Gianduja substitute

Best substitute

Melted Chocolate Blended With Hazelnut Butter

2 parts chocolate to 1 part hazelnut butter by weight, used 1:1

Best for ganache

Close match

This is essentially the recipe for gianduja. Melt milk or dark chocolate gently, stir in smooth unsweetened hazelnut butter until glossy, and add a spoonful of powdered sugar if you want it sweeter.

Other gianduja substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Chocolate Blended With Praline Paste
Close match
2 parts chocolate to 1 part praline paste, used 1:1
The same approach but with caramelized hazelnuts instead of plain roasted ones, so you gain a toffee note on top of the hazelnut.
What changes
Widely used in professional kitchens.
Best for
entremets, bonbon fillings, ganache, mousse, layered cakes
Sweeter than a hazelnut butter version because praline paste is roughly half sugar, so reduce added sugar elsewhere. Arguably a richer, more interesting result than shop-bought gianduja.
3Milk Chocolate Alone
Different taste
Use the same amount
Behaves identically in every technical sense: it melts, tempers, sets and thickens a ganache just as gianduja does, because the cocoa butter is the working ingredient.
What changes
Best for
ganache, molding, coatings, baking, mousse
The loss is entirely in flavor. The filling simply tastes like milk chocolate, with none of the roasted hazelnut perfume that is the whole point of gianduja. Stirring in a quarter cup of finely ground toasted hazelnuts per cup of chocolate brings back some aroma at the cost of a slightly gritty texture.
4Nutella Blended With Melted Chocolate
Close match
Equal parts Nutella and melted chocolate, used 1:1 for the gianduja
The best supermarket-only answer.
What changes
The chocolate supplies the cocoa butter that lets the mixture set, and the Nutella supplies hazelnut and sweetness.
Best for
ganache, cake fillings, bonbon fillings, truffles, spreads
Considerably sweeter than real gianduja, so cut sugar elsewhere. It sets softer than a proper gianduja but firmly enough to slice a truffle or fill a shell, which straight Nutella cannot manage.
5Nutella or Another Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Alone
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, soft applications only
Works where the mixture is meant to stay soft: a swirl through a cake, a crepe filling, a ganache that already contains cream, a soft truffle centre.
What changes
Best for
cake swirls, crepe fillings, soft ganache, buttercream, milkshakes
It will not set, ever, because it is built on palm oil and sugar rather than cocoa butter. Anything molded, dipped, sliced or expected to hold a shape at room temperature will fail. It is also far sweeter and much lighter on hazelnut, so reduce the recipe's sugar noticeably.
6Almond Gianduja or Chocolate Blended With Almond Butter
Different taste
Use the same amount
Same construction with almonds in place of hazelnuts.
What changes
Sets and behaves exactly the same way.
Best for
ganache, bonbons, fillings, spreads
Cleaner and slightly sweeter than hazelnut, closer to a chocolate marzipan in character, without hazelnut's distinctive musky perfume. A perfectly respectable confection, just not gianduja.

What is Gianduja?

Gianduja is an Italian confection of real chocolate blended with a large proportion of finely ground roasted hazelnuts, sold as firm bars and blocks or as the soft molded ingots called giandujotti, and it melts and sets like chocolate while tasting far nuttier and turning much softer on the tongue.

Cooking tips

Gianduja is softer than plain chocolate because of all the liquid hazelnut oil in it, so a ganache made with it needs less cream. Cut the cream in your recipe by roughly a quarter or the ganache will not set firmly enough to pipe or slice.
Warm it gently and never above about 40C or 105F. Nut oils make gianduja far more prone to seizing and graining than plain chocolate, and once it has gone grainy you cannot bring it back smooth.
Do not try to temper it like plain chocolate. The nut fat interferes with cocoa butter crystallization, so for molded giandujotti the practical method is to melt, cool to a thick paste while stirring, pipe or mold it, and chill to set rather than chasing a temper.
Store it cool, airtight and away from anything aromatic. Hazelnut oil picks up fridge smells with enthusiasm and goes rancid faster than cocoa butter, so a bar left open in the fridge will taste of last night's dinner.
If a recipe calls for gianduja by weight and you are building your own from chocolate and nut butter, weigh rather than measure by volume. Nut butter is much denser than melted chocolate and eyeballing it throws the set off.

Frequently asked questions

Is gianduja the same as Nutella?

No, though they are cousins. Gianduja is real chocolate blended with a high proportion of ground roasted hazelnuts, traditionally around a third hazelnut, so it contains cocoa butter and sets firm at room temperature. Nutella is a spread built on sugar and palm oil with cocoa powder and a much smaller amount of hazelnut, so it is far sweeter and stays soft forever. In a recipe, the difference that matters is whether the mixture needs to set.

Can I use Nutella instead of gianduja?

In soft applications yes, in firm ones no. A cake filling, a crepe, a swirl, a soft ganache: Nutella substitutes 1:1 by weight, though you should cut the recipe's sugar because Nutella is roughly half sugar. A molded giandujotto, a dipped bonbon, a sliceable truffle or anything that needs to hold its shape will stay greasy and slumped. Blending Nutella half and half with melted chocolate solves that.

Can I make gianduja at home?

Yes, easily, and it is better than most shop-bought versions. Melt two parts good milk or dark chocolate, stir in one part smooth hazelnut butter or praline paste by weight, and stir until glossy. Let it set at cool room temperature. If you want it sweeter, sift in a little powdered sugar rather than granulated, which would stay gritty.

Can I just leave gianduja out?

Only if the recipe treats it as one flavor among several. If it is the filling, the ganache or the bar itself, it is the recipe, and omitting it leaves you with nothing. The nearest one-ingredient stand-in is plain milk chocolate at 1:1, which works technically and simply tastes of chocolate rather than hazelnut.

Does gianduja contain dairy?

Usually yes, since the classic version is built on milk chocolate and often contains milk powder. Dark gianduja made with dairy-free chocolate does exist and is straightforward to make yourself by blending dark chocolate with hazelnut butter. Always check the label if it matters, and note that hazelnut makes it unsuitable for anyone with a tree nut allergy regardless.

Related substitutes

More nuts & seeds substitutes

Gianduja substitute

Other gianduja substitutes

2Chocolate Blended With Praline Paste

3Milk Chocolate Alone

4Nutella Blended With Melted Chocolate

5Nutella or Another Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Alone

6Almond Gianduja or Chocolate Blended With Almond Butter