Neutralizing the taste of vinegar is helpful if you slipped the vinegar bottle while cooking. We’ll show you what you can do to save an overly acidic dish.
Vinegar spices up many a meal. From salad dressings to sauces and chutneys to vegetable dishes – it is an important ingredient in many recipes. But it’s easy to overdose on vinegar. Luckily, this error can be corrected: There are various options available to you to neutralize the acetic acid. It doesn’t matter what type of vinegar you used—apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, herbal vinegar, or even rice vinegar.
Tip 1 against too much vinegar: neutralize with other ingredients
You can neutralize the taste of vinegar by adding any of the following ingredients to your dish:
Baking soda or baking soda: These are alkaline, so they neutralize the acidity of the vinegar. When added, the food will froth briefly as it reacts with the vinegar. This variant is suitable for all dishes, whether hot or cold.
Salt: Salt helps with small amounts of vinegar. But approach it slowly, otherwise your food will be too salty. Soy sauce or instant vegetable broth also contain salt and are therefore suitable for neutralizing vinegar.
Sugar: For small amounts, you can work with sugar as well as with salt. As an alternative to granulated sugar, you can use honey. As with salt, the following applies here: feel your way around, otherwise you will change the taste of the dish.
Tip 2 against too much vinegar: Remove from the dish
There are several ways to get rid of excess vinegar from your dish:
Potatoes: For dishes that are heated, you can add raw potatoes and let them cook. These absorb vinegar and thus soften the taste. Cut them into pieces or put them in whole. You can then either leave the potatoes in the dish or take them out and use them at a later time. While the potato extracts the vinegar taste, it also absorbs other flavors so that it is still edible afterwards. You can use a hot, freshly cooked potato in dishes that don’t need to be heated.
Simmer: If your dish lends itself to this, allow it to simmer for a long time to neutralize the vinegar. Since acetic acid is volatile, you can get rid of at least some of it this way. You may need to add other liquid (e.g., water, cream, broth, tomato sauce) to maintain the desired amount and consistency.
Tip 3 against too much vinegar: Stretch the dish
Depending on the type of dish, you can neutralize too much vinegar by stretching the food. You have various options for this:
Increase amount: Add the other ingredients proportionately. Note that this will usually only mitigate the vinegar taste.
Liquids: Enhance your dish with matching liquids. This can be salty like vegetable broth, but also neutral like cream, sour cream, cream cheese or crème fraîche. Vegan alternatives are also suitable.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes contain a lot of water and thus stretch the dish. They also absorb some acid, helping to neutralize the vinegar. It doesn’t matter whether you cook them or add them raw to a salad, for example.
If necessary, combine several of the above options. For example, you can increase the total amount and at the same time add salt and cook a potato. Or you mix baking soda into your food and at the same time stretch it with tomatoes. Choose the appropriate options based on the level of vinegar flavor.
