Short answer
Yes. Rice wine vinegar (rice vinegar) is vinegar: the alcohol made in the first stage has been turned into acid, so it does not intoxicate and is halal in the Hanafi school. Do not confuse it with rice wine, such as mirin, sake or Shaoxing wine, which is an alcoholic drink and not halal.
Halal. In the Hanafi school any intoxicating liquid that has fully turned into vinegar becomes pure and lawful, whether it turned by itself or was made to turn, because its nature has changed (istihala).
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Wine that turns into vinegar by itself becomes pure; if something is put into it to make it turn, the vinegar stays impure.
- Hanbali
- Like the Shafi'is, vinegar is lawful when the wine turned by itself, not when it was deliberately made to turn.
Explanation
All vinegar is made in two steps. First, sugars from fruit or grain ferment into alcohol. Then bacteria turn that alcohol into acetic acid. Rice vinegar starts with fermented rice, so its first stage is a kind of rice wine, which is why it is often sold as rice wine vinegar. The finished product is sour, not alcoholic, and cannot intoxicate.
The Hanafi school treats this as a clear case of transformation: once the liquid has fully become vinegar, it is a new, pure substance. The Prophet ﷺ praised vinegar as a good thing to eat with bread. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools add a condition about how the change happened, which is discussed in is balsamic vinegar halal.
In an Asian grocery, the names are easy to mix up:
- Rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar: halal.
- Seasoned rice vinegar (for sushi rice): vinegar with sugar and salt, usually halal, but some brands add mirin or alcohol, so read the label.
- Black vinegar (Chinkiang): a vinegar, halal unless alcohol is added.
- Mirin, sake, cooking sake and Shaoxing wine: alcoholic drinks used for cooking, not halal.
- Mirin-style seasoning: often still contains alcohol; check, or use a halal-certified version.
For the dishes these go into, see is sushi halal and soy sauce and gochujang.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nahl 16:67
وَمِن ثَمَرَٰتِ ٱلنَّخِيلِ وَٱلْأَعْنَٰبِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْهُ سَكَرًۭا وَرِزْقًا حَسَنًا ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَةًۭ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يَعْقِلُونَ ﴿٦٧﴾
And from the fruits of the palm trees and grapevines you take intoxicant and good provision. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who reason.
The same source can give an intoxicant or a good food; the ruling follows what it has become.
Sahih Muslim 2051
Sahih... نعم الأدم الخل ...
"What an excellent condiment vinegar is."
Vinegar is a praised, lawful food.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Ashriba. Wine that turns into vinegar becomes lawful, whether it turned by itself or by treatment.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, Bab al-Anjas, on transformation. A substance that fully changes its nature takes a new ruling.
- Minhaj al-Talibin, Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on impurities. Wine becomes pure when it turns into vinegar without anything put into it.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.