If you want to load up on umami without loading up on meat, you can go straight to the source and sprinkle a little MSG into your dinners. However, just as adding white sugar to tea adds sweetness without the complexity of, say, honey or maple syrup—and kosher salt adds saltiness without the complexity of soy sauce—MSG gives you that savory character, but not much else.
That's not a bad thing, but when you're looking to dial up the savory side of meat-free dishes, there are many, many ingredients that offer tons of umami while also lending additional layers of interest to whatever you're cooking.
Using olives when making vegetable stock adds a huge amount of umami.
I recently reached out to a few of our favorite vegetarian and vegan chefs and cookbook authors to find out their favorite umami-boosting ingredients. Here's what they had to say:
Amanda Cohen
"The thing to remember about umami is that it’s not a flavor in and of itself, it just accentuates the flavors that are already there. Because they don’t contain fat and have such a high water content, intensifying the flavor of vegetables is really important when you’re cooking them, but the best way to do it varies from vegetable to vegetable.
"With cucumbers, I found that roasting them really brings out their flavor. For butternut squash soup, I make a stock using squash that’s so roasted it’s almost burnt, mixed with raw squash. I’ve found that using fermented black beans or olives when making vegetable stock adds a huge amount of umami.
"When I’m roasting vegetables I’ll blend sun-dried tomatoes with the olive oil before I toss them, which adds a lot of umami. And adding a little bit of umeboshi paste to just about anything really makes its flavor sparkle."
Amanda Cohen is the chef-owner of Dirt Candy and Lekka Burger and author of Dirt Candy: Flavor-Forward Food From the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant.
Miso, soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms, seaweed, kimchi, and turmeric all work together to make this brothy noodle bowl deeply savory.
Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau
KJ: "I'm sort of an acid freak when it comes to food and wine, and I love to add bright shots of acidity in desserts. Whether it's fresh citrus or a sharp vinegar, it's a great way to wake up a dish and balance flavors. If you're looking for a mysterious umami presence in your desserts, I'm a fan of black vinegar. It packs the punch of tartness I love, but attaches some built-in richness and sweetness on the palate from its concentrated fruits and sugars.
