Overview
About Anchovy paste
Anchovy paste is cured anchovy mashed with salt and oil, so it takes an already high-histamine food and concentrates it.
It grades E for histamine, E for tyramine and E for free glutamate, one notch worse on the last two than whole anchovy fillets. The bigger issue is that most people do not eat it knowingly. A squeeze goes into Caesar dressing, puttanesca, tapenade, bagna cauda and the base of many braises, and anchovy is a listed ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, which then goes into everything from a Bloody Mary to a shepherds pie. If your histamine log has unexplained flare days built around Italian food, restaurant salad dressing or a savoury sauce you did not make, anchovy paste is the ingredient to go looking for.
Sensitivities
How Anchovy paste scores
Watch for
What trips people up
- Histamine E and tyramine E. The paste is more concentrated than the fillets, so a teaspoon can carry the amine load of several anchovies without tasting fishy in the finished dish
- Free glutamate E. This is the whole reason cooks reach for it, and it is also why glutamate-sensitive people sometimes react to a sauce that lists no MSG anywhere
- It is nearly invisible on a menu. Caesar dressing, puttanesca, tapenade and Worcestershire sauce all commonly contain anchovy, and none of them say so on the dish name
- Finned fish allergen, graded E on EoE compatibility, so it is a genuine risk rather than a preference issue if you avoid fish
- Sulfite C. Tubes and jars vary, and some add preservative on top of the salt cure
Diet fit
Where it fits
Swap ideas
More alternatives
FAQ
Common questions about Anchovy paste
Is anchovy paste worse than whole anchovies for histamine?
Both grade E for histamine, but the paste is graded worse on tyramine (E against D) and on free glutamate (E against D), and it is far easier to overshoot. Fillets are countable, paste is squeezed in by feel, and it dissolves into a sauce so you have no visual cue about how much you ate.
Which foods secretly contain anchovy?
Caesar dressing, puttanesca sauce, tapenade, bagna cauda and Worcestershire sauce are the usual ones, and Worcestershire then turns up in Bloody Marys, marinades, gravies and stews. Many restaurant pan sauces and braises also get a spoonful of anchovy paste as a background savoury note that never appears on the menu.
What can I use instead of anchovy paste for umami?
Nutritional yeast gives savoury depth at histamine C rather than E, with no tyramine and no free glutamate load in the grading. Capers are the traditional partner in puttanesca and tapenade and grade histamine C, so keeping the capers and dropping the anchovy already lowers the amine total of the dish considerably.
References
Read the background
Ratings reflect the Triggerbites ingredient database and may vary with portion size and preparation.