Homemade Worcestershire Sauce (2024)

Appearing in everything from Deviled Eggs to Olive Tapenade and my favorite Homemade Caesar Salad dressing, Worcestershire Sauce adds rich, meaty flavors to everything it touches. Unfortunately, the store-bought variety often includes sugar or, even worse, high fructose corn syrup.

Luckily, you can make it at home in minutes with pantry staples and a few Asian ingredients (all easy to find).

I started by toasting a variety of warm, fragrant spices in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes. While those cool, make a simple vinegar mixture with molasses, water, and fish sauce.

Blackstrap molasses has a strong flavor, but it works in this sauce. However, feel free to substitute regular molasses if that’s what you have.

Also, if you prefer to work with actual anchovy filets instead of the paste, 5 anchovy filets, rinsed and minced may be substituted for the paste.

I included both fish sauce and anchovy paste for the best, most complex savory flavor. (Be sure to use a fish sauce without sugar such as Red Boat brand.) Many recipes also include tamarind paste, but I had trouble tracking this down and thought the sauce tasted great without it. Still, if you have it in your pantry, feel free to include it in the vinegar mixture in Step 2.

Sauté some shallots in olive oil until softened, then stir in the toasted spices, anchovy paste, and garlic. Whisk in the vinegar mixture, bring everything to a boil, and cool. Finally, finish the sauce by straining out all of the solids.

This delicious, flavorful Worcestershire Sauce tastes even better than the national brands you can find at your local grocery store. And you made it yourself, and that’s always the best way!