Ginkgo Nuts substitute

Best substitute

Cooked Chestnuts

Use the same amount by count as the ginkgo nuts you are replacing

Best for congee

Close match

Cooked chestnuts are the best all-round swap at 1:1 by count, giving a similar dense sweet bite in congee, soups and stuffings without any bitterness. Cooked lotus seeds are the closest match for Chinese soups, and quartered macadamia nuts work well in chawanmushi where you want that waxy pale density. If the ginkgo was mostly there for its jade colour and tender pop, shelled edamame at 1:1 does the job. Ginkgo is not a bulk flavour ingredient: it is doing texture, a small bitter accent and colour, always in small quantities. One important note: ginkgo nuts should only ever be eaten cooked and in modest amounts, and they are not suitable for young children.

Other ginkgo nuts substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cooked Lotus Seeds
Different texture
Use the same amount by count
The closest match for Cantonese soups and congee, which is exactly where lotus seeds and ginkgo often appear together.
What changes
Similar pale ivory colour, similar firm rounded bite.
Best for
Chinese soups, congee, sweet soups, herbal broths
More starchy and chalky than ginkgo's springy density, and mild rather than resinous, though if the bitter germ is left in the centre you get a hint of the bitterness ginkgo provides. Dried lotus seeds need soaking and simmering until tender before use.
3Macadamia Nuts, Quartered
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
The best visual and textural match for chawanmushi and other delicate dishes, because macadamias have the same pale, waxy, buttery density that makes a ginkgo nut satisfying to bite in a soft custard.
What changes
Best for
chawanmushi, steamed custards, rice dishes, salads
Sweeter and much richer, with no bitterness at all, and they soften considerably in a wet custard rather than staying springy. Add them just before steaming rather than soaking them in advance.
4Shelled Edamame or Fresh Fava Beans
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by count
The right answer when ginkgo is in the dish mainly for its jade colour and tender pop, which is often true of chawanmushi and takikomi gohan.
What changes
Best for
chawanmushi, takikomi gohan, rice dishes, clear soups, salads
The colour match is excellent, arguably better than ginkgo itself. Flavour goes green and beany rather than resinous and faintly bitter, and the texture is tender-firm rather than dense and chewy. Blanch them briefly first so they stay bright.
5Pine Nuts
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume
Worth considering for congee and porridge, because pine nuts share a faintly resinous, almost coniferous quality that no other nut on this list has.
What changes
Best for
congee, porridge, rice dishes, stuffings
They are much smaller and soften completely, so you lose the chew entirely and get a creamy nuttiness instead. Flavour-wise this is the nearest thing to ginkgo's odd pine note, which is why it is here despite the texture mismatch.
6Fresh Water Chestnuts or Jicama
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount with reservations
Right size, right pale colour, and they hold up in a simmered dish, so they look correct in the bowl.
What changes
Best for
stir-fries, soups, braises
The texture is wrong in a specific way: water chestnuts and jicama stay crisp and snappy no matter how long you cook them, where ginkgo is dense and chewy. They are also sweet and watery rather than faintly bitter. Use them only when appearance and a bit of bite are all you need.

What is Ginkgo Nuts?

Ginkgo Nuts is Ginkgo nuts, called ginnan in Japanese and baiguo in Chinese and often spelled gingko, are the pale jade-green kernels inside the seeds of the ginkgo tree, with a dense springy bite and a faintly bitter, almost pine-resin flavour.

Cooking tips

Ginkgo nuts should always be cooked and eaten in modest amounts. They contain a naturally occurring compound sometimes called ginkgotoxin, and eating a large quantity at one sitting can cause poisoning. Traditional practice is a small handful for an adult as part of a dish, and young children should be given very few or none at all. This is a genuine, well-documented caution rather than folklore.
To shell fresh ones, crack the hard tan shell with the flat of a heavy knife or a pair of pliers, then boil or dry-roast the kernels briefly and rub the thin brown inner skin off while they are still warm. That inner skin is the bitterest part and it comes away easily hot and stubbornly cold.
Fresh ginkgo turns from dull yellow to a beautiful translucent jade as it cooks, which is your doneness signal. Overcooked they go grey-yellow and hard, so add them in the last few minutes rather than at the start of a long simmer.
Vacuum-packed and canned ginnan is already cooked. Rinse it and warm it through only, because boiling it again makes it rubbery and dulls the colour.
For the classic izakaya version, thread shelled nuts on a skewer, dry-roast or grill them until blistered and jade, and finish with flaky salt. Nothing else is needed and it is the best way to understand what the ingredient actually tastes like.
Fresh in-shell ginkgo does not keep. Store it in the fridge and use it within a couple of weeks, because the kernels go rancid and shrink away from the shell.

Frequently asked questions

Are ginkgo nuts safe to eat?

Cooked and in small quantities, they are a normal food eaten across East Asia. They should not be eaten raw or in large amounts, because they contain a naturally occurring compound sometimes called ginkgotoxin, and cases of poisoning from eating many at once are documented, particularly in young children. Traditional practice keeps portions to a small handful per adult within a dish, and children should have very few or none. If you are pregnant, on medication, or unsure, leave them out, which is easy in almost every recipe that uses them.

Can I just leave ginkgo nuts out of chawanmushi?

Yes, without any real loss to the dish. In chawanmushi, congee and most Chinese soups ginkgo is a garnish and a textural accent rather than a structural or flavouring ingredient, so the custard sets and the soup tastes the same. If you want something in that place, a few blanched edamame give the same jade colour and tender pop.

Can I use canned or vacuum-packed ginkgo nuts?

Yes, and for most home cooks it is the sensible option, since shelling and peeling fresh ginkgo is fiddly work. They are already cooked, so rinse them well to remove the packing liquid and simply warm them through at the end of cooking. Do not simmer them for long or they turn rubbery.

Are ginkgo nuts actually nuts?

No. They are the kernels of the ginkgo tree's seeds, not tree nuts in the botanical or allergen sense, which is why they sometimes appear in nut-free contexts. Separately, the fleshy outer pulp of the ginkgo fruit is a strong skin irritant and smells terrible, which is why the nuts are sold already cleaned. If you have a tree nut allergy, ask an allergist rather than assuming they are safe on the basis of botany.

What is the closest substitute for ginkgo nuts' flavour?

Honestly, nothing quite matches it. That faintly bitter, slightly resinous, almost pine-like edge is unusual, and every substitute here trades it for sweetness. Pine nuts get closest on flavour but lose the chew completely, while chestnuts and lotus seeds match the bite and lose the bitterness. If the ginkgo flavour is the reason you want the dish, the better move is to leave it out and not pretend, rather than to fake it.

Related substitutes

More nuts & seeds substitutes

Ginkgo Nuts substitute

Other ginkgo nuts substitutes

2Cooked Lotus Seeds

3Macadamia Nuts, Quartered

4Shelled Edamame or Fresh Fava Beans

5Pine Nuts

6Fresh Water Chestnuts or Jicama