The Best Oyster Sauce Substitutes (Including Vegan Alternatives)
We’ve all done it. You start making dinner, get everything chopped and into the pan, then discover that the bottle of oyster sauce you were convinced was in the cupboard is either empty or disappeared months ago. Now you need an oyster sauce substitute you can find in the cupboard. Don’t panic these ideas will help.
Perhaps you’ve got a different problem and have found a lovely recipe that uses oyster sauce, but you’re vegetarian or vegan. As the name rather gives away, ordinary oyster sauce isn’t suitable, so you’ll need something else to give your dish that lovely savoury flavour.
Fortunately, oyster sauce is one of those ingredients you can substitute reasonably easily, although the best alternative depends on what you’re cooking. Some substitutes give you the salty, savoury flavour but not the thickness, while others are sweeter or have a slightly different flavour altogether.
If I was standing in my kitchen halfway through making a stir-fry and needed the quickest substitute possible, I’d probably reach for soy sauce and hoisin sauce. If I was deliberately making a vegetarian or vegan dish, however, I’d choose a mushroom-based vegetarian oyster sauce if I had one because it is much closer to the original.
Here’s how the different options compare and when I’d use each one.
What does oyster sauce actually taste like?
Understanding what you’re trying to replace makes choosing a substitute much easier.
Oyster sauce is dark, glossy and fairly thick, with a savoury, salty flavour and some sweetness. It is commonly used in stir-fries, noodles, marinades and sauces, where a relatively small amount can add quite a lot of flavour.
This is also why simply replacing it with exactly the same amount of soy sauce isn’t always ideal. Soy sauce provides plenty of savoury saltiness but is much thinner and doesn’t have quite the same sweetness.
That doesn’t mean you can’t use soy sauce, though. If that’s what you’ve got in the cupboard, there are a couple of easy ways to make it work.
Soy sauce and hoisin – my easiest oyster sauce substitute
For an everyday substitute using ingredients you might already have, I’d start with a mixture of soy sauce and hoisin sauce.
Hoisin brings some of the sweetness and thicker consistency you’re missing, while soy sauce provides the salty, savoury element. I find roughly two parts hoisin to one part soy sauce is a good place to start, although I’d always taste it before adding more because brands vary considerably.
If the mixture seems too thick for whatever you’re cooking, a splash of water will loosen it.
This works particularly well in stir-fries and noodle dishes where there are already plenty of other flavours going on. It won’t taste exactly like oyster sauce, but unless oyster sauce is supposed to be the dominant flavour of the dish, it generally does the job very nicely.
Do check your hoisin sauce if you’re cooking for somebody with particular dietary requirements, as ingredients vary between brands.
Can I just use soy sauce instead of oyster sauce?
Yes, and if soy sauce is all you’ve got, I certainly wouldn’t abandon dinner because of it!
The main difference you’ll notice is the consistency. Soy sauce is much thinner than oyster sauce and can also taste saltier, so rather than automatically replacing oyster sauce tablespoon for tablespoon, I’d add a little soy sauce and taste the dish before adding more.
If the recipe needs the slight sweetness you’d normally get from oyster sauce, you can add a tiny amount of sugar or another suitable sweetener. For a sauce that needs that glossy thickness too, a little cornflour mixed with cold water can help thicken it.
I always have soy sauce in my cupboard because it’s useful for so many things, so this is probably the most practical substitute if you’ve simply run out of oyster sauce unexpectedly.sauce and sugar for a quick oyster sauce substitute. It’s especially good in Western-style stir-fries and pasta dishes.
Vegetarian or vegan oyster sauce
If you regularly cook vegetarian or vegan food, buying a bottle of vegetarian oyster-style sauce is probably the easiest solution.
These are often mushroom-based, with shiitake mushrooms commonly used to create that deep savoury flavour. Despite sometimes being labelled vegetarian oyster sauce, there aren’t actually any oysters hiding in there!
Of all the alternatives, this is the one I’d choose when I wanted the finished dish to be as close as possible to a recipe made with traditional oyster sauce. You can generally use it in much the same way, although, as always, I’d check the bottle because different brands can vary in strength and sweetness.
It’s worth checking the ingredients rather than relying purely on the appearance of the bottle too, especially if you’re cooking for someone who is vegan or has an allergy.
Mushroom sauce
Even if the bottle isn’t specifically labelled as vegetarian oyster sauce, a mushroom-based stir-fry sauce can be a very good substitute.
Mushrooms naturally have plenty of savoury flavour, which is why they work particularly well here. The consistency of bottled mushroom sauces can also be closer to oyster sauce than something thin like ordinary soy sauce.
I particularly like this option for vegetable stir-fries because the mushroom flavour doesn’t feel out of place alongside broccoli, peppers, noodles or tofu.
Again, check the ingredients if you’re cooking for somebody with allergies or specific dietary requirements because mushroom sauce isn’t automatically suitable for everyone simply because its main flavour is mushroom.
Dark soy sauce
Dark soy sauce can work when you want something richer than ordinary light soy sauce, although I wouldn’t expect it to reproduce oyster sauce exactly.
It tends to give dishes a darker colour and has a different balance of sweetness and saltiness from light soy sauce. If you’re making a stir-fry or marinade where oyster sauce is only one of several ingredients, that difference may not matter very much.
I’d add less than the amount of oyster sauce specified in the recipe initially, then taste and adjust. This is generally a better approach with any substitute than trying to find a perfect mathematical conversion, because sauces vary so much between brands.
Check my soy sauce guide for everything you need to know about the differences between light and dark soy sauce and when to use each in recipes.
Tamari
Tamari is another option if you already have some at home. It has a rich savoury flavour and can be used much like soy sauce, although once again it doesn’t have oyster sauce’s thick consistency.
Tamari is often suggested when somebody needs to avoid gluten, but don’t assume every bottle is gluten-free. Recipes and manufacturing methods vary, so if you’re cooking for someone with coeliac disease or another medical need to avoid gluten, always check the actual product label.
If you’re simply using tamari because you’ve run out of oyster sauce, I’d treat it much as I would soy sauce: start with a smaller quantity, taste, and add something slightly sweet or thicken the finished sauce if the recipe needs it.
Miso paste
Miso isn’t the first thing I’d choose if I was trying to recreate oyster sauce exactly, but it can be really useful when what the dish actually needs is more savoury depth.
Because miso is a paste rather than a pouring sauce, mix a little with warm water before adding it to your dish. Darker miso varieties generally have a stronger flavour, while lighter miso tends to be milder.
I think this works better in soups, broths, marinades and strongly flavoured sauces than in a recipe where oyster sauce is supposed to provide the distinctive main flavour.
It’s another ingredient where a little can go quite a long way, so don’t enthusiastically spoon half the tub into your stir-fry and hope for the best!
Coconut aminos
Coconut aminos sometimes appears on lists as an oyster sauce substitute because it provides a sweet and savoury flavour without soy.
It is much thinner than oyster sauce, though, and doesn’t taste exactly the same, so I’d consider this more of a useful dietary substitution than the best all-round replacement.
If you’re avoiding soy and already use coconut aminos, it’s certainly an option. Depending on the recipe, you may want to thicken the sauce separately rather than simply increasing the amount of coconut aminos.
What about Worcestershire sauce?
This one needs a little care. Worcestershire sauce can add savoury depth to food, but traditional versions usually contain anchovies, so swapping oyster sauce for ordinary Worcestershire sauce won’t help if you’re trying to make a vegetarian or vegan meal.
There are vegetarian and vegan alternatives available, and Henderson’s Relish is another option I often use when I want that sort of savoury flavour without anchovies.
The flavour is quite different from oyster sauce, however, so I wouldn’t choose it as my first substitute for a Chinese-style stir-fry. It can work in marinades or recipes where you simply need a little extra savoury flavour and aren’t trying to reproduce oyster sauce particularly closely.
Can I make an oyster sauce substitute with mushrooms?
If you’ve got dried shiitake mushrooms and don’t mind doing a little more work, you can make a mushroom-based sauce at home.
Soak or simmer the mushrooms until they’re very soft, then blend them with some of their cooking liquid, soy sauce and a little sugar. You can then gently cook the mixture until it reduces to the consistency you want.
I wouldn’t pretend this is the option I’d choose when I’m hungry and trying to get dinner on the table in twenty minutes. That’s when the soy and hoisin bottles are coming out!
It is useful, though, if you enjoy making sauces from scratch or want more control over what goes into your food.
Which oyster sauce substitute should you choose?
If you’ve simply run out of oyster sauce, I’d use soy sauce mixed with hoisin sauce because it gives you a reasonable balance of savoury flavour, sweetness and thickness without needing anything unusual.
For a vegetarian or vegan oyster sauce substitute, I’d choose a mushroom-based vegetarian oyster-style sauce because it’s designed specifically for the job.
If you only have soy sauce, use it. Start with less than the recipe asks for and adjust the sweetness and thickness if necessary.
For someone avoiding soy, coconut aminos may be useful, although the finished flavour will be less similar to traditional oyster sauce.
Miso and vegan Worcestershire-style sauces are options I’d save for recipes where you mainly want additional savoury depth rather than an exact oyster sauce replacement.
Don’t forget what else is in your recipe
One thing I think gets overlooked with ingredient substitutions is that you’re not eating the substitute by itself.
If you’re making a stir-fry containing garlic, ginger, chilli, vegetables, noodles and several other sauce ingredients, a small difference in your oyster sauce substitute probably won’t be particularly noticeable.
On the other hand, if you’re making a simple sauce where oyster sauce provides most of the flavour, choosing something similar becomes much more important.
I always think it’s better to taste as you cook rather than blindly following a substitution ratio. You can add more saltiness or sweetness quite easily, whereas rescuing something after you’ve poured in far too much soy sauce is considerably less fun.
Finding an oyster sauce substitute with allergies
If you’re looking for an alternative because of an allergy rather than because you’ve run out, please be more careful than you would be with an ordinary kitchen substitution.
Traditional oyster sauce contains shellfish, but replacing it doesn’t automatically make the finished meal suitable for every allergy. Soy sauce and many vegetarian oyster-style sauces contain soya, some sauces contain wheat, and recipes and manufacturing processes can change.
Check the label of the actual product you’re using rather than relying on a general list online, particularly when you’re cooking for somebody with a diagnosed food allergy or coeliac disease.
Frequently asked questions about oyster sauce substitutes
What is the best oyster sauce substitute?
For a quick substitute using common cupboard ingredients, I’d use two parts hoisin sauce to one part soy sauce and adjust it to taste. If you want a vegetarian or vegan replacement that is closer to traditional oyster sauce, look for a mushroom-based vegetarian oyster-style sauce.
Can I replace oyster sauce with soy sauce?
You can, although soy sauce is thinner and usually tastes saltier. Start with less soy sauce than the amount of oyster sauce in the recipe and taste before adding more. A little sweetness and, if necessary, some cornflour slurry can make the finished result closer.
Is oyster sauce vegetarian?
Traditional oyster sauce isn’t vegetarian because it is made using oysters or oyster extract. Vegetarian oyster-style sauces are available and are commonly made using mushrooms instead.
Is oyster sauce vegan?
Traditional oyster sauce isn’t vegan. Look specifically for a vegan or vegetarian oyster-style sauce and check the ingredients on the product you’re buying.
Can I leave oyster sauce out of a recipe?
Sometimes. If the recipe only uses a small amount alongside several other strongly flavoured ingredients, you may be able to leave it out and adjust the seasoning. In a dish where oyster sauce is an important part of the sauce, I’d replace it with one of the alternatives above instead.
Is hoisin sauce the same as oyster sauce?
No. Hoisin is generally sweeter and has its own distinctive flavour, but its thicker consistency means it can be useful when combined with soy sauce to replace oyster sauce in some recipes.
Don’t panic if you’ve run out!
I think ingredient substitutions sometimes sound far more complicated online than they need to be. If you’re halfway through cooking dinner and discover you haven’t got oyster sauce, you don’t necessarily need to rush to the supermarket or abandon the recipe.
Have a look at what you’ve already got and think about what the oyster sauce was bringing to the dish. In many everyday recipes, a combination of something savoury, something slightly sweet and, where necessary, something to thicken the sauce will get you surprisingly close.
It might not be precisely the meal the recipe writer intended, but that’s half the fun of cooking. Some of my favourite meals have probably started with me opening a cupboard and discovering that the ingredient I was absolutely certain I’d bought wasn’t actually there.
