Sorrel substitutes
Sorrel substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Baby spinach plus lemon juice
Per 4 oz (115 g)
Equal weight spinach, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
The important thing about sorrel is that its job in a dish is acid, not greenery, so the fix is baby spinach plus lemon juice: use the same weight of spinach and add about a tablespoon of lemon juice per four ounces, stirred in off the heat, then taste and add more. Spinach collapses into a puree exactly the way sorrel does, so the texture is right and you are simply supplying the sourness yourself. For sorrel sauce with salmon, finely chopped rhubarb cooked until soft is a surprisingly good alternative.
- Verdict —
- Tweak it
- What changes —
- different taste, similar texture
- Best for —
- sorrel sauce for salmon
Updated 26 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
Every option, one card
Ranked| # | Substitute | Instead of sorrel | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baby spinach plus lemon juicesorrel sauce for salmon | Equal weight spinach, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice per 4 oz (115 g)Tweak it | Tweak it |
| 2 | Spinach plus dry white wine or white wine vinegarcream sauces | Equal weight spinach, plus 2 tbsp wine or 2 tsp vinegar per 4 oz (115 g)Tweak it | Tweak it |
| 3 | Watercress plus lemon juicesorrel soup | Equal weight, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice per 4 oz (115 g)Tweak it | Tweak it |
| 4 | Arugula plus lemon juicesalads | Equal weight, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice per 4 oz (115 g)You'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 5 | Rhubarb, finely chopped and cooked downsauce for salmon | 1/3 the weight of the sorrel called forTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Swiss chard or beet greens plus lemon juicesoups | Equal weight, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice per 4 oz (115 g)You'll taste it | You'll taste it |
Baby spinach plus lemon juice
different taste, similar texture
Mild leaves that melt like sorrel, with the sourness added separately.
- Best for
- sorrel sauce for salmon, sorrel soup, omelettes, creamed greens
The standard answer and a genuinely close one. Spinach wilts to a soft puree in seconds just as sorrel does, so the body of the sauce is right, and the lemon supplies the sharp sourness. What you miss is sorrel's slight metallic, grassy tang underneath the acid, so the result tastes a shade cleaner and simpler. Add the lemon off the heat and taste as you go, because sorrel is more sour than most people expect.
Spinach plus dry white wine or white wine vinegar
different taste, similar texture
The same substitution using a wine-based acid instead of citrus.
- Best for
- cream sauces, fish, veal, soups
Better than lemon in a butter or cream sauce, where lemon can read as too fresh and fruity against the dairy. Reduce the wine in the pan before adding the spinach so the alcohol cooks off. Vinegar is sharper and more one-note, so add it in small increments right at the end.
Watercress plus lemon juice
different taste, similar texture
Peppery green leaves with a slight bitterness of their own.
- Best for
- sorrel soup, green sauces, fish
A very good soup substitute. Watercress adds a mustardy pepperiness and a touch of bitterness that sorrel does not have, so the soup tastes sharper and more assertive rather than purely sour. It wilts cleanly and the colour holds up better than sorrel, which always goes drab.
Arugula plus lemon juice
different taste and texture
Sharp, peppery salad leaves.
- Best for
- salads, green sauces, soups
Works, but it is the most assertive option here. Arugula is strongly peppery and turns slightly bitter when cooked hard, so a sorrel soup made with it tastes distinctly of arugula. It also does not break down as smoothly, leaving more discernible leaf. Best in raw or barely-cooked applications where sorrel was going into a salad.
Rhubarb, finely chopped and cooked down
different taste, similar texture
Genuinely sour stalks that break down into a soft, tart puree.
- Best for
- sauce for salmon, mackerel, oily fish
The unexpectedly good one for the classic oily-fish pairing, because sorrel is used there specifically to cut richness with acidity, and rhubarb does that better than almost anything. Chop it fine and cook it in butter with a little water until it collapses, about eight minutes. There is no green flavour at all and the sauce turns pinkish rather than olive, so it looks different, but it tastes right against salmon.
Swiss chard or beet greens plus lemon juice
different taste and texture
Sturdier cooking greens from the same family as sorrel.
- Best for
- soups, gratins, braised dishes, tarts
The closest botanical relatives to sorrel that supermarkets actually stock. Milder and slightly earthy, and they need a couple of minutes longer to soften than spinach does, so start them earlier. Good in a rustic soup or a savoury tart, less good in a fine sauce because the leaves stay more fibrous.
Questions
5 questionsWhat does sorrel taste like?
Sharply sour, almost like biting a lemon-flavoured leaf, with a green, slightly grassy background. It is one of the very few ingredients that delivers real acidity in the form of a vegetable, which is why it turns up in sauces for rich fish and in soups where a squeeze of lemon would feel too thin.
Can I just leave sorrel out?
Not really, because it is usually the source of the dish's acidity. A sorrel soup or sorrel sauce without it is just a cream soup or a butter sauce. If you cannot get sorrel, use spinach plus lemon rather than skipping it, since that keeps both the body and the sourness. Where sorrel is one green among several in a salad, though, leaving it out is fine.
Is Jamaican sorrel the same thing?
No, and this trips people up regularly. Jamaican or Caribbean sorrel is dried hibiscus flower, used to make a deep red tart drink. Wood sorrel is a different small clover-like plant that is also sour but not sold as a cooking green. French sorrel and garden sorrel, sometimes called oseille or sourgrass, are what recipes for sorrel sauce and sorrel soup mean.
Can I use dried sorrel?
Not for a sauce or soup. Drying destroys both the fresh acidity and the melting texture, leaving a dusty green powder with little character. If you find dried sorrel it is best treated as a mild herb sprinkle. Frozen sorrel, sold in blocks in some European shops, does work well and can be used 1:1.
Where can I buy sorrel?
Rarely in supermarkets, which is why this page exists. Farmers markets in spring and early summer are the best bet, along with Eastern European and Middle Eastern grocers, who often stock it fresh or frozen. It is also one of the easiest herbs to grow in a pot, comes back every year, and a single plant supplies plenty for a couple of sauces a season.
Tips for substituting sorrel
5 tips- Sorrel and every spinach-and-lemon stand-in turn a drab olive-khaki the moment they hit heat. That is normal chemistry, not spoilage, and no amount of blanching prevents it. If you want a green-looking sauce, hold back a handful of raw leaves and stir them in at the last second.
- Do not cook sorrel or its acidic substitutes in bare aluminium or unlined cast iron. The acid reacts with the metal, which gives a metallic taste and a grey cast to the sauce. Use stainless steel or enamelled pans.
- Add the acid off the heat and taste in stages. Sorrel is far more sour than people expect, so it is easy to underdo the lemon, but it is also easy to overshoot and make the sauce puckering. Two rounds of tasting gets you there.
- Sorrel melts in about thirty seconds, so recipes that say to cook it briefly mean it. Whichever leaf you use, treat it as a last-minute addition rather than something to simmer.
- Sorrel is high in oxalic acid, which is what makes it sour. That is fine in normal cooking amounts, but if you are prone to kidney stones you may want to keep large quantities modest. Lemon-plus-spinach substitutions do not carry the same load.