Vadouvan Substitutes, Ranked by the Job the Blend Is Doing

Vadouvan is often sold as “French curry,” and it’s usually traced to Pondicherry (now Puducherry) and to a Tamil home preserve that relies heavily on shallots and garlic.¹ If you’re out, reach for curry powder and add some onion. Under the alliums, vadouvan is a curry blend with spices like cumin, fenugreek, mustard seed and turmeric, and a curry powder already covers most of that side. What a substitute really has to bring is the sweet base of shallots, onion and garlic.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

The published recipes below are here for what goes into them, not their amounts, and every substitution amount is a starting point.

What vadouvan contains, and why curry powder comes close

Store-bought and published versions differ, and one skips the alliums entirely:

All three contain turmeric and cumin. The USDA’s purchasing specification says plain curry powder should include turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, ginger and cardamom,⁵ which covers most of the spice side of these blends. What curry powder is missing is the allium sweetness. America’s Test Kitchen says dried onion adds a sweet allium flavor to the Indian profile in its recipe,⁴ and The Spice House calls its own blend a sweeter, shallot-based version of masala curry.²

If vadouvan is a mild, sweet-savory curry seasoning

Curry powder plus dried onion

This is the closest everyday swap. World Spice Merchants says its vadouvan can be used just like a curry powder,⁶ and this swap just runs that the other way, with onion added for the allium note.

Where it falls short: you won’t get shallot or garlic depth unless you add it, and a curry powder may be hotter than vadouvan. World Spice rates its vadouvan 1 on a 5-point heat scale.³ Curry powders vary by brand, so check the label for chile.

Ratio (Method): Use curry powder in the same amount as the vadouvan, and add about 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder (or 1/2 teaspoon of dried minced onion) per teaspoon. A pinch of garlic powder and a pinch of sugar nudge it toward a shallot-heavy blend like The Spice House’s, which lists sugar. Treat these as a starting point, not a tested formula.

If you want to make it from scratch

1. A dry blend

America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe is built from pantry spices plus dried minced onion and cracked fennel.⁴

Ratio (Method): Use your blend in whatever amount your recipe gives for vadouvan.

2. A fresh-allium version

Shannon Weber’s recipe for Feast Magazine is closer to the cooked home preserve. Sweet onions and shallots in equal weight, plus garlic, get cooked down and baked dry with fresh curry leaves, cumin as the leading ground spice, brown mustard seeds, cardamom, fenugreek, turmeric, black pepper and salt, and just a touch of chile flakes, nutmeg and cloves. Weber keeps it in the freezer and uses it in soups and stews, as a rub, and in hummus or yogurt dips.⁷

Ratio (Method): Since it’s mostly cooked alliums, it won’t swap spoon for spoon with a dry powder. Start with about twice the vadouvan amount and taste.

If vadouvan is cooked into a paste with shallots

World Spice describes the traditional preparation as a concentrated paste combined with sautéed onions and shallots,³ and publishes a recipe for one. It browns a big batch of onions and shallots in oil, adds chopped garlic and grated ginger, stirs in ground vadouvan off the heat, then bakes the mix in a low oven until it’s a thick, sticky paste. It keeps in the fridge for up to a month.⁶

Ratio (Method): Follow the same method with curry powder in place of the vadouvan, in the same amount, since World Spice says the blend can be used like a curry powder. The alliums bring the sweetness either way. (World Spice’s own recipe uses its vadouvan.)

If you need a curry base with a little more heat

Madras curry powder, plus onion

Dan Toombs describes Madras curry powder as a blend like any curry powder that also has dried chiles in it.⁸ World Spice’s Madras blend leads with coriander, brown mustard seed, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek and black pepper, much of what’s in its vadouvan. World Spice rates the Madras blend 2 of 5 for heat,⁹ against 1 of 5 for its vadouvan.³

Ratio (Method): Start with about three quarters of the vadouvan amount, add onion powder as above, and taste.

If only hot blends are on hand

Vindaloo curry powder or tandoori masala

Both share cumin and other curry spices with vadouvan, but both lean hard on chile. Vindaloo blends vary. America’s Test Kitchen describes fiery, complex heat in its recipe,¹⁰ while Savory Spice says its blend is closer to medium.¹¹ Silk Road Spices suggests its vindaloo powder for any recipe that calls for curry powder.¹² Tandoori blends differ again: Woodland Foods lists salt first and colors its blend with beet powder,¹³ while The Spice House’s is salt-free and built on paprika.¹⁴

Ratio (Method): Start with half the vadouvan amount, add onion powder, taste for heat and salt, then add more.

What isn’t known

• Whether vadouvan is a French adaptation or a Tamil preserve with a French name is disputed. Our vadouvan page lays out both positions.¹⁵¹
• There’s a claim going around that most vadouvan blends skip turmeric. All three versions compared above include it, and turmeric colors food yellow,¹⁶ so expect curry powder and vadouvan to look alike.

Related

• Vadouvan
• Curry powder, cooking with curry powder and is curry powder spicy?
• Madras curry powder and vindaloo vs. Madras curry powder
• Vindaloo curry powder, tandoori masala and curry paste vs. curry powder
• Onion powder, garlic powder, fenugreek, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, curry leaves and black mustard seeds