Vadouvan Substitutes, Ranked by the Job the Blend Is Doing

Vadouvan is a curry blend built around shallots, onion and garlic, with spices such as cumin, fenugreek, mustard seed and turmeric. It is often sold as “French curry” and is usually traced to Pondicherry (now Puducherry), the former French settlement in southern India, and to a Tamil preserve called vadagam or vadavam.¹²³ Deepa, who writes about Pondicherry food, describes the home preserve as relying heavily on shallots and garlic.² That allium base is what any substitute has to supply, because the spices themselves are close to a curry powder’s.

Quick answer

The rest of the page explains each choice.

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, with the source named.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. We show each one and do not average them.
• Method: we found no published ratio. We give a direction and a cautious starting point, and say so.

We found no credible published ratio for replacing vadouvan with another blend. The Attributed elements below are published recipes, used for their proportions. Every substitution amount is a Method starting point.

What vadouvan contains, and why curry powder comes close

Commercial and published versions differ, and one leaves out the alliums entirely:

All three contain turmeric and cumin.⁴³⁵ The USDA’s purchasing specification says plain curry powder should include turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, ginger and cardamom,⁶ which covers most of the spice side of these blends. What curry powder lacks is the allium sweetness. America’s Test Kitchen says dried onion adds a sweet allium flavor to the Indian profile in its recipe,⁵ and The Spice House calls its own blend a sweeter, shallot-based version of masala curry.⁴

The spice compounds are shared too. PROSEA credits sotolon with fenugreek’s characteristic curry aroma,⁷ and cuminaldehyde makes up 20 to 72 percent of cumin oil.⁸

If vadouvan is a mild, sweet-savory curry seasoning

Curry powder plus dried onion

This is the closest everyday swap. World Spice Merchants says its vadouvan can be used just like a curry powder,⁹ and the swap simply runs that the other way, with onion added for the allium note. Vadouvan is often called the French take on Indian spicing, as curry powder is the British one; Britannica does say curry powder was adapted by British settlers in India,¹⁰ but how French vadouvan is remains disputed (see below).

Where it falls short: no shallot or garlic depth unless you add it, and a curry powder may carry more heat than vadouvan. World Spice rates its vadouvan 1 on a 5-point heat scale.³ Curry powders vary by brand, so check the label for chile.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Use curry powder in the same amount as the vadouvan, and add about 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder (or 1/2 teaspoon of dried minced onion) per teaspoon. A pinch of garlic powder and a pinch of sugar move it closer to a shallot-heavy blend such as The Spice House’s, which lists sugar.⁴ These additions are our starting point, not a tested formula.

If you want to make it from scratch

1. A dry blend

America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe is built from pantry spices plus dried minced onion and cracked fennel.⁵ Use your blend in the amount your recipe gives for vadouvan (Method).

2. A fresh-allium version

Shannon Weber’s recipe for Feast Magazine is closer to the cooked home preserve. It makes about one cup from 1 lb sweet onions, 1 lb shallots and 6 cloves of garlic, cooked down and baked dry with these spices:¹¹

She stores it in the freezer and uses it in soups and stews, as a rub, and in hummus or yogurt dips.¹¹ Because it is mostly cooked alliums, it is not interchangeable spoon for spoon with a dry powder. Start with about twice the vadouvan amount and taste (Method).

If vadouvan is cooked into a paste with shallots

World Spice describes the traditional preparation as a concentrated paste combined with sautéed onions and shallots,³ and publishes a recipe for one. It browns 2 pounds of onions and 1 pound of shallots in 1/4 cup of oil for about 20 minutes, adds 1/4 cup each of chopped garlic and grated ginger, stirs in 3 tablespoons of ground vadouvan off the heat, then bakes the mixture at 325°F for about an hour until it is a thick, sticky paste.⁹ It keeps in the refrigerator for up to a month.⁹

Paste with curry powder (Method): Follow the same method with curry powder in place of the vadouvan, starting with 3 tablespoons, since World Spice says the blend can be used like a curry powder.⁹ The alliums supply the sweetness either way. That swap is our suggestion; World Spice’s recipe uses its own vadouvan.

If you need a curry base with a little more heat

Madras curry powder, plus onion

Dan Toombs describes Madras curry powder as a blend like any curry powder that also has dried chiles in it.¹² World Spice’s Madras blend leads with coriander, brown mustard seed, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek and black pepper,¹³ much of what is in its vadouvan.³ World Spice rates the Madras blend 2 of 5 for heat,¹³ against 1 of 5 for its vadouvan.³ Chile heat comes from capsaicinoids,¹⁴ and the Madras blend has more chile to carry it.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with about three quarters of the vadouvan amount, add onion powder as above, and taste.

If only hot blends are on hand

Vindaloo curry powder or tandoori masala

Both share cumin and other curry spices with vadouvan, but both lean on chile. Vindaloo blends vary: America’s Test Kitchen describes fiery, complex heat in its recipe,¹⁵ while Savory Spice says its blend is closer to medium.¹⁶ Silk Road Spices suggests its vindaloo powder for any recipe calling for curry powder.¹⁷ Collingham traces the name to a Portuguese dish.¹⁸ Tandoori blends differ again: Woodland Foods lists salt first and colors its blend with beet powder,¹⁹ while The Spice House’s is salt-free and built on paprika.²⁰

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with half the vadouvan amount, add onion powder, taste for heat and salt, then add more.

What isn’t known

• No credible published ratio for replacing vadouvan with any blend was found.
• No published analysis compares the aroma of vadouvan with curry powder or any other substitute.
• Whether vadouvan is a French adaptation or a Tamil preserve with a French name is disputed; see our vadouvan page for both positions.¹²
• A claim circulates that turmeric is not used in most vadouvan blends. All three versions compared above include it,⁴³⁵ and turmeric’s curcumin colors food yellow,²¹ so expect curry powder and vadouvan to look alike.

Related

• Vadouvan
• Curry powder, cooking with curry powder and is curry powder spicy?
• Madras curry powder and vindaloo vs. Madras curry powder
• Vindaloo curry powder, tandoori masala and curry paste vs. curry powder
• Onion powder, garlic powder, fenugreek, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, curry leaves and black mustard seeds