The Best Dijon Mustard Substitute: Spice Up Your Life In Style!

Recently I have started to make my favorite salad, and halfway through, I realized that my Dijon mustard jar is completely empty.

Eating my salad without Dijon mustard would simply not be the same, and it was rather late to go to the store – especially since I was dead tired and already in my PJs, so I turned to my source of all the earthly knowledge – the internet!

Dijon Mustard Substitute

I have spent quite some time researching to find the perfect Dijon mustard substitute.

Stick with me, and you will not have to – let’s find those substitutions and save the evening!

What is Dijon Mustard and How to Make It?

Dijon mustard has gotten the name due to the city it had been first created in – the city of Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region in the far-away and beautiful France. The area is more famous for its production of wines than for the Dijon mustard, though.

Today, Dijon mustard is quite the same as the traditional one made so long ago and includes white wine and ground brown mustard seeds as the main ingredients. The color is pale yellow, and the texture is smooth and creamy.

Verjuice, which translates to “green juice” in French, is the unripe grape juice that is added as the secret ingredient to Dijon mustard. Due to its distinctive flavor, Dijon mustard has been the greatest and most sought-after of its kind for more than 250 years.

It might not be that simple to obtain both the region-specific wine and some verjuice, but doing so is necessary if you want to mimic this flavor.

Many people believe that a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar works just as well as verjuice, though. Although you can buy the wine virtually anyplace, if you still can’t locate it or can’t afford it, any Chardonnay-based wine will do.

You would need to manufacture the Dijon mustard in the city of Dijon if you wanted to use that specific name for it. If not, you can call it “Dijon-Style” mustard or dijon mustard with a tiny “d” because it has a protected designation of origin. Of course, not everyone abides by this commandment.

If you want to find out how to make Dijon mustard, I will tell you right away – it is fairly easy when you have all the right ingredients at your disposal!

First, you need to ground up the mustard seeds and then purée them with salt, white wine, and vinegar.

There are two important things to remember:

Soak the mustard seeds overnight before using them.
Refrigerate the finished mustard for 24 hours before you serve it.

However, I doubt that you have the needed ingredients lying around in your kitchen cabinets waiting for you to run out of your Dijon mustard and use them to make a new batch.

More likely, you will need more time to find and purchase the ingredients than to buy the ready-made Dijon mustard.

For this reason, making your own Dijon mustard is not really an option when you need to use it right away! So, what is the best substitute for Dijon mustard in such cases?

Read on and find out!

What to Do with Dijon Mustard?

Before we move on to find out what is the best Dijon mustard substitute, let’s see how you can actually use this flavorful spice:

Dress your Salad to Impress – I love my salads dressed in Dijon mustard, that is what has inspired me to write this article in the first place. Oil and vinegar are simply not enough for my taste; I need some heat!
Marinate for a Tender feeling – If you marinate your meat with Dijon mustard, it will tenderize it, and you will be able to enjoy it better. It goes especially well with lamb. For the utmost satisfaction, you can make a puree out of Dijon mustard, garlic, and wine.
Create Honey Mustard for a sweet-to-spicy enjoyment – Add some honey to your Dijon mustard for a balanced sweet-sour flavor – it goes great with chicken fingers!
Glaze your veggies – You probably know how to glaze your carrots, and they are certainly great on their own, but use some Dijon mustard, and you will take your glazed veggies to a whole other level!
Rub It Into your Roast – Believe me, when you try your juicy pork coated with Dijon mustard, you will want to send me a thank you card! Chicken and turkey are also an excellent choice for this combo!
Spice up your Cheese Dip – Stir some Dijon mustard into your cheese dip and enjoy your crackers and pretzels dipped in pure delight!
Mac and Cheese and Dijoneese – Want to make your macaroni even creamier? Try this combo; you will not regret it!
Create a Sauce for any Fish Big or Small, Especially Salmon – Mix some butter and Dijon mustard and dip any fish you fry for the rest of the life – you will never get bored with this combination!

The Best Dijon Mustard Substitute: Seven Easiest Solutions

Finally, we have come to the most important part, which will tell you what to do when you run out of the Dijon mustard at some crucial point in your life.

Some solutions will be quite simple and obvious, some more complicated, but they will all do the job well! Let us start!

1. Yellow Mustard

It is a well-known fact that people in the USA eat a lot of yellow mustard, so why not simply substitute Dijon mustard with yellow mustard? It is the simplest and easiest solution – if you have yellow mustard in your home at that moment (and most people do).
Of course, the taste will not be entirely the same as the yellow mustard is less spicy and has a somewhat mild flavor. The amount of sodium in Dijon mustard is higher than that in yellow mustard as well. On the plus side, the substitute will be useful for your immunity as the yellow mustard has more vitamin C. Turmeric (do you know what turmeric is?) in yellow mustard is also anti-cancerogenic.

2. Honey Mustard

If you have a sweet tooth like my kids, you can substitute Dijon mustard with Honey mustard. The best combination is the one with chicken, but it goes well with pork, french fries, salads, and various grilled or steamed vegetables too.
You can make your own honey mustard if you have yellow mustard and honey – simply mix equal amounts of these two ingredients. You can make the flavor even more interesting by adding herbs like thyme or rosemary.

3. Spicy Brown Mustard

If you prefer spicy food, and would rather go for a more hot and zesty flavor than the milder one, you might want to replace the Dijon mustard with spicy brown mustard. There is less vinegar in spicy brown mustard which allows for the spices to dominate the taste.
Spicy brown mustard has a coarser texture that combines well with nutty-flavored spices such as nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. It goes best with deli recipes such as sausages or sandwiches. In my house spicy brown mustard is a must when we eat hot dogs.

4. Wasabi

If you can stand a lot of heat, wasabi can be an excellent substitute for Dijon mustard as well. Never replace the two measurements of wasabi for one measure of Dijon though, or you are going to catch fire! Instead, use only a bit of wasabi to spice up your meal reasonably.
Wasabi is a Japanese condiment that you can buy in almost every supermarket in the USA, and it is best combined with sushi. Just make sure to choose and buy authentic wasabi, not a cheap imitation that does not taste anything like the real thing. Wasabi is good for your immunity as well due to its high Zinc content. You can learn more about the taste of the sushi if you haven’t tried it.

Further Reading: Most Recommended Sushi Knives

5. Horseradish Root & Honey & Sour Cream

In order to replicate the spicy-sweet flavor of Dijon mustard, you can also combine some horseradish root with sour cream and honey. To make this combo, you first need to grate the horseradish root and then puree it with the rest of the ingredients. The result will be a sweet and spicy flavor similar to that of the Dijon mustard.
Do not overdo it with the horseradish content as it is quite hot and spicy and can be slightly overwhelming when used in combination with other ingredients. Sour cream is responsible for the tangy flavor while honey is added to bring about the sweetness to this improvised Dijon mustard substitute.

6. Turmeric, Chili Peppers, Garlic & Salt

Another way to try to replicate the Dijon mustard flavor is to mix turmeric, chili peppers, garlic, and some salt. The mixture will have a bright yellow color due to turmeric. Turmeric will also provide a high content of minerals such as iron and manganese, but also vitamin B6.
Chilly will add the desired hotness; the salt will provide the taste and garlic will round up the whole feeling. All the ingredients need to be ground and mixed well.

7. Dry Mustard, White Wine, Mayonnaise, Sugar & Water

This is the most complicated option and requires the greatest number of different ingredients.
Do mind that this is no quick solution either; it will take at least two days if you do it correctly. However, on the plus side, all of these ingredients are quite often already found in every average home.

Since this is a full-blown Dijon mustard DIY recipe I will treat it as such as well:

The ingredients

Three teaspoons of dry mustard
Three teaspoons of mayonnaise (can be substituted with heavy cream as well)
One teaspoon of cold water
One teaspoon of white wine vinegar (if you have none, you can make it by mixing equal amounts of white wine and white vinegar)
A bit of sugar

The procedure

You need to soak the mustard seeds with white vinegar for 48h, and then use a mortar and pestle to make a smooth paste out of all the listed ingredients.

The Conclusion

As you can see, there are many solutions to this problem.

However, the taste will never be quite the same, and you will have to experiment and find the best Dijon mustard substitute that fits your personal taste.

As far as I am concerned, and the little problem I have had with my salad, I have resolved it with a bit of yellow mustard that I had in my fridge at the time.

However, as soon as I was well-rested (and out of my pajamas) I have done the shopping and stocked up my pantry with my beloved Dijon mustard.

Nothing can replace that authentic flavor that I adore! 😀

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