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This vegan fish sauce recipe kicks in the door, wavin' the .44, whispering to every single fish in the galaxy "swim unharmed in the endless expanse of the ocean forevermore, my dear love".
Your noodles and spring rolls need to brace themselves for some funky umami punch that doesn't require a single fish or fermenting anything in your closet for 6 tiresome months. Built from seaweed, mushrooms, and a handful of pantry staples, your vegan Southeast Asian cooking just got 200% more dope.
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Look, for nailing the flavor and intensity of the fish sauce without killing any creatures, a few things matter. Seaweed matters. Mushrooms matter. Low heat matters. You're not boiling this into gosh darn submission or blasting its subtly oceanic flavor into oblivion.
Use this to make the most authentic tasting vegan pad see ew, khao pad, vegan bun rieu, and Vietnamese cucumber salad you've had since you realized that fish are your weird brethren in this strange comic soup we are all trapped in.
Now get in that kitchen and act like you didn't just Google "best vegan fish sauce" 6 times. This is the Asian food recipe you are looking for, and you are about to eat exactly 0 fishes.
This is, by far, the best vegan fish sauce that I've made or bought.
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this vegan fish sauce recipe
🌊 Ocean Energy Without the Funk: Kombu and wakame bring that briny backbone without smelling like stanky ol' low tide in the summer. Plus there's mushrooms in this banger to emulate the umami complexity of fish too.
✊ Vegan AF & GF: All my vegan sauces and dressings deliver full savory depth of flavor without involving a single fish or any animal products, plus it's gluten-free!
⏱️ Low Effort, High Payoff: One pot, common ingredients, gentle simmer, strain, done. Takes about as much effort as making chai without going to an actual Viet market.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: I don't post any vegan recipes until they get tested and reviewed by hundreds of cooks from all around the world.
🙌 Learn to make restaurant-quality Vietnamese food
This guide to my most popular vegan Vietnamese recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🎏 What's in nước mắm chay?
Dried Kombu
Kombu adds a big piece of the seafood flavor and natural salinity. If you can't get your stinking little hands upon some kombu, you can get away with some dulse in its place.
Dried Wakame
High quality wakame will give you a taste of the ocean without a strong fishy aftertaste, plus, it's amazing for you. Use any leftovers to make my killer wakame salad or sunomono. But, yes hijiki works too in this sauce if you can't get wakame.
Mirin
Mirin brings gentle sweetness with a little fermented wink. Sub rice vinegar with just enough agave or sugar to balance the acidity.
Shaoxing Wine
Shaoxing wine brings a rich, savory oomph. I use this same stuff to add mad umami to bánh bao chay and mi xao xi dau. It's something I keep in my pantry all the time for adding a well rounded backbone of flavor to sauces and stocks.
Tamari
Tamari provides most of the saltiness to this sauce and reinforces umami while keeping the condiment completely gluten-free. Soy sauce can be used if gluten is not a concern. If you avoid soy, you can rock this recipe using coconut aminos instead.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Variations
Vegan Shrimp Paste
My Filipino-style vegan shrimp paste is amazing for adding to curries or stir fries where you don't want a liquid option.
Vegan Nước Chấm
Nước chấm is a dipping sauce made from fish sauce (in my recipe's case, vegan) with added garlic and bird's eye chilies. It's a pretty common table staple in Vietnam, but also sometimes shows up in Cambodian and Thai cuisine too.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make vegetarian fish sauce
Okay so you've got 2 paths here. Speed-run it with the recipe card, or follow the steps below and walk away knowing you absolutely nailed it. Both are valid. One is slightly smugger.
Step One
When the Shiitake Hits the Fan:
Add the water, shiitake mushrooms, kombu, wakame, garlic, shallot, apple, shoaxing wine, mirin, coconut sugar, and tamari to a saucepan and stir to combine.
Step Two
Sim Simmer, Who's Got the Keys to My Bimmer:
Place the saucepan over medium heat. After 3 minutes, once the liquid is steaming but not boiling, lower the heat to your stove's gentlest simmer, cover, and cook for 25 minutes, keeping the liquid at a steady simmer without boiling.
Step Three
It's Straining Men:
Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing firmly on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible, then discard the solids.
Step Four
Lost in the Sauce:
Transfer the strained liquid to a clean container and allow it to cool completely before sealing. Store refrigerated (stays good for a month or longer) and use in recipes as needed.
👉Top tips
- Keep the Simmer Gentle on Purpose: Low heat only, m'dear. Boiling is how you bully the flavor right out of this and have it taste like basic ol' soy sauce.
- Rinse the Kombu Quickly: If your combo is funky and coated in white salt buildup, give it just a very quick rinse. Don't wash the heck out of it, or scrub it.
- Press the Solids Like You Mean It: Don't be shy with the strainer. Mushrooms and seaweed still owe you flavor. The last squeeze is where all the good stuff is hiding.
- Taste While It's Still Warm: While the sauce is still warm is when you will get the most objective sense of its flavor, so grab a spoon now. This is your last chance to fix anything to your taste. A little more sweetener? A splash of mirin to mellow it out? It's YOUR fish sauce now, and you can make it how YOU love it.
- Cool Completely Before Sealing: This lasts longer and stays fresher tasting if you cool it to room temperature before sealing the bottle and packing it away.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Most (not all) store-bought versions taste like soy sauce cosplaying as something more interesting, and good luck finding a decent one without hitting up specialty stores or scrolling through online stores for the rest of the time until our sun explodes and retracts into a molten pinpoint, lost in the cold expanse of cosmic space time fabric.
Anyway, if you are going to buy one, Ocean's Halo is my fave store-bought one to mess with that actually delivers on flavor.
That pungent flavor people crave comes straight from the seaweed. Kombu and wakame are the types of seaweed that deliver just that without causing avoidable violence to sentient creatures who have nothing but that Disney "Under Da Sea" song on their iPod playlist.
Yes, you can use it as a 1:1 replacement for non-vegetarian fish sauce in recipes.
Use it to make classic vegan Thai recipes like vegan tom yum soup, Thai salad dressing, and vegan massaman curry. Filipino dishes like ginataang gulay and ensaladang pipino lean on it. Vietnamese classics like vegan bun rieu, bánh tráng trộn, and vegan pho fully expect it to show up.
🧊 refrigeration
Let the sauce cool completely, then transfer it to a clean glass jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for a month or longer.
❄️ freezing
Pour the cooled sauce into freezer-safe containers, leaving a little headspace for expansion. Freeze for up to 3 months without noticeable flavor loss.
🌬️ thawing
Thaw frozen vegan fish sauce overnight in the refrigerator for the smoothest texture. If you're in a rush, thaw gently over low heat on the stovetop, stirring occasionally.
✌️Use vegan fish sauce on these:
Learn to make your fave Vietnamese street food bangers in this super-fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Fish Sauce Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- 4 shiitake mushrooms caps and stems
- 30 g dried kombu
- 1 tablespoon dried wakame or hijiki
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- ¼ cup shallot grated (or red onion)
- ½ cup apple grated
- ¾ cup mirin
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ¾ cup tamari
Instructions
- Combine the water, shiitake mushrooms, kombu, wakame, garlic, shallot, apple, mirin, coconut sugar, and tamari in a saucepan.
- Set the saucepan over medium heat. After 3 minutes, when the liquid is steaming but not boiling, reduce to your stove's lowest simmer and cover. Cook for 25 minutes. The liquid should remain at a gentle simmer without boiling.
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing firmly on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.
- Transfer the strained liquid to a clean container and cool completely before sealing. Store refrigerated and use as needed.
Notes
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Michael says
This is, by far, the best vegan fish sauce that I've made or bought.