Substitute for Chicken Broth

Chicken broth is the seasoned liquid in a dish: it provides water, a background of savory chicken flavor, and a good deal of salt. USDA data put ready-to-serve chicken broth at about 920 mg of sodium per cup. A bouillon cube dissolved in a cup of water comes to about 1,150 mg, vegetable broth to about 650 mg, and beef broth sits close to chicken. Whichever swap is used, the salt level decides how much extra seasoning the recipe still needs.

Soups, stews and braises

Here broth is the main liquid, so flavor matters most. Bouillon gives the closest chicken taste at the lowest cost. Vegetable broth keeps a soup vegetarian; for more depth, simmer a few dried mushrooms or a strip of kombu in it for 10 minutes, or add soy sauce or white miso. Beef broth works in hearty stews and onion soup, but cut it with water in anything pale.

Pan sauces, gravy and reductions

A pan sauce reduces broth by half or more, and the salt concentrates with it. Regular broth or a full-strength bouillon cube can turn a reduced sauce harsh. Use low-sodium broth, or dissolve a cube in extra water, then season at the end. For deglazing, replacing up to a quarter of the broth with dry white wine adds acidity that the swaps lack; simmer it for a few minutes so the alcohol taste fades.

Rice, grains and stuffing

When broth is mostly salted cooking water, water with salt and butter is enough. A quarter teaspoon of table salt adds about 580 mg of sodium, close to two-thirds of the salt in a cup of regular broth.

When not to substitute

Chicken soup, chicken noodle soup, matzo ball soup and avgolemono are mostly broth; a swap gives a different soup. Water and salt fail completely here. Homemade stock or bouillon are the only reasonable stand-ins.

Bouillon cubes and boxed broths can contain wheat, soy, milk or celery, and a cube labelled vegetable-flavored is not automatically vegetarian; read the ingredient list.

Common mistakes

• Reducing full-salt broth or bouillon. A sauce reduced by half tastes twice as salty.
• Salting before tasting. Most swaps already contain salt; taste the dish first.
• Using beef broth in white dishes. Cream soups and chicken gravy turn brown.
• Dropping a whole cube into a small amount of liquid. It needs a full cup to dissolve evenly and taste right.