5 Vegan Fish Sauce Brands for Curries, Stir-Fries, and More

Can vegans eat fish sauce? Yes—vegans can enjoy fish sauce as long as it’s fish-free! While conventional fish sauce is made by fermenting anchovies or other small fish with salt, vegan fish sauce offers the same rich umami and “fishy” flavor without killing fish. Dive into our list of vegan fish sauce brands and discover how to make it yourself.

What Is Fish Sauce Made of?

Non-vegan fish sauce is made from the fermented flesh of anchovies, but several fish-free sauces have a similar ocean-forward, briny, umami flavor.

Anchovies are small fish who spend their lives swirling in massive schools of thousands. They often swim with their mouths wide open to gather their favorite snack, phytoplankton. Anchovies are often stolen from their ocean homes by trawlers—enormous bag-shaped nets pulled along the ocean floor, capturing everything in their path. When hauled out of the water, surviving fish, shrimp, and other sea animals undergo excruciating decompression. The fishing industry kills more fish each year than all other animals used for food combined.

5 Vegan Fish Sauce Brands to Try

1. 24Vegan Fish Sauce

This sauce, crafted from five simple ingredients including soybeans, sugar, sea salt, water, and seasoning, delivers a rich umami flavor with a balanced salty-sweet taste. It’s perfect for enhancing Vietnamese dishes like pho, Thai curries and dipping sauces.

2. Ocean’s Halo Vegan Fish Sauce

This soy- and gluten-free sauce is made from organic kelp, mushroom powder, and blackstrap molasses. It offers a deep, savory umami flavor with a hint of sweetness.

3. Tân Tân Vegan Fish Sauce

A family recipe from Oregon’s Tân Tân Café, this sauce combines vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, soybeans, and chili flakes to create a sweet, salty, and savory flavor with a mild heat.

4. Tofuna Fysh Vegan Fish Sauce

Crafted in Portland, Oregon, this sauce uses a blend of organic seaweeds, pineapple juice, and a hint of wasabi to deliver a unique umami flavor with a touch of sweetness and acidity.

5. Au Lac Nước Mắm Chay

This traditional Vietnamese-style fish-free sauce is soy-based and offers a mildly salty flavor with subtle sweetness.

Bonus: The Korean Vegan’s Fish Sauce Recipe

Try This Vegan Fish Sauce Recipe

If DIY is more your speed, The Korean Vegan has a fantastic fish-free recipe that uses soy sauce, kelp, dried mushrooms, garlic, shallots, and more to replicate the umami-rich flavor of “conventional” fish sauce. The vegan fish sauce can last up to 3 months in the refrigerator.

Cook With Kindness: Go Vegan Today

Fish don’t want to die for a bottle of sauce. Going vegan is the best thing you can do for animals, your body, and the planet—each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals per year. To kick-start your vegan journey, join PETA’s 3-week vegan challenge today.

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