“What Can I Use Instead of Oyster Sauce?” 4 Substitutes

<center>“What Can I Use Instead of Oyster Sauce?” 4 Substitutes </center>

It’s a common occurrence in Thai food that you’ll stumble upon an ingredient you might not want to eat or be able to eat due to dietary or allergy reasons. I recently received an email asking “what can I use instead of oyster sauce?”, from a reader who bought my Thai cookbook and found several recipes that used this sauce. Here is the answer I provided in a more blog-friendly format. 

 

Is There Oyster in Oyster Sauce?

 

It might seem a bit of a no-brainer, but it’s important to clarify first that yes, oyster sauce contains oysters. This can be a problem for people who don’t want to eat shellfish or are allergic to shellfish. 

 

The process of making oyster sauce involves cooking oysters and using the extracts from the water they were cooked in. These extracts are combined with sugar, salt, MSG, a stabilizer, and an acidity regulator. Even not considering shellfish, these ingredients present problems for people who don’t want to eat MSG.

 

Oyster Sauce: 4 Substitutes

 

Here are four things you can consider using instead of oyster sauce. What you’re trying to replicate is that wonderful umami hit and flavor-enhancing salty-sweetness that oyster sauce brings to many Thai stir-fried dishes. 

 

1. Mushroom Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

 

Easily the best substitution for oyster sauce, if you can source mushroom vegetarian oyster sauce, you’re golden. The best brands I know of for this sauce are Yuen Chun and Kikkoman. Thankfully Amazon comes to the rescue and they stock this vegetarian replacement directly from the Yuen Chen brand here.

 

I’ve heard you can get Healthy Boy vegetarian sauce but I’ve unfortunately never seen it; that’s normally the brand I choose for Thai cooking. The replacement for oysters in the vegetarian version of this sauce is typically Chinese mushrooms, which impart a strong umami taste. 

 

2. Sweet Indonesian Soy Sauce

 

 

It’s perhaps worth seeking out a type of soy sauce used in Indonesian cookery known as kecap manis. Particularly if you either can’t find the vegetarian version or you dislike anything with mushrooms in it. 

 

This unique sauce combines palm sugar, soy sauce, and various spices. It has a texture reminiscent of molasses. You can get a 3-pack of kecap manis on Amazon. 

 

3. Hoisin Sauce + Dark Soy Sauce

 

Hoisin sauce mixed with dark soy sauce is a pretty solid replacement option if the others on this list don’t suit. I’ve tried and tested this combo when I had no other options and it worked surprisingly well.

 

The best way to use this particular substitute is to add half the amount of hoisin sauce and half the amount of soy sauce that would together add up to the full amount of oyster sauce called for by the recipe. It won’t quite replicate the funky flavour of the real thing but it’s not a bad approximation. 

 

4. Dark Soy Sauce + Worcester Sauce

 

The last replacement choice is to combine equal parts dark soy sauce and Worcester sauce to try and replicate that funky salty-sweet hit you need. Like the kecap manis already discussed in this post, the dark soy sauce has a molasses-like texture and a sweet taste. The Worcester sauce adds that funky element to the combo. 

 

Wrapping Up

 

Hopefully this resource is of use to you if you wanted to know how to substitute oyster sauce when cooking Thai food. As you can see, there are a range of decent options. I have plenty of other resources helping to clarify common questions about Thai cooking, including one on the differences between fish sauce and soy sauce. Check it out!