Chestnut puree substitutes

Jarred, canned or vacuum-packed peeled cooked chestnuts, simmered and blended.

Best for

Mont Blanc, buche de Noel, chestnut stuffing, chestnut soup, tart fillings

This is not really a substitute, it is the thing itself, and it is the only option that gives real chestnut flavour. Simmer about 5 oz (150 g) peeled cooked chestnuts in milk or water to cover for fifteen minutes until they fall apart, then blend smooth. For the sweetened version, add about 5 tbsp (65 g) sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla per cup of puree and warm until dissolved. Vacuum-packed chestnuts are sold year-round in most supermarkets even where chestnut puree is not.

Roasted or boiled sweet potato mashed smooth and sweetened.

Best for

buche de Noel filling, tart fillings, piped decoration, stuffing

The best non-chestnut option for anything that needs to hold a shape, because sweet potato has the same dry, starchy body rather than a watery one. Roast rather than boil so it does not take on extra moisture. It is sweeter than chestnut and slightly more fibrous, and the colour is distinctly orange, so a Mont Blanc made with it looks wrong even if it pipes beautifully. A tablespoon of rum and a pinch of salt narrows the flavour gap noticeably.

Drained canned white beans blended completely smooth and sweetened.

Best for

layered desserts, tart fillings, lower-sugar versions, buche de Noel

Sounds unlikely and works remarkably well, which is why it turns up in lower-sugar dessert recipes. The texture match is the best of any substitute here, thick, smooth and mildly starchy in exactly the right way. Flavour is where it falls short: it is bland with a faint beany note. Blend with a tablespoon of browned butter or a splash of dark rum and it becomes hard to identify in a filling. Blend far longer than feels necessary to eliminate any graininess.

Plain canned pumpkin, not pie filling, sweetened and flavoured.

Best for

tart fillings, soups, mousses, cake fillings

The most commonly suggested swap and the weakest of the three vegetable options. It is noticeably wetter, so a filling made with it is looser and a piped Mont Blanc slumps. Cook it in a dry pan for five minutes to drive off moisture, or stiffen it with a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar. The flavour is clearly vegetal and pumpkin-forward and the colour is bright orange. Good in a soup, adequate in a mousse, poor for anything piped.

Ground almond and sugar paste loosened with a little cream or milk.

Best for

buche de Noel, cake fillings, layered pastries

Structurally an excellent match, since it is a sweet, thick nut paste that behaves the way chestnut cream does in a rolled cake. It is much sweeter and unmistakably almond, so cut other sugar in the recipe. Do not pretend it tastes of chestnut; treat it as a deliberate change of flavour that happens to work in the same dessert.

Ground dried chestnuts cooked with liquid until thick.

Best for

tart fillings, soups, cake fillings, puddings

Genuinely chestnut-flavoured, which no vegetable puree is, and worth seeking out in Italian delis where it is sold for castagnaccio. Whisk the flour into cold milk, bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes, stirring, then sweeten. The result is grainier and the chestnut flavour is stronger and slightly smokier than fresh puree, so use a little less than the recipe calls for.