Best Seafood Broth Substitute + 5 Other Alternatives

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Last Updated on February 20, 2023 by Toya

Check out the best seafood broth substitute plus 5 other tried and true ways to substitute for seafood broth in a pinch!

Seafood broth is a perfectly seasoned, flavorful broth made with vegetables, spices, and seafood like shrimp, lobster, crab, and other shellfish. It’s delicious and can be used to make all sorts of yummy seafood recipes like gumbos, seafood boil, seafood sauce, soups, paellas, chowders and so much more. You can even enjoy it as a healthy filling drink on its own!

Most times, I try to make things easier on myself by just grabbing my favorite seafood broth online. It’s priced well and really great, plus it saves time and the need to grab expensive seafood and make my own. If you’re in a hurry and need it now, I recommend grabbing Zoup seafood broth from Amazon. It remains my favorite store-bought seafood broth, due to how great it works in most recipes.

However, not everyone wants to use store-bought seafood broth or even spend money on it. Or maybe you need something quick right now and can’t wait. Or maybe you have no problem spending some money, but you want something that lasts for a long time. The ideas below are great substitutes to use in a pinch.

Common ways to substitute for seafood broth

Homemade seafood broth

The best substitute for seafood broth is a simple homemade seafood broth recipe. I’ve made seafood broth many times and it only takes about an hour. Typically, I use crab, lobster, shrimp, and mussels to make my seafood broth.

To make it, clean all your seafood under running water. Then pour 8-10 cups of water into a large pot. Next, add your favorite seasonings, onion, garlic cloves, parsley, and cilantro into the water and let it come to a boil. Place the lobster, crabs, shrimp, and mussels into the boiling water, reduce the heat, then simmer for just 1 hour. Use in any recipe that calls for seafood broth. You can check out the full recipe for this simple seafood broth here. 

Seafood stock

You can also use some seafood stock in place of seafood broth in a pinch. Seafood stock is made from fish bones, the carcasses of lobster, crab, shrimp, and other seafood and vegetables. It is flavorful and great for soups, stews, and other recipes. Plus, it’s way cheaper than seafood broth! You can make your own or grab some from your local stores or even online. 

Clam juice

I like to keep clam juice in my pantry because it works so well in many seafood recipes. So, if you have a recipe that calls for seafood broth, but have none, then you can easily and effectively use clam juice in its place. Clam juice is great for sauces, and chowders and can even be drunk on its own. You can also grab some whole fresh clams and make your own homemade clam broth.

Fish stock cubes

Admittedly, these are quite hard to come by, but if you’re one of the lucky ones who happen to have a few of these lying around in the kitchen, then you can use fish stock cubes to make a good alternative for seafood broth.

To replace 1 cup of seafood broth, dilute 1 fish stock cube in 1 cup of hot water. If you’ve never heard of these before and want to keep some in your pantry, you can get some knorr fish stock cubes on Amazon. This is one of the few places I’ve seen it available. 

 

Seafood base

There are other easy ways to build up the seafood flavor in a dish such as by using a seafood base. A seafood base is a thick concentrated paste made with sauteed seafood including crab meat, lobster, shrimp, etc as well as some other ingredients.

Seafood base is used to impart rich seafood flavor to gravies, chowders, gumbos, stews, soups, and any other seafood dish that may call for seafood broth. 

When using a seafood base to replace seafood broth, you can use it as is, especially if the recipe does not require a lot of liquid, but will benefit from a seafood flavor boost.

Otherwise, if you want a 1:1 substitute, you can use ¼ – ½ a tablespoon of seafood base in 1 cup of boiling water. This makes 1 cup of seafood stock and can easily replace 1 cup of seafood broth. If you’re interested in keeping this ingredient on hand and you never want to run out of a handy seafood broth substitute ever again, make your life a LOT easier and pick up the seafood base by Minor’s at Amazon at a pretty great price.

Lobster base

If you can get your hands on lobster base, then you also have another worthy seafood broth sub. A lobster base is a concentrated paste made with cooked lobster and spices that can be used to add a nice seafood flavor to dishes like soups, chowders, casseroles, sauces, lobster bisque, gumbos, etc. 

To make a worthy replacement for seafood broth, dilute 1 teaspoon of the lobster base into 1 cup of boiling water and use this to replace 1 cup of seafood broth. 

There are quite a few ways to replace seafood broth and I’ve listed the best options above. Therefore, if there ever comes a time when you really need a seafood broth replacement to enhance the flavor of a seafood recipe, these ideas are all you will ever need!