Wasabi Substitutes: Horseradish, Hot Mustard and a Homemade Paste

About 99 percent of the wasabi sold in North America isn’t real wasabi, Chowhound reports, citing the Washington Post.¹ Most of it is horseradish and mustard, and those are your best substitutes too, since they get their heat from the same family of compounds. Prepared horseradish or hot mustard covers the tube paste or the powder, and freshly grated horseradish root stands in for the grated rhizome. Whatever you use, make it just before you serve it, because the heat fades fast.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• 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 only published figure we found, from Tasting Table, goes the other way (wasabi in place of horseradish). We use it below as a guide, not as a measured equivalence.

Why horseradish and mustard work

Wasabi, horseradish and mustard all get their heat from the same family of compounds, which form when the plant’s cells are cut or grated.² In mustard, the heat develops once the seed is ground and mixed with water.³

It’s a close match, not an exact one. Tasting Table calls wasabi similar to horseradish but more intense.⁴

All of these lose heat fast once prepared. Britannica says fresh wasabi paste loses its pungency in the air,² and Chowhound puts that at about 15 minutes after grating.¹ America’s Test Kitchen says grated horseradish gets milder with time, and that vinegar keeps its heat by slowing the reaction.⁵ Make any substitute just before you serve it.

If you are replacing tube or restaurant-style wasabi

This is the green paste you get with sushi and sashimi. The Embassy of Japan in Singapore notes that some restaurants use a cheaper mix of horseradish, mustard and food coloring.⁶ Britannica says Western restaurant wasabi paste is commonly made from horseradish.⁷ One foodservice wasabi powder in the PS in foodservice product database, for example, lists horseradish, mustard flour, tapioca starch, ascorbic acid and two synthetic colors (E102 and E133). No wasabi at all.⁸

1. Prepared horseradish

Horseradish is commonly used as a substitute for true wasabi. Prepared horseradish is grated root mixed with vinegar,⁹ so it’s wetter and sharper than paste.

Ratio (Method): Going the other way, Tasting Table uses 1/2 teaspoon of wasabi paste in place of 1 teaspoon of horseradish in cocktail sauce.⁴ Flip that around and you’d get up to 2 teaspoons of horseradish per teaspoon of wasabi paste. That’s our math on one writer’s guidance, though, and most wasabi paste is horseradish to begin with. So start at 1 teaspoon per teaspoon, press out some of the vinegar, taste, and add more if you need it.

2. A homemade imitation paste

Commercial paste is usually horseradish, mustard and coloring,⁶⁸ so you can make the same thing at home.

Ratio (Method): Mix about 1 teaspoon of drained prepared horseradish with a pinch of dry mustard and a drop of water. Add a little green food coloring if the color matters to you. Taste, and adjust the mustard to set the heat.

If you are replacing wasabi powder

Wasabi powder gets mixed with water to make a paste. The foodservice powder above calls for 200 ml of water per 100 g of powder.⁸ Chowhound says the vast majority of commercial wasabi is made from European horseradish,¹ and the powder above is horseradish and mustard flour,⁸ so hot mustard powder is a natural swap.

Tasting Table says the kick in Chinese hot mustard comes from brown mustard seeds crushed and mixed with water.⁴ Popular Science notes that it’s hard to find any mustard powder besides yellow.³ Use cold water. Popular Science says water that’s too hot completely shuts down the enzyme that makes the heat.³

Ratio (Method): Use the same volume of hot mustard powder as wasabi powder, let the paste sit a few minutes, and taste before serving.

If wasabi is an ingredient in a sauce

In a wasabi mayo, dressing or dip, you’re after heat with a sinus-clearing edge. The green paste itself doesn’t matter much.

Ratio (Method): Use prepared horseradish or hot mustard, starting with the same amount the recipe gives for wasabi. Tasting Table finds hot mustard thinner than prepared horseradish but with a similar punch,⁴ so it blends easily into a dressing. Prepared mustard brings its own acid and salt, so taste before you add more.

If you are replacing freshly grated wasabi

Fresh wasabi rhizome is grated just before serving. Your closest home equivalent is fresh horseradish root, finely grated and used right away.

Ratio (Method): Start with a small mound, about what you’d use of wasabi, and taste. If a recipe calls for fresh horseradish and you’ve only got bottled, NDSU Extension says 1 tablespoon of fresh equals 2 tablespoons of bottled.¹⁰

What isn’t known

• We couldn’t trace to any measurement the claim that wasabi powders keep their heat longer than paste but still fade over time.
• We couldn’t trace claims that spicy brown mustard uses less vinegar than yellow mustard, or that English mustard powder is milder than Chinese hot mustard powder.

Related

• Wasabi, fresh wasabi vs wasabi paste, wasabi powder vs paste, cooking with wasabi, too much wasabi
• Wasabi vs horseradish, horseradish, horseradish powder, cooking with horseradish
• Mustard powder, brown mustard seeds
• Horseradish substitutes, mustard powder substitutes