Without wine for cooking, red wine can be replaced with a mix of grape juice and a little vinegar, and white wine with a mix of apple juice or white grape juice and lemon juice.
What replaces red wine?
In stews and red-meat dishes, wine's job is adding both acidity and depth; to cover both, swap 1 cup of wine for 3/4 cup of grape juice plus 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Grape juice is sweeter than wine, so cut back slightly on any sugar the recipe calls for.
What replaces white wine?
For fish and chicken sauces that call for white wine, a mix of apple juice with a few drops of lemon juice can take its place, balancing acidity and sweetness in a similar way. White grape juice gives a similar result too, though it's sweeter than apple juice, so use a bit less.
What replaces wine for deglazing a pan?
To loosen the browned bits left in a pan after cooking meat, a mix of stock with a few drops of vinegar can be used instead of wine; poured into the hot pan, it lifts the flavourful bits the same way. Don't overdo the vinegar though, or the sauce can end up too sharply sour.
What replaces wine in desserts like tiramisu or fruit compotes?
In something like tiramisu, where a sweet liqueur or wine is called for, a mix of espresso with a few drops of vanilla extract works as a practical alcohol-free option. In fruit compotes, grape juice or pomegranate molasses largely covers the sweet-tart balance wine would have added.
Whichever alternative you choose, the complex aroma wine leaves behind as its alcohol cooks off can't be fully recreated; the grape juice and vinegar combination comes closest to matching its balance of acid and sweetness.
Is wine used in cooking only for the alcohol that burns off?
Contrary to a common assumption, not all of the alcohol in wine evaporates even after long cooking; in sauces that only simmer briefly, a noticeable amount of alcohol can remain. So if an alcohol-free dish is the goal, a fully alcohol-free option like the grape juice and vinegar mix above should be used rather than assuming a splash of wine simply cooks off. Once opened, wine starts to turn; kept tightly sealed in the fridge for cooking use, it stays good for about a week at most, after which its flavour sours noticeably and adds an unwanted sharpness to whatever it's cooked into, which is one more reason working with the alternatives above spares you from tracking an open bottle's shelf life.