Cardamom substitutes
Cardamom substitutes — 5 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Also called ground cardamom, green cardamom, cardamom pods, cardamom powder, elaichi, cardamon
Use Cinnamon + nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon + ¼ tsp nutmeg for every 1 tsp cardamom
Nothing tastes like cardamom, so the honest answer depends on how much of it the recipe uses. Where cardamom is one of several warm spices, use ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus ¼ tsp ground nutmeg per 1 tsp of cardamom. In a curry, a pilaf or chai, use ½ tsp garam masala instead, since it already contains real cardamom. In cardamom buns, cardamom coffee or anything with cardamom in its name, use half as much cardamom rather than a full measure of something else.
- Verdict —
- Tweak it
- The tweak —
- Mix the two into the sugar or flour before they meet any liquid, so neither clumps
- Best for —
- cakes, cookies and custards where cardamom is one spice among several
- Pantry —
- Likely in your cupboard
Checked 23 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
But first: what’s the cardamom doing?
Pick your caseHow much cardamom does the recipe use — a pinch alongside other spices, or a teaspoon or more with its name on the dish?
Cardamom is filling out a warm-spice chorus here, and a substitute will pass unnoticed by most people. Use ½ tsp cinnamon plus ¼ tsp nutmeg per 1 tsp of cardamom, or ½ tsp of pumpkin pie spice if you would rather use one jar.
Notes on cinnamon + nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp cinnamon + ¼ tsp nutmeg per 1 tsp cardamom
Use garam masala at ½ tsp per 1 tsp of cardamom. It contains real cardamom along with cumin, coriander, cinnamon and clove, which is exactly the company cardamom keeps in these dishes. Add it late, in the last five minutes, because its spices were toasted before grinding.
Notes on garam masala
½ tsp per tsp
There is no swap. Cardamom in these recipes is not a background warm spice, it is the flavour being sold, and cinnamon or allspice at the same amount produces a good bun that is simply a different bun. Use half as much cardamom as the recipe asks for and it will still taste like the dish.
Ground cardamom will work but it flavours everything at once and cannot be removed, so use about a quarter of what the pods would have given — roughly ¼ tsp of ground per 3 pods — and expect a slightly muddier, less clean flavour. Crush the pods lightly if you do have them; whole uncracked pods release very little.
Look at the amount, not the flavour. Under about ¼ tsp alongside other warm spices: ½ tsp cinnamon plus ¼ tsp nutmeg per teaspoon of cardamom will pass unnoticed. In a savoury Indian dish or chai: ½ tsp garam masala per teaspoon, added late, because it contains real cardamom. A teaspoon or more in a bake named after cardamom: use half as much real cardamom instead of a full measure of a substitute. And never reach for fennel or anise — they are liquorice, which is the opposite end of the aromatic scale.
Cardamom is a high, sharp top note — cool camphor and citrus that cuts through fat and sugar. It sits above cinnamon and clove rather than blending in, which is what makes it recognisable.
Aroma & flavor identityprimary
Cardamom's main aroma compounds are cool and eucalyptus-like rather than sweet-warm, which is why it registers through milk, butter and sugar in a way cinnamon does not, and why a bun made with cinnamon instead simply tastes like a cinnamon bun.
Every option, one card
Ranked · per 1 tsp cardamom| # | Substitute | Instead of 1 tsp cardamom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cinnamon + nutmegcakes, cookies and custards where cardamom is one spice among several | ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus ¼ tsp ground nutmegTweak it | Tweak it |
| 2 | Pumpkin pie spicewhen you want to open one jar rather than measure two spices | ½ tspYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 3 | Cinnamon + clovesmulled wine, mulled cider and spiced syrups | ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus 1/8 tsp ground clovesYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 4 | Garam masalacurries, biryani, pilaf and spiced braises | ½ tspYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 5 | Allspicewhen allspice is the only warm spice you own | ½ tsp ground allspiceYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| Not a swap | Fennel seeds | not a swap — use the cinnamon and nutmeg row above, or half as much real cardamomNot for this | Not for this |
Cinnamon + nutmeg
warm and sweet rather than cool and sharp
Three quarters of the volume and a warm, sweet direction instead of a cool, citrusy one: it fills cardamom's place in a spiced bake convincingly, without imitating it.
- Covers
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Amount
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus ¼ tsp ground nutmeg for 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Then
- mix the two into the sugar or flour before they meet any liquid, so neither clumps
- Best for
- cakes, cookies and custards where cardamom is one spice among several, when the recipe uses ¼ tsp or less of cardamom, poached and baked fruit
- Taste
- warm and sweet rather than cool and sharp. It tastes correct and it does not taste of cardamom
- Texture
- identical, all three are fine powders
- Look
- a slightly browner crumb, since cardamom is pale green-grey and cinnamon is red-brown
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free
- Use ¾ tsp of blend for every 1 tsp of cardamom, not a full teaspoon, because cinnamon is more assertive than cardamom by volume.
- If the recipe already lists cinnamon, add only the nutmeg and increase the existing cinnamon by half.
- Add ¼ tsp finely grated lemon or orange zest if you have it. That is the closest anyone can get to cardamom's citrus edge from a normal cupboard.
This is the standard advice for cardamom and it is worth being honest about what it does: it replaces cardamom's role in the recipe, not its flavour. Nobody will spot a gap; anyone who knows cardamom will notice the change.
Only where cardamom is a background spice. Do not use it in cardamom buns, cardamom coffee or chai, where the missing note is the whole point.
Pumpkin pie spice
cinnamon-led with a ginger bite, and clearly sweeter than cardamom
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove pre-mixed, so it is the one-jar version of the blend above with a little ginger bite added.
- Covers
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Amount
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice for 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Best for
- when you want to open one jar rather than measure two spices, muffins, quick breads and pancakes, autumn baking that already leans on cinnamon
- Texture
- identical, both are fine powders
- Look
- a browner batter and crumb
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- Use half the amount. The blend is cinnamon-dominant and cinnamon is stronger than cardamom spoon for spoon.
- Cut the recipe's own cinnamon, ginger and cloves in half if it lists them; the blend has all three.
Apple pie spice works identically here. Both are cinnamon blends, so both take the dish in the same direction — warmer and rounder than cardamom, never sharper.
Sweet baking only, and not in any recipe where cardamom is more than about ¼ tsp.
Cinnamon + cloves
deeper and more medicinal, with none of cardamom's cool lift
A darker, more pungent version of the cinnamon-and-nutmeg answer, which suits dishes that are already dark and sweet.
- Covers
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Amount
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus 1/8 tsp ground cloves for 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Then
- mix into the dry ingredients or the sugar; clove clumps badly in liquid
- Best for
- mulled wine, mulled cider and spiced syrups, gingerbread, fruit cake and mincemeat, poached pears, plums and dried fruit
- Texture
- identical as powders, though cloves clump if tipped straight into liquid
- Look
- noticeably darker than the same recipe made with cardamom
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- An eighth of a teaspoon of cloves, no more. Cloves at ¼ tsp will dominate a whole cake.
- Add a strip of orange peel to the pot if it is a drink or a syrup, to stand in for cardamom's citrus.
Use this when the dish is dark — molasses, dried fruit, red wine — and the cinnamon-and-nutmeg blend when it is pale.
An eighth of a teaspoon of cloves per teaspoon of cardamom, and not in delicate custards, ice creams or milk drinks, where clove reads as medicine.
Garam masala
savoury and earthy underneath the warmth
The only common blend that actually contains cardamom, which makes it the best answer for savoury dishes and the worst for a Scandinavian bun.
- Covers
- Aroma & flavor identity
- Amount
- ½ tsp garam masala for 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Then
- stir it in during the last 5 minutes of cooking, off the boil
- Best for
- curries, biryani, pilaf and spiced braises, masala chai and spiced milk drinks, when the dish already contains cumin and coriander
- Taste
- savoury and earthy underneath the warmth, from the cumin and coriander in the blend
- Texture
- identical, both are fine powders
- Look
- browner and darker; obvious in a pale rice dish or a milky chai
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
- Use half a teaspoon per teaspoon of cardamom, because you are also adding cumin, coriander, clove and pepper.
- Leave out any cinnamon or cloves the recipe lists separately.
- Add it late. Garam masala is a finishing blend and long simmering flattens it.
Cardamom is one of garam masala's defining spices, so this is the one swap on the page that puts back some of the real thing rather than approximating it.
Savoury dishes and chai only. In a cake or a bun the cumin is immediately identifiable and reads as a mistake.
Allspice
clove-heavy and warm
One jar that tastes of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg together — warm and heavy where cardamom is cool and high, so it trades the top note for a bass note.
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- ½ tsp ground allspice for 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Best for
- when allspice is the only warm spice you own, dark fruit cakes and meat dishes, spiced drinks where a clove note is acceptable
- Taste
- clove-heavy and warm; the citrus-camphor lift cardamom gave the dish is completely absent
- Texture
- identical, both are fine powders
- Look
- visible brown specks in a pale batter, and a darker crumb
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- Use half the amount. Allspice's clove content makes it much stronger than cardamom at the same volume.
- If the recipe is pale — a custard, a milk pudding, a plain cake — expect to see brown flecks that were not in the photograph.
Allspice and cardamom appear together in some Middle Eastern blends, so they are compatible. They are not similar, and that distinction is the whole point of this row.
Half the amount, and only where cardamom was a background spice. An earlier version of this page listed allspice at 1:1, which swaps a high, bright note for a heavy clove one at double the strength.
Fennel seeds
aniseed
Sweet and aromatic in the way liquorice is sweet and aromatic, which is a different axis from cardamom's cool citrus entirely.
- Misses
- Aroma & flavor identity — not covered
- Amount
- Nothing — use the cinnamon and nutmeg row above, or half as much real cardamomper 1 tsp ground cardamom
- Best for
- nothing that calls for cardamom, listed only because it is often recommended, and it should not be
- Taste
- aniseed. In cardamom buns or chai the result tastes of liquorice, which is not a flavour anyone was expecting
- Texture
- coarser than ground cardamom unless very finely ground
- Look
- greenish-grey flecks, similar to cardamom, which is part of why the swap gets recommended
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- If you have already added it to a bun dough, add ½ tsp of cinnamon and the zest of half an orange to give the liquorice something to sit with.
Both spices are described as sweet and aromatic on the jar, and that is where the resemblance ends: cardamom is camphor and citrus, fennel is anise. An earlier version of this page called them similar at 1:1.
Do not use fennel for cardamom at any amount.
Don’t swap it here
4 cases- Cardamom buns, kardemummabullar, cardamom coffee or cardamom ice cream — anything with cardamom in the name, or any recipe using a teaspoon or more.Use half as much cardamom as the recipe asks for; half is still recognisably the dish. Or make a cinnamon version deliberately and call it that.
- Substituting fennel seed, anise or star anise.Use ½ tsp cinnamon plus ¼ tsp nutmeg per teaspoon of cardamom, plus a little citrus zest if you have it.
- Swapping black cardamom for green cardamom, or the reverse.Green cardamom for sweets, chai and Scandinavian baking; black cardamom for savoury braises, biryani and dals. If you have only black and the recipe wants green, use a quarter of the amount and expect smoke.
- Doubling the cardamom because your jar smells weak.Buy whole green pods and grind the seeds yourself. Freshly ground cardamom from an old bag of pods is stronger than the newest jar of powder.
Safety
1 note- Diet
Cardamom is a seed pod, not a nut, despite being sold near the nuts and used in nut-heavy baking. Ground cardamom sold in bulk bins can pick up traces of other products, so buy sealed jars or pods if you are cooking for a serious nut allergy.
If it went wrong
3 fixes- The dish tastes soapy or medicinal, like eucalyptus.Too much cardamom, or ground cardamom used where whole pods were meant, so all of it went into the food at once.Dilute it. More milk and cream in a custard, more dough or batter if it is not yet baked, more rice or stock in a savoury dish. Sugar and fat both blunt the note. You cannot remove it.
- The buns taste of nothing much, though you used the full amount.An old jar of ground cardamom. Its aroma compounds are volatile and go within months.Grind the seeds from about 12 green pods per teaspoon the recipe needs. If you are already mid-bake, brush the finished buns with butter and scatter freshly ground cardamom mixed with sugar over the top.
- Someone bit into a whole pod at the table.Whole pods were added to a curry or pilaf and not removed.Nothing to fix in the pot, but count the pods in as you cook so you can count them out, or tie them in a square of muslin. Tell people whole spices are in the dish; a bitten pod is unpleasant rather than harmful.
Measure it
6 measures- Pods to groundabout 12 whole green pods = 1 tsp ground cardamomCrack the pods, discard the papery husks and grind only the little black seeds. This site uses one figure for this conversion; other sources quote anywhere from 10 to 20 pods, because pod size varies.
- 1 tsp ground cardamomabout 2 gWeigh it if you are baking with cardamom by the tablespoon, as Scandinavian sweet doughs do.
- Green and black cardamomtwo different spicesGreen is floral and citrusy and belongs in sweets and chai. Black is fire-dried, smoky and resinous, and belongs in savoury braises. They are not interchangeable.
- Flavour ceilingabout 1 tsp in a dish for fourPast this, cardamom tastes soapy and medicinal rather than aromatic. This is a taste limit, not a safety one.
- How fast it fadesmonths once ground, years in the podCardamom's aroma is unusually volatile, so a jar of ground cardamom is often the reason a recipe tastes of nothing. Buy pods.
- Whole pods in a pot3 pods ≈ ¼ tsp groundCrush pods lightly before adding them — whole uncracked pods release very little. Ground cardamom cannot be fished back out, so use less of it.
Questions
6 questionsWhat is the best substitute for cardamom?
For sweet baking where cardamom is one spice among several: ½ tsp ground cinnamon plus ¼ tsp ground nutmeg per 1 tsp of cardamom, and ¼ tsp of lemon or orange zest if you have it, which is the closest a normal cupboard gets to cardamom's citrus edge. For curries, pilaf and chai: ½ tsp garam masala per 1 tsp of cardamom, added in the last five minutes, because garam masala contains real cardamom.
Can I use cardamom pods instead of ground cardamom?
Yes, and it will taste much better. Crack the pods, discard the husks and grind the small black seeds. Reckon on about 12 green pods per teaspoon of ground cardamom, although pod size varies enough that this is an approximation rather than a rule.
What is the difference between green and black cardamom?
They are different spices with the same family name. Green cardamom is bright, floral and citrusy, and it is what recipes mean when they say cardamom — chai, Scandinavian buns, custards, sweets. Black cardamom is dried over open fire, so it is smoky, resinous and much larger. Black cardamom belongs in savoury braises, biryani and dals, and in a rice pudding it tastes like a campfire.
Is there anything that actually tastes like cardamom?
No, and it is more useful to say so than to pretend otherwise. Cardamom's dominant aroma compounds are cool and eucalyptus-like, which is not a direction any other common spice goes in. The blends on this page replace cardamom's job in the recipe — warm aromatic complexity — rather than its flavour. Where the flavour is the point, use half as much real cardamom instead.
Can I use fennel seeds instead of cardamom?
No. Fennel is in the anise family and tastes of liquorice; cardamom is camphor and citrus. Both get described as sweet and aromatic on the jar, which is how this swap gets recommended, and it is why cardamom buns made with fennel taste of liquorice.
What makes cardamom so expensive?
The pods are picked by hand, several times over a season, as they ripen individually, which makes it one of the most labour-intensive spices to harvest and one of the most expensive by weight. It is also why a recipe using a tablespoon of it is a deliberate choice rather than an accident, and why substituting it in those recipes changes what you are making.
Tips for substituting cardamom
6 tips- Buy whole green pods rather than ground cardamom. Ground cardamom loses its aroma within months, and freshly ground seeds from an old bag of pods will still be stronger than a new jar of powder.
- Crack the pods, tip out the small black seeds and grind only those. The papery husk has almost no flavour and makes the powder fibrous.
- About 12 green pods gives 1 tsp of ground cardamom, which means a recipe asking for 1 tbsp needs roughly three dozen pods — worth knowing before you start.
- Green and black cardamom are different spices. Green is bright, floral and citrusy for sweets and chai; black is fire-dried and smoky for braises and biryani. Do not swap one for the other.
- Cardamom sits above other spices rather than blending in, which is why it is used with cinnamon and cloves rather than instead of them, and why nothing else in the cupboard imitates it.
- Past about 1 tsp in a dish for four, cardamom stops being aromatic and starts tasting soapy. If your jar seems weak, replace it rather than doubling the quantity.