You technically can drink cooking wine, but it’s not a good idea, and it’s not made to be consumed like regular wine.

Can You Drink Cooking Wine?

Cooking wine is real wine with added salt and preservatives, made specifically for recipes, not sipping.

It usually has a higher alcohol content (around 16–17% ABV), similar to or stronger than many table wines.

Is It Safe?

In small tastes (like a sip while cooking), it’s generally not poisonous or immediately dangerous for a healthy adult.

However, drinking it like regular wine can be harmful because of both the alcohol and the very high sodium and additive content.

Health Risks If You Drink It

  • High alcohol : Around 16–17% ABV can absolutely get you drunk and carries all usual alcohol risks (intoxication, alcohol poisoning, long‑term liver damage if misused).
  • Extreme sodium : Some cooking wines/sherries can contain thousands of milligrams of sodium per bottle, well above daily recommended intake and stressful for the heart and blood pressure.
  • Preservatives/additives : Often include things like potassium sorbate or metabisulfite, which are fine in small culinary amounts but not meant for beverage‑level consumption.

If someone is using cooking wine as a cheap way to drink alcohol (which addiction centers explicitly warn about), that can be a sign of alcohol‑use problems and is considered risky behavior.

Taste And Practical Reasons Not To

Most people find cooking wine very salty, flat, and unpleasant to drink; it’s designed to season food, not to taste balanced in a glass.

Chefs and wine writers generally recommend cooking with a regular, inexpensive drinking wine instead, so you can cook with it and enjoy a glass if you want.

So What Should You Do?

  • For recipes:
    • Use regular drinking wine you’d be okay tasting, even if it’s a cheap bottle.
  • For drinking:
    • Choose normal table wine, beer, or non‑alcoholic options; skip cooking wine completely.
  • If alcohol is a concern (pregnancy, medical reasons, recovery, etc.):
    • Avoid drinking wine entirely and be cautious with dishes that use wine, though long cooking greatly reduces alcohol content in food.

TL;DR: Can you drink cooking wine? Physically yes, but it tastes bad, has extra salt and additives, and can be more harmful than regular wine if you drink much of it—so it’s better to use it only in food and not as a beverage.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.