Kitchen Bouquet Substitutes: 6 Best Alternatives

If you have ever braised meat or fish, you probably have used kitchen bouquet at least once. It is a great sauce that can make your foods taste and look better.

It is difficult to purchase in many places. Below, I will tell you about some great substitutes for kitchen bouquet.

Let’s check them out!

What Is Kitchen Bouquet

Before going to the list substitute for kitchen bouquet, do you know what kitchen bouquet is? It is a condiment sauce that was first made in the 1880s by Clorox.

It includes caramel, seasoned vegetable base, spices, and sodium benzoate. It is widely used for cooking meats, stews.

Now, let’s go to the list.

Kitchen Bouquet Substitutes

1. Soy Sauce (Dark Soy Sauce)- Best Choice

Soy sauce is a salty liquid that was made from soybean and wheat. Because it has the same brown color and taste.

If you want to brown your dish instead of a kitchen bouquet, I think soy sauce is the best choice. Moreover, it will enhance a bit of saltiness which makes your dishes richer.

The name soybean comes from Japan’s word “shoyu”, but people often heard it’s “Dark Soy Sauce” because this type is the most common on the market.

Otherwise, there are many kinds of soy sauce such as light soy sauce, tamari, Shiro, Saishikomi. All are different colors and flavors for your taste.

Soy sauce contains Carbohydrates, proteins, and sodium. It helps a lot for your health such as allergies reduction, improves gut health, reduces blood pressure, etc.

Nevertheless, there is a risk of heart disease or other diseases because of the high sodium in soybean.

Honestly, soy sauce is my favorite substitution for a kitchen bouquet.

2. Bragg Liquid Aminos – A Healthy Substitution

The next product to use for choosing a healthy substitute for your kitchen bouquet is Bragg Liquid Aminos. It has been given a NON-GMO Certificate and gained its significant reputation among users.

 With its kosher and gluten-free recipe, the product is a perfect and healthy kitchen bouquet substitute that can significantly assist you in your weight loss process.

Besides, if you are allergic to soy sauce but still like it, Bragg can definitely satisfy you. Its flavor is precisely similar to soy sauce and will help you make excellent Chinese dishes that you always want.

As allergic to soy sauce, I highly recommend Bragg to anyone having the same issues like me, which are inflammation and arthritis.

One note for you when cooking with Bragg is that you should add the exact amount which the producer states on the bottle.

It is about half of a teaspoon. The reason is that the liquid can make your foods salty when they cool down if you use too much. So try to pay attention and you will have the best dishes ever.

3. Maggi Seasoning – Use For Soup or Sauce

If there is any plant-based sauce that I would recommend to replace kitchen bouquet, it’s Maggi.

With the most ingredients from wheat and caramel color, it can perfectly brown your foods make the best flavor out of it. You can add it to various types of dishes, such as soups or sauces.

However, most would suggest it for steak burgers, chicken, and BBQ in general. Maggi can notably change the flavor once you add it to them.

Due to its high amount of salt and sodium, the product will make your steak and BBQ taste like heaven.

The appropriate content that the producer notes on the bottle is one teaspoon. But, in my opinion, you still should put less than that into your cookware first and taste whether the dish suits your flavor.

Then, you can add more if it’s flat. That can prevent too much salt on your foods and frustrate them.

You can find big bottle of Maggi in almost every grocery stores in Europe. Nevertheless, if you live in the U.S, there are only a few places to find it.

Lucky for you, the product appears regularly on Amazon.com so you won’t have to give so much effort to find it. The price is very reasonable as well.

4. Worcestershire Sauce – For Less Salty Dishes

The name “Worcestershire” surprised me when I first saw the brand because it sounded so “royalty.” In fact, it does have a prestigious origin if you have a chance to find some further information about it.

 A member from English nobility in the 1830s, Lord Marcus Sandys, discovered the sauce while governing Bengal.

When he returned home, he gave it to two chemists, Mr. Perrins and Mr. Lea, to complete it. That is why the most common and long-standing Worcestershire sauce in the market nowadays is named Lea and Perrins, after two chemists.

Perhaps, due to its noble origin, Worcestershire sauce was widely used by royal members in not only the City of Worcester but also all over America.

The sauce is sweet and savory with the combination of anchovies and many ingredients, such as tamarind, garlic, onion, or molasses.

Therefore, it is an excellent choice for salad dressings, dips, and marinades. The color will look beautiful and very natural.

One special thing is that you can add this kitchen bouquet substitutes directly to your foods or pour it to a small bowl and make it a sauce for your meat, fish, or sushi.

The flavor is not too strong and a little salty, which will create the best dishes just for you.

5. Gravy Master – Easy To Find Option

The next sauce that I would like to suggest today is Gravy Master, which is for home cooks who do not want to change the flavor of their dishes.

If  we compare between Gravy Master vs Kitchen Bouquet, some people think that Kitchen Bouquet basically just colors the liquid while Gravy Master imparts a richness and depth of color that Kitchen Bouquet doesn’t come close to.

Moreover, Gravy Master can keep fresh, last longer than Kitchen Bouquet.

Of all the products in this list, Gravy Master seems to be the most deserved and unique kitchen bouquet substitutes for turkey, pork, and beef.

Although it does not have a thrilling history like Worcestershire, the sauce still has a long time of development. Since 1935, it has been famous for in-depth color and appearance, which can bring a delicious look for various types of dishes. 

With great features, the sauce is an evitable ingredient when you want to brown gravies, stews, vegetables, poultry, or meats and still keep their natural flavors.

Besides, the size of Gravy Master’s bottle is small, which is only about 4.4 inches. Therefore, if you are trying to look for a substitute for kitchen bouquet in only two meals top, it will be a perfect option.

Similar to Maggi Seasoning, it can be found easily in Europe but rarely in America. So, you can purchase it on Amazon.com for the most convenience.

However, be careful when preserving the product. The bottle is made of glasses, so it can quickly leak or break if you place it too strong.

Moreover, keep it in a high, cool, and dry place, where light can hardly reach. You will be able to keep the product for years. Try it and you will see.

6. Homemade Sauce

In this final part, I will show you a recipe to make a kitchen bouquet substitute at home. Homemade sauce has fantastic values for the color, taste of the foods, and most importantly, your health.

With several tweaks and unique ingredients, you can control the amount of seasoning you put in and have the most delicious sauce ever.

Ingredients

• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 cup of water
• Beef broth

If you don’t know how to make Beef broth at home, don’t worry – just watch below video:

How To Make It

• Step 1: Put ½ cup of sugar into a saucepan and heat it about 5 to 10 minutes, until it gets brown
• Step 2: Reduce the heat and slowly add a cup of water
• Step 3: Put beef broth into the saucepan and mix it until it reaches to a qualified consistency
• Step 4: Turn down the heat
• Step 5: Stir the whole mixture until ingredients are mixed
• Step 6:Use the sauce immediately or store it in the fridge in case you want to use it longer than a week

How To Choose The Best Substitute For Kitchen Bouquet

When finding something to substitute for a Kitchen Bouquet, I recommend you should choose the products that come from natural ingredients.

In the old-time, to produce Kitchen Bouquet, some businesses used gluten that is not good for our health.

If you want to buy a new Kitchen Bouquet, you should take care with the seasonings, browning agents that are high in sodium, and artificial ingredients. It will be better when you know the exact ingredients contained in your product.

Added to that, some substitutes also have ingredients that are salter compared to the original condiment, especially the dark soy sauce and the soy sauce generally.

How To Use Kitchen Bouquet

Kitchen bouquet is mostly used to add the dark brown color for your dish in some dark gravy, stews, soups, sauces, brushed on steaks, pork chops, or roasted poultry.

Kitchen bouquet often does not have a strong flavor, so you can pour it into many cooking recipes until you get the expected color. Therefore, using it is not a complicated process, depending totally on what you’ll be using it for.

In some recipes with meat, you should use simply two tablespoons of kitchen bouquet to brush over all sides of the meat before cooking it. You can use it for any type of meat, such as pork, chicken, beef, turkey, or mutton as well.

Then, The kitchen bouquet will make your meat have an attractive golden color while nice and tender inside. It is caused by rich and flavorful mixes of caramel and vegetable seasoning.

In case you want to make your sauce thicker, just drop one or two tears of Kitchen Bouquet into your sauce, and it will be enough.