What can I use instead of Shaoxing wine?

Nora Ellison · Sep 30, 2026 · 5 min read

Filed under:Cook With What You Have

Dry sherry is the 1:1 substitute for Shaoxing wine, good for any recipe calling for less than 2 tablespoons. Full ratio table for clear rice wine, sake, soju, dry white wine, mirin and alcohol-free stock, how to make the swap in a stir-fry, when to buy the real bottle, and the gluten warning.

Bottle of Shaoxing wine next to a glass of dry sherry, the 1:1 Shaoxing wine substitute, on a kitchen counter with fresh ginger and scallions

Dry sherry replaces Shaoxing wine one for one, and that swap holds for any recipe calling for less than 2 tablespoons. The Woks of Life lists it first, largely because you can buy it in any US supermarket. Cooking without alcohol? Chicken, mushroom or vegetable stock also goes in 1:1 under that same 2 tablespoon ceiling.

How much wine the recipe uses decides how much the swap matters. A stir-fry or marinade usually wants a tablespoon or two, and at that size the wine works quietly in the background. Once a braise goes past that, Shaoxing is a flavor you can taste, and any stand-in will show.

Shaoxing wine substitutes and ratios

Substitute	Ratio	Best for	Watch out
Dry sherry, cooking or drinking	1:1	Marinades, stir-fries, braises, dumpling fillings	It has to be dry sherry, never cream sherry
Clear Chinese rice wine (mijiu)	1:1	Any dish where Shaoxing is not the headline flavor	Lighter and less complex than aged Shaoxing
Sake or soju	1:1 in small amounts	Marinades and quick stir-fries	Only decent at a tablespoon or two
Dry white wine	1:1, in a pinch	Emergencies	Different aroma profile, acceptable but not a match
Chicken, mushroom or vegetable stock	1:1, at 2 Tbsp or less	Alcohol-free cooking	You lose the aromatic lift
Non-alcoholic beer or wine	1:1, at 2 Tbsp or less	Alcohol-free cooking that still wants fermented character	May still contain trace alcohol
Water, or leave it out	1:1 or nothing	A marinade with a teaspoon of wine in it	Only under 1 tablespoon
Mirin	1:1 with the recipe's sugar reduced	Glazes and braises that are already sweet	Much sweeter, so treat it as a last resort

How to swap dry sherry for Shaoxing wine

Read the amount first. Under 2 tablespoons, anything in the table works one for one. At or above that, dry sherry or a clear rice wine stays closest, but expect the swap to show.
Measure the same volume of dry sherry. Nothing else in the recipe changes.
Add it at the same point the recipe adds the wine. In a stir-fry that means splashing it down the hot side of the wok so it hisses and cooks off.
If you went with stock, add a splash of rice vinegar alongside it. Stock brings savor but none of the aromatic lift, and a little acid adds brightness back.
Taste before you salt. Bottles labeled cooking wine come salted, and so do most stocks.

What changes when you substitute Shaoxing wine

Shaoxing is aged, and it carries a nutty, faintly sweet aroma. Dry sherry lands closest to that, which is why it heads the list. Clear rice wine slots in cleanly but tastes lighter, and sake and soju read cleaner still. Dry white wine brings a fruit note that has no business in red-braised pork but vanishes inside a tablespoon of marinade.

Texture stays put. The wine is not thickening or tenderizing anything. At small amounts its main job is cutting the raw smell of pork, chicken or fish, so a swap that still carries some alcohol handles that better than water.

When not to substitute Shaoxing wine

When the wine is the point of the dish, buy the bottle. Past 2 tablespoons the wine moves to the front of the flavor, and no one for one stand-in gets you to the same place. Cost is not much of an argument: The Woks of Life says a bottle should not run you more than $2 to $6, against the usual advice to hunt down a premium bottle. Salt in a bottle labeled cooking wine is standard, not a mark of a cheap product, so pull back on the recipe's salt.

Mirin deserves its own warning. Both are rice wines, and that is where the similarity stops. Tasting Table puts Shaoxing at around 20 percent alcohol and calls mirin only slightly alcoholic, much sweeter besides, and says the two cannot be used in place of one another. The Woks of Life allows it with the recipe's sugar cut back. Use it when you have nothing else, and expect a sweeter dish.

Gluten and alcohol notes for Shaoxing wine

Shaoxing wine is not gluten-free. It is fermented from steamed glutinous rice mixed with wheat inoculated with a mold, so a small amount of wheat is in every bottle. For anyone with celiac disease, dry sherry is the standard replacement.

On alcohol: only the stock and water rows are genuinely alcohol-free. Non-alcoholic beer and wine can still carry trace alcohol, so they are not the right pick if the reason for skipping alcohol is medical or religious.

Cooking around the Shaoxing wine you do not have

Well Stockd's substitution engine reads what is already in your kitchen and suggests swaps when a recipe calls for something you are out of. Frozen and canned forms count, and you can reject any suggestion you would rather not see again. If the bigger problem is not knowing what is on the shelf, start with a pantry inventory app or an app to track expiration dates.

Questions about Shaoxing wine substitutes