Vinegar Powder: What It Is, How It’s Made and How to Use It

Vinegar powder is vinegar in dry form: liquid vinegar dried onto maltodextrin, a starch product, so that it can be sprinkled and mixed like a spice.¹²³ Tasting Table’s Emily Boyette notes that it lets salt and vinegar potato chips carry a strong vinegar flavor without losing their crispness.³ Both products checked for this page are made from distilled white vinegar.¹²

At a glance

How it is made

Boyette describes the usual method as misting vinegar onto maltodextrin and letting it dry.³ Spices Inc. describes its product as distilled white vinegar dehydrated and bonded onto a maltodextrin base, giving a soft, free-flowing powder.¹

Maltodextrin is defined in U.S. regulations as a nonsweet nutritive saccharide polymer made by partial hydrolysis of corn, potato or rice starch, and FDA allows it in food with no limit beyond good manufacturing practice.⁴ It is a carbohydrate, so vinegar powder is not calorie-free: the Spices Inc. label lists 15 calories and 3.7 g of carbohydrate per teaspoon.¹ The same label lists 1.9 mg of sodium per teaspoon, so this one adds tang with almost no sodium.¹

Powdered vinegar is not new. Boyette writes that a recipe for powdered vinegar dates to the early 1600s, in Gervase Markham’s The English Housewife.³ We have not seen the original recipe, so how it was made is not described here.

Flavor

Vinegar powder tastes like the vinegar it was made from, tart and sharp. Spices Inc. notes that the first taste is an acidic bite that fades quickly,¹ and Woodland Foods describes a pure, tart vinegar flavor.² Boyette suggests pairing it with other spices to balance its pungency.³

How to use it

• Snacks. Toss with salt over potato chips, popcorn or french fries.³¹
• Rubs and blends. Add it to dry rubs and seasoning blends that need a tangy component, including barbecue rubs.¹³
• Soups, stews and beans. Woodland Foods suggests adding it to stews, chili, soups and beans for tang.²
• Dressings and marinades. Whisk it into olive oil with herbs for a salad dressing, or into a marinade.²¹

Start with a small amount and taste. No supplier we checked gives a ratio for converting liquid vinegar to powder, and products differ in strength, so this is a matter of tasting as you go.

For other dry ways to add sourness, see sumac, which Gernot Katzer describes as tart and sour with slightly astringent overtones.⁵

Buying and storage

Check the ingredient list: some powders are just maltodextrin and vinegar,² while others add modified food starch.¹ Spices Inc. recommends an airtight container in a cool, dark place,¹ and Woodland Foods a cool, dry place.² Neither gives a shelf life.

Related

• Too much vinegar: balancing an over-sour dish
• Worcestershire powder and soy sauce powder, two other dried condiments built on maltodextrin
• Sumac and sumac substitutes
• Seasoned salt and all-purpose seasoning