Cooking Wine Substitute | What To Use Instead

For most red wine recipes, substitute equal parts beef broth or diluted red wine vinegar (50:50 with water); for white wine recipes, use equal parts chicken broth plus a splash of lemon juice or white wine vinegar.

A recipe calls for wine, and the bottle isn’t open. Or you’re avoiding alcohol. Either way, the dish still needs the right acid, body, or flavor. The fix depends entirely on what’s in your skillet — red wine’s richness, white wine’s brightness, or just a liquid to keep things from sticking. Here are the swaps that work, measured by what the recipe actually needs.

Red Wine Substitutes: Richness, Acidity, Or Color

Red wine brings tannin, color, and depth. Each substitute covers one of those jobs, and some cover two.

For sauces where red wine vinegar provides acidity, dilute it 50:50 with water and use the same volume as the wine. Never use straight vinegar — it’s roughly three times more acidic than wine and will dominate the dish. For stews and braises, an equal amount of beef broth adds umami and body, though the darker color is a shade lighter. If you need both wine’s color and a fruity note, mix 1 cup of 100% red grape juice with 1 tablespoon of white or red wine vinegar. Pomegranate juice works the same way in marinades, matching red wine’s aroma closely. Unsweetened cranberry juice (100% juice) serves as a general replacement at equal volume, but skip it in savory braises where the tartness fights the meat.

White Wine Substitutes: Brightness, Moisture, Or Sweetness

White wine provides acidity and lightness. The best swap is low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock with a splash of white wine vinegar or lemon juice — use 1 cup of broth plus roughly 1 teaspoon of acid. Reduce the broth slightly before adding it to concentrate the flavor without watering down the dish.

For dishes where the wine’s sole job is citrusy acid, like fish or chicken piccata, dilute white wine vinegar 50:50 with water, or use lemon juice cut with a splash of water (straight lemon juice is more acidic than wine). For sweeter white wine applications, mix 50% fresh lemon juice with 50% white grape juice. Apple cider vinegar diluted 50:50 works in sweet-sour profiles like risotto, but use broth with a few drops of lime juice instead of vinegar in delicate risottos — vinegar can ruin the subtle layers.

When Water Or Broth Is Enough

Some recipes use wine only as a liquid to thin a sauce or deglaze a pan. When no flavor contribution is required, plain water mixed with the recipe’s herbs works fine. The same goes for deglazing — broth adds more interest, but water alone gets the browned bits off the pan. This is the easiest substitute and often the most overlooked.

Substitutes To Use With Caution

Some common pantry items only work in specific situations and can easily go wrong. Undiluted vinegar of any kind will over-acidify the dish — the 50:50 dilution is mandatory, not a suggestion. Sweet juices without an acid balancer make dishes cloying. High-sodium broth adds so much salt that the dish’s whole seasoning shifts. And beef stock in a light white wine dish like fish or risotto is overpowering — stick to chicken or vegetable stock there.

Non-alcoholic wine is available in most major US grocery stores. It undergoes standard fermentation with the alcohol removed afterward, so it’s the closest flavor match.