What Can I Substitute for Almond Meal?

You're making friands or financiers, where almond meal is most of the dry mix and gives the damp, close crumb.

• blanched almonds, ground at home — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal
• hazelnut meal — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal
• desiccated coconut, blitzed fine — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

Friands rely on the nut oil for richness and moisture as much as on the meal for bulk, so you need another high-fat meal; home-ground almonds cover every role, hazelnut meal matches the fat but tastes stronger, and blitzed coconut keeps them moist but makes a chewier, coconut-flavoured friand that works best with raspberry or lime.

You're baking a flourless cake, such as a whole-orange and almond cake or a dense chocolate cake, and almond meal is the only flour.

• blanched almonds, ground at home — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal
• hazelnut meal — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal
• ground walnuts — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

With no wheat flour to fall back on, the substitute has to carry bulk, fat and moisture on its own, so only another nut meal swaps by weight; hazelnut is the natural partner for chocolate, while walnut holds the cake together but brings a bitter, tannic edge that fights orange.

You're making muffins, a butter cake or a crumble topping where almond meal is only a small part of the dry mix alongside wheat flour.

• plain flour — 70 g for every 100 g almond meal
• ground walnuts — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

When the butter and wheat flour already provide most of the structure and richness, losing the almond fat matters less, so plain flour at a reduced weight fills the bulk role with only a slightly drier, plainer crumb; ground walnuts keep the nutty richness if you have them.

You're baking for a nut-free lunchbox or a guest who can't eat nuts, and the recipe uses almond meal for most of the flour.

• ground sunflower seeds — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

Sunflower seeds are about half fat like almonds, so they cover bulk, richness and moisture without nuts, but you must cut the raising agent by about a third or add lemon juice, or the crumb turns green.

You're beating almond meal with butter, sugar and eggs to make frangipane for a tart or galette.

• blanched almonds, ground at home — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal
• hazelnut meal — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

Frangipane needs a fatty nut meal to set into a soft, rich filling, so home-ground almonds give the classic result and hazelnut meal gives a darker, roasted frangipane that suits pear, chocolate or plum.

You're making amaretti, a Bakewell tart or almond crescents, where the taste of almond is what the recipe is about.

• blanched almonds, ground at home — 100 g for every 100 g almond meal

Nothing really replaces it here.

Other meals can copy the bulk and fat but not the sweet almond flavour, so anything other than almonds makes a different biscuit or tart; grind whole almonds yourself or choose another recipe.

The cake made with ground sunflower seeds has green streaks or a green tinge inside.

Why: A compound in sunflower seeds reacts with alkaline bicarb soda or baking powder and turns green as the cake cools.

Can't be fixed — next time: The colour can't be reversed, though the cake is still fine to eat; next time cut the raising agent by about a third or add a squeeze of lemon juice to the batter.

The almonds you were grinding at home have turned clumpy or into an oily paste.

Why: Processing too long warms the nuts and releases their oil, which binds the meal into clumps and then butter.

Fix: If it's just clumpy, chill it for 10 minutes, add a spoonful of the recipe's sugar, pulse once or twice and press it through a sieve; if it's a smooth paste, keep it as almond butter and grind a fresh batch in short bursts with sugar.

The cake made with plain flour instead of almond meal is dry, crumbly and stale by the next day.

Why: Plain flour has almost no fat, so the richness and moisture the almond oil gave are gone.

Fix: Brush the warm cake with a sugar syrup and serve it with cream or yoghurt; next time add 20 ml of neutral oil or melted butter for every 70 g of plain flour, which is one Australian tablespoon but one and a third UK, NZ, US or Canadian tablespoons.

The cake made with coconut flour in place of almond meal is dry, dense and sandy.

Why: Coconut flour absorbs several times more liquid than almond meal and has little fat, so the batter didn't have enough eggs or liquid.

Can't be fixed — next time: The baked cake can't be rescued beyond soaking it in syrup or turning it into a trifle base; next time use blitzed desiccated coconut instead, or choose a recipe written for coconut flour.

Is almond meal the same as almond flour?

In Australia they are usually the same product, finely ground blanched almonds sold under different names. In the US and Canada, almond flour normally means fine blanched almonds while almond meal can mean a coarser, skin-on grind, so check the packet if a recipe is particular about colour or fineness.

Can I use almond meal instead of plain flour?

Not one for one, because almond meal has no gluten and is about half fat, so it gives a softer, denser and moister crumb than wheat flour. You can swap a quarter to a third of the plain flour in a cake or muffin recipe for almond meal with good results, but replacing all of it needs a recipe written for almond meal with enough eggs to hold it together.

How many grams is a cup of almond meal?

A level 250 ml Australian cup of almond meal weighs about 100 g, and a 240 ml US cup weighs about 96 g. It is much lighter than plain flour, so weigh it when converting recipes rather than measuring by the cup.

Is almond meal gluten-free?

Yes, almonds contain no gluten, so plain almond meal is gluten-free. If you are baking for someone with coeliac disease, check the packet for a may-contain warning, because some almond meal is packed in places that also handle wheat.

Can I leave almond meal out of a recipe?

You can only leave it out if it is a small part of the dry mix, and even then you should replace it with about 70 g of plain flour for every 100 g of almond meal to keep the batter's consistency. In friands, flourless cakes and frangipane the almond meal is the main dry ingredient, so leaving it out means the recipe will not work.

Should almond meal be stored in the fridge?

Yes, keeping an opened packet in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer is the safest choice. The high oil content means it can turn rancid at room temperature, which gives a stale, bitter, paint-like smell and taste.