Raspberry Vinegar substitute

Best substitute

White wine vinegar whisked with raspberry jam

Use 1 tbsp vinegar plus 1 tsp jam for every 1 tbsp raspberry vinegar

Best for vinaigrettes for spinach, goat cheese and salad greens

Close match

The best five-minute answer on this page, because jam is concentrated cooked raspberry and the vinegar supplies the acid, which between them is what raspberry vinegar actually is. Warm them together so the jam dissolves and push it through a sieve to catch the seeds. The result is a little sweeter and slightly jammier-tasting than a steeped vinegar, and the aroma is cooked rather than fresh, but in a vinaigrette or a pan sauce it is indistinguishable to most people.

Other raspberry vinegar substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Homemade raspberry-steeped vinegar
Close match
1 cup fruit to 1 cup vinegar, then use 1:1
The real thing, and by far the cheapest way to have it.
What changes
Crush the berries lightly, cover with white wine vinegar in a clean jar, cap it and leave it in a cool dark place for three to seven days, then strain through a fine sieve or cloth and bottle. Fresh berries give a cleaner, brighter perfume than jam; frozen work just as well and are often better value. Add a teaspoon or two of sugar to the strained vinegar if you want the sweetness commercial bottles have.
Best for
salad dressings, drinking vinegars and shrubs, pan sauces, spooning over fruit or into sparkling water
Use the vinegar straight from the bottle without diluting it, keep everything clean, strain the fruit out rather than leaving it in indefinitely, and refrigerate the finished vinegar. Home-infused vinegars are for fresh use in dressings and sauces - do not use them in any canning or shelf-stable pickling recipe, where the exact acidity is what keeps the jar safe.
3Red wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar
Different taste
Use the same amount vinegar, plus ¼ tsp sugar per tbsp
The most likely bottle in your kitchen and a solid structural match: red, moderately acidic, softened by a little sweetness.
What changes
What is missing is the specific floral-berry aroma, and red wine vinegar brings its own tannic, slightly grapey edge instead. A spinach and goat cheese salad made with it is still very good, just savory and grown-up rather than fruity. A few crushed raspberries or blackberries dropped into the dressing and mashed with a fork help a lot.
Best for
vinaigrettes, warm bacon dressings, pan sauces for red meat and duck, marinades
Sherry vinegar works the same way and tastes nuttier and more interesting, though even further from raspberry. Both are stronger than most fruit vinegars, so start with slightly less.
4Another fruit vinegar: blackberry, cherry, cranberry or pomegranate
Different taste
Use the same amount
If you have any berry vinegar, use it - they all do the same job of fruity acid, and the recipe will read as intended.
What changes
Blackberry is the nearest in character, a touch deeper and less perfumed. Cherry is rounder and almondy. Pomegranate is more tannic and astringent. All of them change the aroma noticeably while keeping the sweet-tart structure and the pink-to-ruby color intact.
Best for
salad dressings, cheese plates and drizzling, poultry and pork sauces, drinking vinegars
Taste first for sweetness. Some fruit vinegars are heavily sweetened and behave more like a shrub syrup than a vinegar, in which case use less and add plain vinegar to make up the volume.
5White balsamic or champagne vinegar with berry
Different taste
Use the same amount plus 2 crushed raspberries per tbsp
White balsamic is already sweet-tart and pale gold, so it needs no sugar and lands close to a commercial raspberry vinegar in balance - only grape-scented rather than berry-scented.
What changes
Champagne vinegar is more delicate and needs a pinch of sugar. Mashing a couple of raspberries into either, then straining, borrows back the aroma and the pink tint. This is the best route for a dressing where you want elegance rather than punch.
Best for
delicate green salads, dressings for fish, chicken and seafood, fruit salads, vinaigrettes served with soft cheese
Frozen raspberries mash more easily than fresh and release color faster. Two berries per tablespoon is enough to tint and scent the vinegar.
6Plain wine vinegar, unadorned
Different taste
¾ the amount
The least-bad option and worth stating plainly: the dish will be correctly balanced but will lose the thing the recipe was reaching for.
What changes
Raspberry vinegar contributes aroma and a hint of sweetness on top of sourness, so a straight white or red wine vinegar tastes sharper and more austere - a vintage bistro chicken sauce made with it is still delicious, just no longer a raspberry chicken. Use a little less than the recipe says, since there is no sweetness buffering the acid.
Best for
any recipe where the vinegar is one of many strong flavors, marinades, deglazing, dressings with mustard and garlic
If you have even a spoonful of any berry jam, jelly or frozen fruit, use the jam method above instead. It takes two minutes and closes almost the whole gap.

What is Raspberry Vinegar?

Raspberry Vinegar is white or red wine vinegar steeped with raspberries until it turns pink and smells of the fruit, sometimes sold as framboise vinegar and usually lightly sweetened, so it brings a dressing or a pan sauce fruit and perfume along with its acidity.

Cooking tips

Raspberry vinegar is a finishing acid, not a cooking one. Its aroma is volatile, so in a pan sauce add it at the very end - splash it in off the heat, or reduce it for no more than thirty seconds - otherwise you are left with generic sourness.
It wants fat and salt opposite it. The classic pairings work because of contrast: goat cheese, bacon, duck skin, roast chicken, toasted walnuts, blue cheese. In a fat-free dressing it tastes thin and unpleasantly sharp.
Commercial bottles vary wildly in sweetness, from bone dry to nearly a shrub syrup. Taste yours before building a dressing, and adjust the sugar in the recipe rather than assuming, or the vinaigrette will come out candied.
For a vinaigrette, go lighter on the vinegar than the usual three-to-one ratio suggests - four parts oil to one part raspberry vinegar is usually better, because the fruit sweetness makes the acid taste more prominent than it is.
Home-infused fruit vinegars belong in the fridge once strained, and are for dressings, sauces and drinks. For any canned or shelf-stable pickle, use the vinegar the tested recipe specifies at the acidity it specifies, and follow National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance - a home infusion has an unknown final acidity and must never be substituted in preserving.
A tablespoon of raspberry vinegar in a glass of cold sparkling water is the traditional drinking-vinegar use and a good way to finish a bottle that is going nowhere.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make raspberry vinegar quickly?

Whisk 2 teaspoons of raspberry jam into 2 tablespoons of warm white wine vinegar until it dissolves, then strain out the seeds. It takes five minutes and stands in for bottled raspberry vinegar in a dressing or pan sauce almost perfectly. For a fresher version, steep crushed raspberries in wine vinegar for three to seven days and strain.

Can I use red wine vinegar instead of raspberry vinegar?

Yes, at roughly 1:1 with a quarter teaspoon of sugar per tablespoon to mimic the softer sweetness. You lose the berry aroma, so the dressing tastes sharper and more savory. Crushing a couple of raspberries or a spoonful of jam into it recovers most of what is missing.

Can I just leave it out?

Not from a vinaigrette, where the acid is doing structural work and the dressing would be oil and salt without it - use any wine vinegar or lemon juice instead. In a pan sauce you can leave it out and the sauce will still be good, just richer and less lively; a squeeze of lemon at the end restores the balance if not the fruit.

Is raspberry vinegar sweet?

It depends entirely on the bottle. A traditional infusion of raspberries in wine vinegar is barely sweet at all, while many supermarket versions add sugar or grape must and taste distinctly sweet-tart. Taste yours before you use it, because it changes how much sugar the rest of the recipe needs.

How long does homemade raspberry vinegar keep?

Strain the fruit out after a week and it will keep for several months in a sealed bottle in the fridge. The color fades from bright pink toward brownish over time and the aroma softens, both of which are normal. Discard it if it smells musty or if anything fuzzy appears, and always start with clean jars.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Raspberry Vinegar substitute

Other raspberry vinegar substitutes

2Homemade raspberry-steeped vinegar

3Red wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar

4Another fruit vinegar: blackberry, cherry, cranberry or pomegranate

5White balsamic or champagne vinegar with berry

6Plain wine vinegar, unadorned