Maggi Seasoning is a liquid sauce that is used to flavor foods, in particular soups. It's popular in some areas more than others across the world.
Key Ingredient Facts
| Name and Variants | Commonly known as Maggi Sauce Seasoning by Nestlé in English. The American and Chinese versions are more robust compared to the original German Maggi Würze, which also includes MSG. Maggi Jugo in Mexico is thicker, and in the Filipino they have two versions, the Maggi savor (like the regular Maggi sauce) and the Maggi Savor Calamansi which is citrusy. |
| Type of Food Ingredient | Seasoning Sauce |
| Origin | Switzerland, invented by Julius Maggi in 1886. |
| Seasonality/Availability | The Swiss, Germans, and Austrians use this sauce as a table sauce. You will also encounter it in some African countries such as Senegal, as well as across the world, such as in Mexico, Spain, the Philippines, France, Czechia, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, and Slovakia. |
| Flavor Profile | Rich concentrated umami flavor, and the only other seasoning sauce in this world that resembles the consistency, umami and general flavor is Japanese thin soy sauce. It's like a concentrated soup in a few drops. |
| Texture | Liquid |
| Dietary Notes | Completely Vegan |
Appearance
The Maggi sauce, as we call it, comes in an iconic small 125 gram brown glass bottle including an iconic yellow sticker with the product name and logo in red.
This design hardly changed over the decades, even when Maggi was purchased by Nestlé in 1947. I think this made it so iconic because we all recognize the ingredients, anywhere in the world.
The sauce itself is liquid and dark brown/black. It mixes seamlessly into other foods.
Flavor variations such as “hot spicy” are periodically introduced to the market.
How it is used
Some people swear that they can't live without Maggi seasoning and yes, they are all German speakers.
Swiss folks treat this sauce like a prized possession. A restaurant table in Switzerland always has a bottle of Maggi seasoning.
The most common use is to drop some Maggi seasoning into a soup in a serving bowl. 3–5 drops are a good norm to start out with.
In Central Europe, we tend to prepare many clear broth soups, and that's where this seasoning comes to place. E.g., season this Vegetable Clear Soup with Maggi Seasoning.
Storing
Keep the seasoning bottle on a shelf in your kitchen or in the pantry at room temperature, away from direct heat and sunlight.
Substitutes
In the German language, we have a herb that is called Maggi Herb, which is actually lovage.
This particular herb tastes just like the liquid Maggi seasoning, although the herb is not used in the manufacturing process of the liquid seasoning.
You can substitute the sauce with the herb, but the herb needs to be added to the soup during the cooking process, while the seasoning sauce is a post-flavor-giver.
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