Here's What You Can Substitute For Worcestershire Sauce

Worcestershire sauce is an extremely popular condiment in the United States and around the world, with a long history. The only issue is that it comes in a small bottle and it's easy to run out of. Luckily, there are a few good options to use as a substitute for the storied sauce.

Given that Worcestershire sauce contains a good deal of fermented anchovies, one option for substitution is fish sauce, which typically also uses anchovies as the main ingredient. But this can be quite potent, and not everyone would be a fan of isolating the fish component of Worcestershire. HP Brown Sauce is another British sauce which could be used as an alternative (via HP Sauce). Although some of the brown sauce ingredients are secret and closely guarded, copycat recipes even contain Worcestershire sauce as an ingredient (via Food).

It is known that HP Sauce contains tamarind fruit, vinegar, and molasses, just like Worcestershire, all of which provide the trademark tang and sweetness (via Open Food Facts). 

One aspect that sets HP Brown Sauce apart from Worcestershire however, is that HP is significantly thicker and has to be coaxed out of the bottle like ketchup, whereas Worcestershire is a thinner liquid and can easily be shaken out of the bottle through a small hole like Tabasco sauce.

Another similar option to HP Brown Sauce is the similarly-thick A.1. sauce. Though it uses raisin paste instead of tamarind as the dark fruit base, just like Worcestershire, it also also provides something of a bite given that distilled vinegar is included in the sauce's ingredient list (via Wired).

Soy sauce can help to impart a salty, earthy, deep flavor as well, if you're out of Worcestershire. And, if you're missing the sour tang of Worcestershire, you can always add tamarind pulp if you have it on hand, or vinegar if you do not.