Is Subway BBQ Sauce Halal If It Contains Bourbon Whiskey as a Flavor That Is Cooked Off?
Question
Subway changed their BBQ sauce ingredients and it lists “bourbon whisky.” Is it halal, given that it is added for flavor and is usually cooked away and evaporated, so that nothing remains?
Answer
Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain.
This issue needs careful precision, because many people use the word istihalah loosely, while the jurists differentiate between removal, dilution, transformation, and intentional addition of khamr.
1. The Shar‘i Context
Khamr and intoxicants are prohibited in themselves.
Allah says:
“O you who believe, indeed intoxicants, gambling, idols, and divining arrows are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork, so avoid it that you may be successful.”
Surat al Ma’idah 5:90
The Prophet said:
“Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is haram.”
And he said:
“Whatever intoxicates in large amounts, a small amount of it is also haram.”
These texts establish that the basis is prohibition of intoxicants, and that deliberate use is not taken lightly.
2. Is “Cooked Off” Automatically Istihalah
Istihalah is a true transformation where the substance becomes a different substance with a different ruling, like wine becoming vinegar through a real transformation.
Evaporation is not necessarily istihalah. It is often just reduction or partial removal. Also, cooking does not always remove all alcohol, and the consumer usually cannot verify the final remaining amount from the label alone.
So we must distinguish between two scenarios:
3. If Alcohol Fully Disappears With Certainty
If it is established with certainty that:
- the alcohol itself does not remain in the final product in any effective or detectable way
- it is no longer present as an intoxicating substance
- it is not consumed as khamr nor resembles drinking it
then a number of scholars allow the final product, treating it under the concept of disappearance of the prohibited substance and loss of its effective reality in the final mixture, especially when no intoxication is possible and no trace remains.
This is closer to the concept of istihlak (complete absorption or disappearance in a dominating mixture), not always strict istihalah.
4. If Any Amount Remains or It Is Uncertain
If:
- some alcohol remains, even in small amounts
- or it is not confirmed that it fully disappeared
then the default ruling remains that intentionally adding khamr as an ingredient is not permissible, and what is built on uncertainty should not be made halal by assumption.
Because the label explicitly states “bourbon whisky,” the default for the consumer is that this is a doubtful matter unless there is a reliable confirmation of zero remaining alcohol in the final product.
5. Relevant Usul Principles
اليقين لا يزول بالشك
Certainty is not removed by doubt.
If one is not sure the alcohol is fully gone, the original ruling of prohibition and avoidance is not overturned by assumption.
إذا زال الوصف زال الحكم
When the effective attribute is removed, the ruling connected to it is removed.
If the intoxicating reality truly no longer exists in the final product, then the ruling attached to intoxication does not apply in the same way.
ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرام
Whatever intoxicates in large amounts, a small amount of it is also prohibited.
If the intoxicant remains as an intoxicant in the mixture, it remains prohibited even if small.
Final Ruling
If bourbon whiskey is added and then truly disappears completely so that no alcohol remains in the final sauce in any meaningful or confirmed way, then there is a recognized scholarly basis to deem it permissible.
However, if there is no reliable confirmation that the alcohol fully disappears, or if any amount remains, then it is not permissible to consume it, and the safer ruling is to avoid it due to the clear mention of bourbon whiskey as an ingredient.
And Allah knows best.