Wasabi substitute

Best substitute

Prepared Horseradish

¾ to 1 teaspoon horseradish for each 1 teaspoon wasabi paste

Best for sushi and sashimi

Different texture

Prepared horseradish is the best substitute, at about 3/4 the amount because it is wetter and sharper. Mustard powder mixed with cold water is the closest thing if you have no horseradish, and hot English mustard works in a pinch. Any of these gives you the same nose-burning heat; none gives you the faint sweetness of real fresh wasabi.

Other wasabi substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fresh Grated Horseradish Root
Close match
Use the same amount
Same plant family, and grated to order it behaves almost exactly like fresh wasabi.
What changes
Best for
sushi and sashimi, cold noodle dishes, beef, anywhere fresh wasabi is called for
Grate it fine on a microplane just before serving and use it within about fifteen minutes, because like real wasabi the volatile heat compounds fade fast in air. It is a little more brutally hot and more earthy than wasabi and has no sweetness at all. Grate it in a ventilated spot - the fumes are genuinely eye-watering.
3Mustard Powder Mixed With Cold Water
Different taste
1 teaspoon mustard powder + 1 teaspoon cold water makes about 1.5 teaspoons of paste; use 1:1
Mustard and wasabi share the same family of pungent compounds, so cold-mixed mustard powder produces the same sinus heat rather than a tongue burn.
What changes
Best for
soy dipping sauce, dressings and mayonnaise, marinades, when you have no horseradish at all
Cold water matters - hot water destroys the enzyme that makes the heat, and the paste needs about ten minutes to develop. The flavour is clearly mustardy rather than wasabi-like, so it works better stirred into a sauce than dabbed beside raw fish. The heat also fades within half an hour, so mix it just before you need it.
4Hot English Mustard
Different taste
¾ the amount
Already mixed and already fierce, which makes it the most convenient bottled substitute for the heat alone.
What changes
Best for
sandwiches and wraps, dressings, dipping sauces for fried food, beef
It is yellow, vinegary and unmistakably mustard, so a sushi plate will taste like a ploughman's lunch. What it does deliver is the same nose-first heat that people actually want from wasabi, which makes it good in anything mixed rather than anything served neat. Chinese hot mustard works the same way and is slightly closer because it is less vinegary.
5Horseradish + Mustard Powder + a Little Green
Close match
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish + ¼ teaspoon mustard powder, plus a drop of green food colouring if you want the look
This is essentially the commercial tubed wasabi recipe, rebuilt at home, and it is the best-tasting substitute you can make from a normal pantry.
What changes
Best for
sushi and sashimi, wasabi mayonnaise, poke bowls, wasabi peas and snacks
The mustard powder adds the top-end sinus heat that vinegar-packed horseradish has lost, so together they read much more like tubed wasabi than either alone. Drain the horseradish first for a stiffer paste. Matcha or a little spinach juice will green it up if you would rather skip food dye, though matcha adds bitterness.
6Nothing (Serve Soy Sauce and Pickled Ginger Alone)
Taste and texture differ
Omit
The honest option when you have no horseradish and no mustard, because a bad green paste is worse than none.
What changes
Best for
sushi and sashimi at home, poke bowls, rice bowls
Sushi without wasabi tastes flatter and slightly fishier - the heat is there to clear the palate between pieces and cut the richness of fatty fish - but it is still good food. A thin slice of fresh chilli, a grating of daikon, or a splash of citrus in the soy sauce all do part of the job. What does not work is substituting a tongue-burning chilli sauce like sriracha, which sits in a completely different part of your mouth and tastes wrong with raw fish.

What is Wasabi?

Wasabi is Wasabi is the grated rhizome of a Japanese plant related to horseradish and mustard, sold fresh as hon-wasabi or, far more often, as a green paste or powder that is mostly horseradish, mustard and colouring rather than real wasabi.

Cooking tips

Check the tube before you go looking for a substitute. Most supermarket wasabi paste lists horseradish, mustard and colouring first, with little or no real wasabi in it, which means prepared horseradish is not an approximation of what you had - it is close to the same product.
Wasabi's job is aromatic heat that clears the nose and cuts fat, not chilli heat that burns the tongue. That is why horseradish and mustard substitute well and why sriracha, chilli flakes or cayenne substitute badly, even though all of them are labelled hot.
Never mix wasabi or any substitute into your soy sauce dish at a sushi restaurant if you care about doing it properly - dab a little directly onto the fish instead. At home, do whatever you like, but adding it to the soy dilutes the heat noticeably.
Real fresh wasabi is grated in a circular motion on a fine grater or a sharkskin oroshi and starts losing its punch within about fifteen minutes, so grate it at the table. Any substitute you mix from powder behaves the same way, so make it last, not first.
Heat kills the pungency of wasabi and of every substitute for it. If you are adding it to a hot sauce, a dressing or mashed potato, stir it in off the heat at the very end or you will end up with green colour and nothing else.

Frequently asked questions

Is wasabi just horseradish?

Real wasabi is its own plant, a Japanese rhizome related to horseradish and mustard, and it tastes cleaner and slightly sweeter with a heat that fades faster. But most wasabi sold outside Japan - and served in most restaurants - is a paste of horseradish, mustard and green colouring with little or no actual wasabi. So if you are substituting for tubed wasabi, prepared horseradish is not a compromise so much as a return to the original ingredient.

Can I just leave it out?

Yes. Sushi, poke and rice bowls are all perfectly good without it; they just taste a bit flatter, and fatty fish like salmon or tuna belly feels richer with nothing cutting through it. If you want that cutting effect without wasabi, try extra pickled ginger, a grating of raw daikon, a squeeze of lemon in the soy sauce, or a thin slice of fresh chilli.

Can I use wasabi powder instead of paste?

Yes, and it is often better value. Mix wasabi powder with an equal amount of cold water to a stiff paste, then let it sit five to ten minutes for the heat to develop, and turn the dish upside down over it or cover it so the aroma does not escape. Use cold water, never hot, and mix only what you need - it starts fading within about half an hour.

What is the closest substitute for the heat, not the flavour?

Mustard powder mixed with cold water, or hot English or Chinese hot mustard. All three carry the same family of pungent compounds as wasabi, so the burn goes up your nose and clears in seconds rather than sitting on your tongue. Chilli-based sauces are the wrong kind of heat entirely and will not scratch the itch, no matter how hot they are.

Why does my wasabi taste like nothing after a few minutes?

That is normal and it happens to real wasabi, powder mixes and horseradish alike. The heat comes from volatile compounds created when the cells are broken, and they evaporate quickly - within fifteen to thirty minutes you have mostly lost them. Grate or mix it right before serving, keep it covered until it hits the plate, and do not make it hours ahead.

Related substitutes

More sauces & condiments substitutes

Wasabi substitute

Other wasabi substitutes

2Fresh Grated Horseradish Root

3Mustard Powder Mixed With Cold Water

4Hot English Mustard

5Horseradish + Mustard Powder + a Little Green

6Nothing (Serve Soy Sauce and Pickled Ginger Alone)