Rice Vinegar substitutes
A mild vinegar fermented from rice, usually 4-4.5% acetic acid, which makes it the weakest and softest-tasting vinegar in most kitchens.
White Wine Vinegar
2 tsp + 1 tsp water
Rice vinegar is the mildest vinegar you own, so any other vinegar has to be watered down rather than poured in spoon for spoon. Per 1 tbsp of rice vinegar use 2 tsp white wine vinegar plus 1 tsp water, and a pinch of sugar if it is going into a dressing or dipping sauce.
At a glance
| # | Substitute | Instead of rice vinegar, use | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Wine Vinegar | 2 tsp + 1 tsp water | Needs a tweak |
| 2 | Apple Cider Vinegar | 2 ½ tsp + water | Needs a tweak |
| 3 | Distilled White Vinegar + Sugar | 2 ½ tsp + ⅛ tsp sugar | Needs a tweak |
| 4 | Champagne Vinegar | 2 tsp + 1 tsp water | Needs a tweak |
| 5 | Lemon Juice | 2 ½ tsp per tbsp | You'll taste it |
Every rice vinegar substitute
Substitutes for Rice Vinegar with ratios
1. White Wine Vinegar
Needs a tweak2 tsp + 1 tsp water
The cleanest-tasting stronger vinegar, so once you cut it with water it lands very close to rice vinegar.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free- Covers
- Acid
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Aroma & flavour identity — not covered
2. Apple Cider Vinegar
Needs a tweak2 ½ tsp + water
At 5% acid it needs only a small dilution, and its fruitiness partly stands in for rice vinegar's soft sweetness.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free- Covers
- Acid
- Misses
- Aroma & flavour identity — not covered
3. Distilled White Vinegar + Sugar
Needs a tweak2 ½ tsp + ⅛ tsp sugar
Also 5% acid and completely colourless, but flatly harsh on its own, which is what the sugar is there to fix.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free- Covers
- Acid
- Sweetness
- Misses
- Aroma & flavour identity — not covered
4. Champagne Vinegar
Needs a tweak2 tsp + 1 tsp water
A delicate wine vinegar at about 6% acid, so it is the closest match in character once diluted - if you happen to own it.
What changes
Special tripvegangluten-freedairy-free- Covers
- Acid
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Aroma & flavour identity — not covered
5. Lemon Juice
You'll taste itUse 2 ½ tsp for every tbsp of rice vinegar
About the same acid strength as a 5% vinegar, but it brings an unmistakable citrus smell rice vinegar does not have.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free- Covers
- Acid
- Misses
- Sweetness — not covered
- Aroma & flavour identity — not covered
Don’t use these
- MirinNot for this
Which one for your recipe?
You are seasoning sushi rice, a cucumber salad, a slaw or a dipping sauce - something eaten raw where you taste the vinegar directly.
Dilute whatever you have and add a little sugar, or it will sting. Per tablespoon of rice vinegar: 2 tsp white wine vinegar plus 1 tsp water, or 2 1/2 tsp cider vinegar plus 1/2 tsp water, plus 1/8 tsp sugar either way. The sushi case is worked through at sushi.
The vinegar goes into a stir-fry sauce, a braise, a marinade or a glaze that will be cooked.
Cooking flattens the difference between vinegars, so use any of them at the diluted amounts above and stop worrying. Do not bother with a sugar correction if the sauce already contains sugar, honey or mirin.
The recipe calls for rice wine - mirin, sake or Shaoxing - and you are wondering whether rice vinegar is the same thing.
It is not. Rice wine is sweet and barely acidic; rice vinegar is sour. Swapping either way changes the dish completely, so read the label rather than the word rice.
You are following a tested pickling or canning recipe.
Do not use rice vinegar unless the recipe names it. At 4-4.5% it sits below the 5% minimum those recipes are built on, and the acidity there is a safety control rather than a seasoning.
Start from the strength, not the flavour. Rice vinegar is the mildest vinegar in the kitchen, so every other vinegar has to be cut with water rather than poured in spoon for spoon - 2 tsp wine vinegar or 2 1/2 tsp of a 5% vinegar per tablespoon, topped up with water. Then ask whether the dish is eaten raw: if it is, add 1/8 tsp sugar per tablespoon to replace rice vinegar's softness.
Don’t substitute rice vinegar here
Any tested canning or pickling recipe that does not specifically name rice vinegar.
At 4-4.5% acid, rice vinegar is weaker than the 5% minimum those recipes are built around, and in a sealed jar the acid level is what keeps the food safe rather than what makes it taste good.
Pouring a wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar into sushi rice tablespoon for tablespoon.
Those vinegars are 5-7% acid against rice vinegar's 4-4.5%, and sushi rice takes a large amount of seasoning - about 1/4 cup for 3 cups of cooked rice. The error is multiplied by the volume, and the rice comes out mouth-puckering.
A recipe calls for rice wine - mirin, sake or Shaoxing - and you reach for rice vinegar.
They share a word and nothing else. Rice wine is sweet and barely acidic; rice vinegar is sour and has had its sugar fermented away. Swapping one for the other makes a savoury braise taste like a pickle.
The dish is meant to taste of Chinese black vinegar, sherry vinegar or balsamic.
Those are dark, aged and malty or sweet. Rice vinegar has none of that depth, so the sauce comes out thin and merely sour, and a pale sauce where a dark one was intended.
What rice vinegar does in a recipe
Rice vinegar is the mildest vinegar most kitchens hold - about 4-4.5% acid against 5-7% for the others - so it can season sushi rice or a dipping sauce without stinging. Its softness is the point.
Tips for substituting rice vinegar
- Rice vinegar is the weakest vinegar in the cupboard at 4-4.5% acid, so swapping another vinegar in at the same volume oversours the dish by roughly a third.
- Rice wine vinegar and rice vinegar are the same product under two names. Rice wine - mirin, sake, Shaoxing - is a different bottle entirely.
- Check whether your bottle says seasoned: seasoned rice vinegar already contains sugar and salt, so leave the recipe's own sugar and salt out.
- Season sushi rice while it is hot with 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt per 3 cups of cooked rice, then fold and cool it uncovered.
- Taste any vinegar mixture on a spoon before it goes into the food. Sushi rice takes a lot of seasoning, so a small error in strength gets multiplied.
- For quick fridge pickles, rice vinegar's mildness is an advantage - but the same mildness makes it unsafe for sealed canning, which needs 5% or higher.