seeds in your recipe or your fridge, mash a spoonful into the dressing - it borrows back some of the missing fruit.
5Sumac steeped in white wine vinegar
Different taste
Use 1 tsp sumac for every 1 tbsp vinegar, steeped 10 minutes and strained
A genuinely useful Levantine trick and an under-used one.
What changes
Sumac is a tart, fruity, slightly astringent berry, and steeping it turns plain vinegar rosy and gives it a fruit-acid character remarkably close in spirit to pomegranate vinegar. It is less sweet and more purely tart, so add a pinch of sugar for balance. On a chopped salad or over roast chicken it lands very close to the intended flavour.
Best for
chopped salads, fattoush and salatim, roast chicken and grilled meat, sprinkling into dressings and dips, onion salads
Strain the grit out through a fine sieve, or leave it in if you do not mind the texture. Ten minutes is enough; longer makes it dusty rather than fruitier.
6Balsamic vinegar
Different taste
¾ the amount
The most likely bottle in a Western kitchen, and it gets two things right - dark colour and sweet-sour balance.
What changes
It fails on character: balsamic is mellow, woody and raisiny where pomegranate is bright, tannic and puckering, so a Persian dressing made with it tastes soft and Italian rather than sharp and Levantine. A squeeze of lemon juice restores some of the missing brightness. Better in cooked and roasted dishes than in a raw salad, where the difference is obvious.
Best for
roasted vegetables and aubergine, meat glazes applied off the heat, salad dressings in a pinch, cheese and mezze plates
Add lemon juice alongside, roughly a quarter teaspoon per tablespoon, to sharpen it toward pomegranate's profile.

What is Pomegranate Vinegar?

Pomegranate Vinegar is Pomegranate vinegar, called sirke-e-anar in Persian and sometimes sold as pomegranate wine vinegar, is vinegar fermented from pomegranate juice, which gives it a deep ruby colour and a sourness that is fruity and slightly tannic rather than sharp and neutral.

Cooking tips

Pomegranate vinegar is best added raw or at the end of cooking. Its appeal is fresh fruit acid, and long simmering strips that out and leaves a flat sourness - if a stew needs it, stir it in during the last few minutes.
It is less aggressive than most wine vinegars, so you can use a bolder proportion in a vinaigrette - three parts oil to one part vinegar rather than four to one - and it stands up especially well to walnuts, tahini, pomegranate seeds, mint, parsley and grilled meat.
Sweetness and tannin vary enormously between bottles and between substitutes, so build any dressing by tasting rather than by measuring blindly. The target is a dressing that makes your mouth water; if it merely tastes fruity, it needs more acid.
Do not confuse the three pomegranate products a recipe might ask for. Juice is thin and mildly sweet, molasses is a thick sweet-sour syrup, and vinegar is a sharp fermented liquid. Swapping molasses in for vinegar without adding acid is the single most common mistake, and it makes a dressing taste like dessert.
You will find it in Persian, Turkish and Armenian groceries, usually cheap and often unfiltered so it throws a sediment - shake before pouring. It keeps for years in a cool dark cupboard.
Never substitute pomegranate vinegar, or any of these mixtures, for the vinegar in a tested canning or shelf-stable pickling recipe. Fruit vinegars are often below the 5 percent acidity such recipes assume, and the finished acidity is what keeps the jar safe - follow the recipe exactly and check National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use pomegranate molasses instead of pomegranate vinegar?

Only with an adjustment, because molasses is a sweet syrup and vinegar is an acid. Thin 2 teaspoons of molasses with 1 teaspoon of water for each tablespoon of vinegar, then taste and add lemon juice or wine vinegar until it is genuinely sharp. The better version of this swap is 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar with 1 teaspoon of molasses, which gets both jobs right straight away.

What does pomegranate vinegar taste like?

Tart and fruity with a drying, tannic finish, more like a very sharp pomegranate than like a neutral vinegar, and usually a little sweeter than red wine vinegar. Unfiltered bottles taste rounder and slightly funky. It is that combination of fruit and astringency that makes it work with walnuts, tahini and grilled meat.

Can I just leave it out?

Not if it is the acid in the dish. A dressing, muhammara or salatim without it will taste heavy and dull, since the sourness is what lifts all the nuts, oil and herbs. Substitute any wine vinegar or lemon juice at minimum. If it is a small finishing splash in a stew, you can skip it and squeeze lemon at the table instead.

Is pomegranate vinegar the same as pomegranate juice?

No. Juice is unfermented, mildly sweet and only faintly tart, so a tablespoon of juice cannot supply the sourness a recipe expects from vinegar. If juice is all you have, simmer a tablespoon down to a teaspoon to concentrate it and add 2 teaspoons of wine vinegar for the acid.

Where do I buy pomegranate vinegar?

Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Middle Eastern groceries stock it reliably, often under sirke-e-anar or nar sirkesi, and it is usually inexpensive. Some health food shops carry it too. If you cannot find it, the red wine vinegar and pomegranate molasses mixture above is close enough that it is not worth a special trip.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Pomegranate Vinegar substitute

Other pomegranate vinegar substitutes

2Reduced pomegranate juice with wine vinegar

3Pomegranate molasses thinned with water

4Red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar on its own

5Sumac steeped in white wine vinegar

6Balsamic vinegar