10+ Potato Flour Substitutes You Can Use & Get The Same Results
A great gravy-maker. A delicious soup or sauce thickener. A fabulous way to amp up your burger buns. Potato flour can do all these and more.
But fret not! If you just realized you’re all out of this flour, there are ways not to give up on your recipe. Discover our versatile suggestions for potato flour substitutes! There’s one for each dish!
Potato flour brings a smooth, rich, creamy, and fine texture. It also packs plenty of flavors. It’s sweet, earthy, deep, and rich. And while potato flour is all that, there are ways to mimic it in your dishes. Here is what to use instead of potato flour:
1. Potato flakes: The overall alternative to potato flour
A good replacement for potato flour: the flakes. So, if you know you’re a big fan of potato flour, and you often cook with it, maybe keep some flakes around.
They can work in any recipe that calls for potato flour. Just make sure to choose the unseasoned ones so you don’t affect the aroma of your final dish. You can use them as they are or crush them. They will still do their job as binders and thickening agents in sauces, bread, and gravies.
A 1:1 ratio is effective for this swap.
2. What can you replace potato flour with for frying or Chinese food? Cornstarch
Yes, cornstarch is that versatile! While you may not have potato flour at hand at all times, the odds of having cornstarch are rather high. So if you’ve got it, use it.
It won’t be the best in bread and baked goods, but it can be a fine potato flour alternative for frying and thickening sauces or gravies.
Cornstarch won’t make your food richer in flavor, but it will make the texture and consistency smooth and fine. It’s especially suitable for cornbread and tortillas, but it will also work for pancakes, waffles, cookies, and any recipe that calls for potato flour.
3. Is potato flour the same as potato starch?
Short answer: No. Long answer: Starch is left out after crushed potatoes are turned into powder. While the flour is aromatic, flavorful, and filled with nutrients, the starch is quite flavorless.
It does bring many of the benefits you would seek in potato flour. Potato starch will keep baked goods moist, soft, fluffy, absorbing, and retaining liquid. Also, starch can be used to add a good crust to fried foods. It will also make sauces and gravies richer, creamier, and thicker.
FYI, cornstarch can also be used in a pinch to replace potato flour. Just remember, you’ll get the “technical” benefits, but you’ll lack in “artistic impression”. A 1:1 ratio will do with both types of starch.
4. Use mashed potato as a substitute for potato flour
A natural, though risky sub for potato flour is mashed potato. Adding mashed potato into sauces and gravies will do the job. If you want to incorporate it into baked goods and dough, it can get tricky.
Boiled potatoes can absorb a lot of water, ruining a dough. Baked potatoes can be too dry. There’s also the risk of obtaining a way too sticky dough if you add mashed taters. You can still, however, add the mash instead of the powder.
Make sure to add about ¾ cup of unseasoned mashed potato for every ¼ cup of potato flour the recipe calls for, and maybe make smaller pieces of bread or rolls so that your baked goods don’t collapse.
Another extra tip when adding mashed potato instead of potato flour is to reduce all other sources of moisture by 50%. Extra trick: keep that water you boiled your taters into and add it to your dough, gravy, or sauce. That water is starchy and sweet and packs plenty of flavors.
5. All-purpose flour is an excellent option for bread and baked goods
So maybe it won’t have the same earthy flavor and the same creaminess, but all-purpose is one of the best potato flour substitutes. You can consider this one an excellent substitute for potato flour in bread, especially.
But keep in mind that the dough will be less moist. Just make sure to adjust the amount since potato flour sucks in more liquid than all-purpose. Also, remember that all-purpose flour will create a crispier crust on your baked goods. Go with less than a 1:1 ratio and expect a blander loaf, just like you should expect a thicker, more sticky, and more complex sauce.
6. Tapioca starch can be used in potato flour recipes as a thickening agent
Just like potato starch, tapioca starch is a suitable potato flour replacement. While flavorless, this starch can be added as a thickener for gravy and sauces and as a binder in bread, baked goods, burgers, and meatballs.
And let’s not forget that one great quality that tapioca flour has: It’s easy to digest and doesn’t create bloating like other starchy or glutinous ingredients do. In terms of quantity, a 1:1 ratio is the way to go here.
7. Arrowroot powder can be a suitable variant for gravy or pie fillings
Here’s a gluten-free potato flour substitute that will not disappoint in terms of versatility. Arrowroot flour contains plenty of starch and will provide the same qualities as potato flour.
The one detail to keep in mind if swapping them: Arrowroot powder is milder and subtler, when it comes to taste. It won’t overpower your dish. Nor will it create a spectacular final result, but it will work.
Extra tip: arrowroot, like all the starches we mentioned above, can also be added to puddings and dessert creams since their fine grain will not ruin the texture but actually make it smoother and creamier. Start with ¼ part of arrowroot for every amount of potato flour the recipe mentions and go up from there.
8. Rice flour is a perfect substitute for potato flour in cake
Rice flour is a great alternative to potato flour and can be used in any recipe that calls for the latter.
It will thicken and bind sauces, and create flavorsome baked goods that hold their shape. Yes, even cookies! Another tip: it’s gluten-free, it’s accessible, and it’s not overpowering. Use it in a 1:1 ratio.
9. Coconut flour is an aromatic option!
While it’s not the first ingredient you’d think of to replace potato flour, coconut flour makes a good choice. It can be used to bind and thicken, and to create a good, fluffy, aromatic dough.
Extra tip: coconut flour won’t absorb as much liquid as starchy potato flour, so you might want to consider adjusting the water content in your recipe. As far as the amount you should use, go for a 1:1 ratio.
10. How to substitute potato flour for gluten-free dishes? Quinoa flour is the way!
Another base for gluten-free bread and baked goods. Another great way to thicken your sauces with no gluten. Quinoa flour will also bring a nice and aromatic flavor. It will not be the same as potato flour, but it will enrich your dish, nonetheless. Extra health tip: quinoa flour contains a lot of protein too! In terms of quantity, you’d have to use about 1 part quinoa flour for every 3 parts of potato flour that the recipe asks for.
Potato flour is known for attracting and holding moisture. It’s also light, and it will not make your dish heavy. It creates a smooth, soft dough, and makes baked goods fluffy, aerated, not dry and filled with flavor and taste. Potato flour richens the aroma of dishes, while its fine grain creates a luscious, smooth texture for bread, pizza, cookies, and also liquid-based foods.
You wouldn’t think you could ever replace it, right? But here you have it, and there are many more ingredients that work. Some other alternatives you could try are oat flour, almond flour, mochi flour, water chestnut flour, or ground matzo. These options will add some extra nutty, earthy, smoky flavors to your dishes, and will bring the same beneficial properties of potato flour. They also make excellent potato flour substitutes, so go right ahead!
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