Is Cooking Wine Halal?

The short answer

"Cooking wine" is still wine, or another intoxicating wine made from rice or grapes. It is forbidden to drink and forbidden to cook with. Heating it does not make it halal, for two reasons. The alcohol is not fully cooked off, and more importantly, an intoxicating drink that is added to food keeps its ruling. The transformation that makes vinegar halal does not happen here.

What counts as cooking wine?

This page covers wines sold and used for cooking:

• Mirin and sake, which are Japanese rice wines;
• Shaoxing wine, which is a Chinese rice wine;
• cooking sherry;
• bottles simply labeled "red cooking wine" or "white cooking wine."

Mirin, for example, is fermented on purpose and contains roughly 10–14% alcohol. Salted "cooking wine" is still an alcoholic wine with salt added. The salt is a seasoning. It does not make the wine pure.

Why doesn't cooking make it halal?

Two points work together:

• An intoxicating drink keeps its ruling as an ingredient. The Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools say intoxicating drinks are haram in any amount, whether drunk or used in cooking. The main Hanafi position also says it is haram to add mirin and similar wines to food.
• Heat does not reliably remove the alcohol. Many people believe that simmering makes all the alcohol evaporate, but it does not. Measurable amounts stay in the finished dish.

Why is cooking wine different from vinegar?

Vinegar is halal because wine that turns into vinegar goes through istihala, a complete chemical transformation. The alcohol becomes acetic acid, and the drink can no longer make anyone drunk.

Cooking wine poured into a sauce does not go through that change. It is added and partly cooked. Adding and heating something is not the same as turning it into a different substance that cannot make you drunk. Our vinegar and wine vinegar pages explain the transformation rule.

What can you use instead of cooking wine?

• Instead of mirin or sake, use rice vinegar with a little sugar, or a splash of apple or white grape juice.
• Instead of red or white cooking wine, use stock, grape or pomegranate juice, or a little vinegar.
• Instead of Shaoxing wine, use halal chicken stock, sometimes with a touch of rice vinegar.

Common questions

Is mirin halal?

No. Mirin is an alcoholic rice wine with about 10–14% alcohol, and it is treated as not halal, whether it is drunk or used in cooking. If you need its flavor, look for alcohol-free "mirin-style" seasonings.

Does the alcohol cook out of cooking wine?

Not completely. Simmering reduces the alcohol, but it does not remove all of it. In any case, the main view is that adding an intoxicating drink to food is not permitted, however much of it cooks off.

Is cooking wine different from drinking wine?

Only in its label and the salt that is added. Chemically, it is still an alcoholic wine, so it has the same ruling as drinking wine.

What can I use instead of cooking wine?

Stock, fruit juices such as apple, white grape or pomegranate, and vinegars are common halal substitutes. They add sourness and depth without alcohol.

The bottom line

Cooking wine, including mirin, sake, Shaoxing and sherry, is not halal. It is an intoxicating drink, cooking does not remove all the alcohol, and adding it to food keeps its ruling. Unlike vinegar, nothing is transformed. Use stock, juice or vinegar instead.