Couscous substitutes

Cracked parboiled wheat in the same small grade, and it rehydrates in a bowl exactly like couscous does.

Best for

a bed for tagine or any saucy stew, salads in place of couscous, stuffing vegetables

Pour over an equal volume of boiling salted stock, cover, leave ten to fifteen minutes and fork it apart. It is wheatier and nuttier, a shade browner and slightly chewier, and in a broth-heavy tagine that extra chew is arguably an improvement rather than a compromise. Use the fine or medium grade; coarse bulgur needs simmering.

Small round seeds that cook to a springy pop, and the obvious gluten-free choice.

Best for

gluten-free and higher-protein versions, grain salads, serving under braises and roast vegetables

Rinse it well first or the natural saponins taste soapy and bitter. Cook it properly, roughly one part quinoa to one and three quarter parts liquid, simmered fifteen minutes then rested five. The result is grassier, springier and wetter than couscous, and it does not fluff into the same light pile.

Closest in flavour of anything on this list, because couscous is itself a semolina pasta.

Best for

salads and cold sides, soaking up a rich sauce, feeding children who dislike anything unfamiliar

Boil in well salted water and drain. Orzo, fregola, acini di pepe and risoni all work. They are bigger and chewier than couscous, and they glue together as they cool, so toss with a little olive oil straight out of the colander.

Same family, different animal: big toasted wheat beads that are boiled rather than steamed.

Best for

spooning under a stew where you want body, warm salads, when the box in your cupboard says couscous but the beads are large

Distinctly chewy and slightly slippery, with a toasted flavour, and it takes eight to ten minutes of boiling instead of five minutes off the heat. Good food, but it will not give you the fine fluffy bed that a Moroccan recipe is asking for, and the cooking method is not interchangeable.

The universal starch base, and almost certainly already in your cupboard.

Best for

serving under a tagine or a stew, feeding a crowd cheaply, gluten-free cooking

It works as a plate of starch and it tastes fine. What it does not do is drink up sauce the way couscous does, so the broth pools on the plate instead of being absorbed. Long-grain rice is closer in feel; short-grain is stickier and less suitable.

Tiny yellow seeds that cook up light and fluffy, and the closest gluten-free match in appearance.

Best for

gluten-free versions of couscous salads, serving under vegetable stews, when quinoa's grassiness is unwelcome

Use about two and a half parts liquid to one part millet, simmer twenty minutes and rest. Toasting it dry in the pan first makes a real difference to the flavour. It is milder and sweeter than quinoa and closer to couscous in colour, though softer and more prone to going porridgey if overcooked.

The low-carb option, and a compromise rather than a copy.

Best for

low-carb and keto versions, grain-free salads, adding vegetables rather than starch

Sautee it in a dry hot pan for about five minutes first to drive off water, or the dish turns soupy. It tastes of cauliflower, never fluffs, and it will not absorb a sauce, so nobody will mistake it for couscous. Season it hard and it makes a decent side in its own right.