11 Best Dijon Mustard Substitutes [Easy Ingredient Alternatives]

Need a last-minute Dijon mustard substitute? These eleven best alternatives will get you out of trouble.

Dijon Mustard Substitutes

Dijon mustard’s unique taste can make it difficult to replicate. Whether it’s for sandwiches or salads, it’s a crucial ingredient.

The good news is that there are ingredients you can easily swap in to replicate the taste, spice, or function of Dijon. These 11 substitutes will get you out of trouble and help you replicate that famous mustardy kick.

Spicy Mustard

spicy yellow mustard

Similar to wholegrain mustard, spicy mustard features visible seeds, which gives it a beautiful texture. Not only that, its seeds ensure a strong flavor packed in the sauce!

Spicy mustard seeds are soaked in vinegar when they are being made. This gives it a tart flavor, while its high seed-to-liquid ratio gives it a rich and spicy taste.

It is different in flavor and, as its name suggests, it’s spicier. This means that it might not suit every recipe that calls for Dijon. But if you’re making a meat marinade or salad vinaigrette, it will work and apply a little extra kick to your food. It’s perfect for beef or ham sandwiches, as well as salt beef bagels.

Be sure to pay attention to your ratios and serving sizes. Since it does carry more of a kick, you might want to use less of it than you would Dijon.

Yellow Mustard

jar of yellow mustard

This choice might upset many people, but I find that simple yellow mustard makes a great alternative.

A lot of people aren’t sold on the American variety of mustard. It’s sweeter and more tart in flavor and can taste cheaper than French or British varieties.

While I don’t disagree with a lot of the above, I think there’s an element of snobbery at play here, and yellow mustard can make for an ample alternative to Dijon.

Horseradish

jar of white horseradish with basil and lemon slices on cooking surface

Horseradish divides a lot of people. It’s strong stuff, and there are as many people who dislike it as those who enjoy it. It might not strike you as the most obvious replacement as it’s different in composition. It’s creamy, thick, and very, very tangy.

It’s the tangy flavor that makes it a good Dijon mustard substitute. In fact, for a similar reason, this is why we recommend Dijon mustard as a good substitute for horseradish.

While horseradish can come in cream or sauce form, you might want to make your own to make it closer to the spicy-sweet taste of Dijon.

To do this, you will need horseradish root, sour cream, and honey. Grate the horseradish root, and use an immersion blender to puree it with the honey and sour cream.

The ratios of this will come down to your own personal taste, but as a starting point, try to use ½ pound of the root and 1 tablespoon each of sour cream and honey. The root will add the mustard’s ‘hot’ flavor, while the sour cream will provide tang, and the honey will give it a sweet note. 

If you’d like any of these flavors to be more pronounced, tweak it in line with your preferences.

Worcestershire Sauce

Worcestershire Sauce

Worcestershire sauce – also called Worcester sauce – has a beautiful tangy flavor that makes an excellent replacement for Dijon. Not as thick as sauces like mustard or mayonnaise, it boasts enough of a kick to warrant trying in your recipes.

Worcestershire sauce is a fermented sauce, packing in a lot of complex flavors. It has anchovies, molasses, vinegar, sugar, onion, and garlic. That might not sound appetizing to everyone, but don’t knock it until you try it. It packs in so much flavor that it works brilliantly as a meat or tofu marinade.

Wasabi

Wasabi paste

If you’re looking to replicate the ‘kick’ of Dijon, wasabi is the way to go. It’s widely available now, both in stores and online, and can help create the spice you need.

Take care with measurements, as wasabi tends to get up your nose far more easily than Dijon.

Honey Mustard

Honey Mustard

At the sweeter and milder end of the scale lies honey mustard. When cooking for children, this can make for a great alternative to Dijon, as they tend to prefer the sweet layers of honey mustard over the harsher notes of Dijon.

It pairs beautifully with most kinds of meat, particularly pork and chicken. However, it goes great with salads and vegetables too.

Dijon is a fantastic emulsifier, helping recipes bind oil and water to create smooth, consistent dressings or vinaigrettes for salads or vegetables. If you don’t have any Dijon at hand, here are some of the best ways you can get around it.


Dijon is a fantastic emulsifier, helping recipes bind oil and water to create smooth, consistent dressings or vinaigrettes for salads or vegetables. If you don’t have any dijon at hand, here are some of the best ways you can get around it.

Egg Yolk

egg yolk for recipes

This substitute depends on what your recipe calls on Dijon for. If it’s for flavor, then it’s pretty obvious egg yolk isn’t going to cut it.

One of the reasons recipes call on mustard for salad vinaigrettes is to act as a binding agent. Often the core ingredients in vinaigrettes or salad dressings don’t blend and separate easily.

An agent like Dijon mustard helps bind and emulsify these ingredients, creating a smooth salad dressing. Egg yolk also does this beautifully, so if you’re after an ingredient that doesn’t have a harsh kick, egg yolk should be your go-to.

One egg yolk will equate to 1 or 2 tablespoons of Dijon for emulsion. Be sure to separate the yolk from the egg white and add to the other ingredients and combine thoroughly.

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a great alternative if you’re trying to create a good binding agent for salad dressings or vinaigrettes. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, as mayonnaise is rich in egg content and vinegar.

Mayonnaise isn’t just a good emulsifier but also adds a subtle tangy flavor that doesn’t take too much away from the finished product. It might not have that unmistakable mustard taste, but it brings enough to the plate to bind the ingredients well and give your salad a slight tang.

Lecithin Powder

Lecithin Powder

If you don’t have Dijon mustard, then it might be unlikely that you have lecithin powder. However, if it’s the taste of Dijon that you’d prefer to remove in vinaigrette or dressing, then this is a great option to have.

Lecithin is a protein that helps bind and emulsify oil and water and is found in egg yolk. Going straight for lecithin powder is a vegan-friendly option that removes the need for mayonnaise or eggs.

As a side note, it’s been noted to have fantastic health benefits, like lower cholesterol, improving heart health, and even helping breastfeeding mothers prevent clogged ducts.


If time isn’t of the essence, why not get creative and make your own? Here are 2 great homemade recipes that will help you tweak according to your preferences.

Homemade Dijon

homemade dijon mustard recipe

It stands to reason that the closest match to store-bought is a homemade Dijon mustard recipe. As Dijon is quite a unique condiment, you might think that this is not easy to do, but that’s not the case. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up preferring this over the off-the-shelf variety.

As a warning, while this is not difficult to do, it does require at least 1 week to produce. However, if you don’t like store-bought varieties, this may be an excellent solution for you as there are many ways in which ingredients can be tweaked and adjusted according to your preferred taste.

To make your own, you’ll need a few simple ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups of white wine
  • 1 cup of water, or more as needed
  • ⅔ cup of white wine vinegar
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 cup of whole yellow mustard seeds
  • ¼ cup of dry mustard
  • 1 tbsp of garlic powder
  • 1 tsp of salt

The recipe requires combining the white wine, white wine vinegar, garlic, and water in a saucepan and letting it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. You then allow it to cool to room temperature before straining it into a bowl.

Stir in the dry mustard, mustard seeds, salt, and garlic powder into the strained liquid before covering and letting it thicken for 1 to 2 days.

Puree the mixture until it reaches your desired consistency. You do this with an immersion blender.

After this, you transfer the mix to a saucepan, add a little more water, and bring it to a simmer. Combine while simmering for 10 minutes.

Pack the mustard into your choice of jars, allowing a half-inch room at the top. Aim to remove any extra air bubbles from the inside of the jars using a spoon or knife. Apply the tops of the jars and leave them in the refrigerator for 1 week. This will let all the flavors blend.

Turmeric, Chili Pepper & Minced Garlic

If you’d like to make your own solution, then this quick recipe should help you out.

The turmeric will give it a strong yellow color, while its chili content will provide spice, and the roasted garlic purée will round off the flavor.

Add the ingredients in equal parts, and combine. It will be more like a paste than a sauce, but the flavor will be recreated nicely.