Hemp Seeds substitute

Best substitute

Hulled Sunflower Seeds

Use the same amount as the hemp seeds you are replacing

Best for smoothies

Different texture

Use hulled sunflower seeds 1:1 as the closest all-round swap, chopped pepitas 1:1 for salads and granola, or toasted sesame seeds 1:1 for savoury dishes. Hemp hearts are doing three jobs: adding fat and protein, adding a soft nutty crunch, and adding a green-nutty aroma. What they do not do is gel, so do not reach for chia or ground flax if the recipe is relying on hemp for texture on top of yogurt or oats. If it is a smoothie or a sprinkle, any of the seeds above will keep the dish honest.

Other hemp seeds substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Hulled Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount chopped
Green like hemp hearts, so the dish looks right, with a stronger earthy-savoury flavour and a real crack when you bite them.
What changes
Best for
salads, granola, grain bowls, soup garnish, seeded bread
Whole pepitas are much larger than hemp hearts, so chop or briefly pulse them for anything delicate. They taste more vegetal and less sweet than hemp, which is an improvement in savoury food and a slight loss in a banana smoothie.
3Toasted Sesame Seeds
Different taste
Use the same amount
Similar size and a similar soft-then-nutty bite, with a much more aromatic, roasted flavour that takes over the dish.
What changes
Best for
savoury bowls, noodles, roasted vegetables, flatbreads, salad dressings
Excellent where you want a nutty sprinkle and do not mind it reading as sesame. Wrong for a fruit smoothie, where the roasted note fights the fruit.
4Pine Nuts, Roughly Chopped
Close match
Use the same amount
The closest texture match on this list.
What changes
Pine nuts have the same soft, buttery, slightly resinous give as hemp hearts rather than a hard snap.
Best for
salads, pesto-style sauces, grain salads, roasted vegetables, pasta
Expensive, so worth it only when hemp is a feature rather than a scatter. Flavour is richer and more perfumed than hemp's quiet nuttiness.
5Ground Flaxseed
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume, in baking only
Fine in muffins, breads and bars where the seed is mixed into the batter.
What changes
Not a texture swap on top of anything, because flax absorbs liquid and turns slick and gluey rather than staying crunchy.
Best for
muffins, quick breads, energy bars, smoothies, porridge stirred in
Flax will thicken whatever it sits in. If your recipe already has a tight amount of liquid, add a splash more. The flavour is nuttier and slightly more bitter than hemp.
6Chia Seeds
Taste and texture differ
Use about two thirds as much
Works nutritionally and visually as a sprinkle, but the moment chia meets liquid it swells into little gel beads.
What changes
Overnight oats made with chia instead of hemp are noticeably thicker and slippery.
Best for
smoothies, puddings, yogurt bowls, baked goods
Choose this only if the gelling is welcome. Chia also has almost no nutty flavour, so a granola relying on hemp for taste will come out plainer.

What is Hemp Seeds?

Hemp Seeds is the soft cream-and-green inner kernel of the hemp plant's seed, usually sold hulled and labelled hemp hearts or shelled hemp seed, with a mild nutty flavour and a tender almost creamy bite, so in most recipes it is contributing protein and a soft nutty note rather than crunch.

Cooking tips

Hemp hearts are very high in delicate polyunsaturated fat, so they scorch and turn bitter within a minute in a hot dry pan. Do not toast them the way you would sesame or almonds. Stir them in off the heat or scatter them over the finished dish.
Store them in the fridge or freezer, not the cupboard. Rancid hemp tastes sharp and fishy, and it is the single most common reason people decide they dislike hemp seeds.
Hemp hearts do not gel, so they cannot stand in for a flax egg or a chia egg. If a vegan recipe uses ground flax as the binder, keep the flax and add hemp separately for flavour.
For homemade hemp milk, blend hemp hearts with water and do not strain. Unlike almonds there is no tough pulp to remove, which is the main practical advantage of hemp over nuts for milk.
Whole unhulled hemp seed is a different product from hemp hearts. The intact shell is genuinely crunchy and slightly bitter, and it will not blend smooth, so recipes calling for hemp hearts want the hulled kind.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave hemp seeds out?

In most recipes, yes. Hemp hearts are almost always a topping or an enrichment rather than a structural ingredient, so a smoothie, bowl of oats, salad or granola will be fine without them, just a little less rich and a little less nutty. The one place to think twice is a bar or bliss-ball recipe where the seeds make up a large share of the bulk. There you need to replace the volume with another seed or nut or the mixture will be too wet to hold together.

Are hemp seeds and hemp hearts the same thing?

Almost. Hemp hearts, shelled hemp seed and hulled hemp seed all mean the same product: the soft inner kernel with the hard outer shell removed. Whole hemp seed still has that shell on, which makes it crunchy, slightly bitter and much higher in fibre. Recipes that say hemp seeds nearly always mean hemp hearts, since that is what sits on supermarket shelves.

Do hemp seeds taste like anything, or are they just for nutrition?

They have a genuine flavour, mild and grassy-nutty, closest to a very soft pine nut or a raw sunflower seed. It is subtle enough that people often treat them as a nutrition add-in, but in something plain like porridge or a simple salad you will notice their absence.

Will eating hemp seeds affect me the way cannabis would?

No. Food-grade hemp seed sold for eating comes from varieties grown for seed and fibre, and the seed kernel itself does not carry meaningful amounts of THC. Hemp hearts are sold as an ordinary food.

Can I use hemp hearts instead of flaxseed or chia in a recipe?

Only where the seed is there for flavour, fat or crunch. If the flax or chia is being used as a binder or a thickener, which is very common in vegan baking and in chia pudding, hemp cannot do that job at all because it does not absorb liquid or form a gel. Keep the gelling seed and add hemp on top if you want the flavour.

Related substitutes

More nuts & seeds substitutes

Hemp Seeds substitute

Other hemp seeds substitutes

2Hulled Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)

3Toasted Sesame Seeds

4Pine Nuts, Roughly Chopped

5Ground Flaxseed

6Chia Seeds