Replace worcetershire sauce, or do without?
Hey all,
Been working on making a meal plan using Mealie as of late. I'm finding regular issue I have is constantly feeling hungry, so I'm planning to add a lot more protein and fibre in my diet as I make my swap to a vegan one.
I've found myself looking at red lentils as a staple for a number of recipes, and am currently working on finding a good recipe for Sloppy Joes that utilise them. My main issue however is worcestershire sauce, which is included in most recipes. While I know a vegan equivalent exists, I've tried before to find it in stores to no avail and really want to avoid using an online store like Amazon for something so menial.
Would I likely be fine just removing it entirely from the recipe? Specific recipe I'm eyeballing right now also calls for vinegar of choice and soy sauce, and my only worry is making the recipe too bland unintentionally. If I can substitute it for something else, what would be a good replacement?
Thanks in advance.
10 replies
Maggi's sauce, liquid smoke or just MSG maybe?
Thanks, I'll try these out!
It’s hard to say how bland a recipe is without seeing it, but generally speaking what you get out of worcestershire sauce is slight sweetness, tang, and umami.
You could go about this a few ways…
If it’s in so many recipes of yours then perhaps it would be worth making the sauce yourself. The most important ingredient imo is tamarind paste, as long as you have that accessible to you it shouldn’t be too difficult. Up to you if you want to go so far as to properly ferment the sauce but quick versions do exist, they just don’t hold as much complexity flavour wise.
If not for making the sauce completely then you can borrow some of the ingredients in it to toss in your food. Tamarind paste contributes to that unique tanginess and some of the sweetness. Soy sauce or liquid aminos will give umami. Vinegar or lime juice cuts through the sweetness, enhances tang, and generally brightens flavours. Molasses is in there too usually but its a bit of a pain to work with imo not only because its so sticky but its also easy to overdo.
Theres a bunch of spices in there too but I think you can just throw whatever spices a recipe calls for in your food or whatever is to your taste. For example I’m always throwing in garlic powder and bay leaf in my food because I like how it tastes and it pairs with anything.
If you can find vegan bbq sauce, that might be an option as well. Worcestershire is in there usually and it has that tang/sweet element.
Worcestershire sauce is one of those instant flavour enhancer ingredients. You don’t need it but it sure makes food palatable in a pinch.
You've hit the nail on the head (from my perspective) and it was basically what I was going to say.
Umami is the big hit on flavour. So replacing with another Umami source. Mushroom ketchup, Marmite/Vegemite, (Vegan) Oyster sauce alternatives would all fit the bill. All of these are shelf stable for a long time, so can be bought in bulk and used repeatedly.
Thanks, I'll experiment making it from scratch when I can.
deeply reduced mushroom stock
Vegan Worcestershire exists. I have some in my fridge.
I mentioned I couldn't find it anywhere unfortunately.
Are you in the US?
I've found that steak sauces like A1 are generally vegan and have a similar flavor profile to Worcestershire