Kiwi substitute

Best substitute

Grated Asian pear (for Korean marinades)

Use ½ a grated Asian pear replaces 1 kiwi, for every 1 lb of meat

Best for bulgogi

Different taste

It depends entirely on what the kiwi is there for. For slices on a pavlova, a fruit tart or a fruit platter, use sliced strawberries, green grapes halved, or peeled sliced starfruit at 1:1, and add a squeeze of lime because kiwi is much tarter than most fruit. In a smoothie, use a mix of pineapple and banana, roughly two parts to one, which lands close on both tartness and body. But if the recipe is a Korean bulgogi or galbi marinade, the kiwi is not a flavour at all, it is a meat tenderiser, and the swap is grated Asian pear, fresh pineapple or grated onion. Getting that wrong is the most common kiwi mistake there is, and the same enzyme is why kiwi will not set in a gelatin dessert.

Other kiwi substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Fresh pineapple, crushed or pureed (for marinades, and for tart flavour)
Different texture
2 tablespoons crushed pineapple replaces 1 kiwi in a marinade; 1:1 by volume in smoothies
The closest functional match to kiwi because it contains bromelain, a comparable protein-digesting enzyme, and it is similarly sweet-tart, so it covers both the tenderising job and the flavour job.
What changes
Best for
Korean and Hawaiian marinades, smoothies, fruit salads, salsas, sorbet
Like kiwi it works fast and will go too far, so keep marinating times short, 30 minutes for thin beef and no more than an hour or two for chicken. It must be fresh or frozen, since canned pineapple has been heated and its enzymes are dead, which also makes canned the safe choice for gelatin.
3Sliced strawberries (for decoration and desserts)
Close match
Use the same amount by volume, plus a squeeze of lime
The easiest swap for the decorative role.
What changes
Similar softness, similar sweet-tart balance, and it holds a clean slice on top of a pavlova or a tart.
Best for
pavlova, fruit tarts, fruit platters, trifle, shortcake, fruit salad
You lose the green colour and the seed speckle that make a kiwi slice so recognisable, so a pavlova ends up all red rather than red and green. Strawberries also weep more juice, so slice them at the last minute and blot them for a tart.
4Green grapes, halved, or peeled starfruit slices (for the green look)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
The answer when the green colour is what you are missing on a platter or a tart, and grapes in particular hold up for hours without weeping.
What changes
Best for
fruit platters, fruit tarts, fruit salad, cheese boards, garnishes
Grapes are much sweeter and far less acidic, so toss them with lime juice or the salad will taste flat where the kiwi had been supplying the lift. Starfruit gives you a decorative shape and a comparable mild tartness but a firmer, waxier bite.
5Golden kiwi in place of green kiwi, or vice versa
Different taste
Use the same amount
Worth naming because the two are often shelved together and shoppers do not realise they are not identical.
What changes
Best for
fruit salads, smoothies, desserts, eating fresh, garnishes
Golden kiwi is sweeter, smoother, less acidic and has a tropical mango-like note, with yellow flesh and no fuzz on the skin. It still contains actinidin, so it behaves the same way with gelatin and dairy. Swapping golden for green makes a dessert noticeably sweeter and less zingy.
6Kiwi berries, or a mix of green grape and lime juice as a general stand-in
Taste and texture differ
For the mix: 1 cup halved green grapes plus 2 tsp lime juice replaces 2 kiwis
A serviceable improvised version for fruit salads and smoothies when nothing better is around, rebuilding kiwi as sweetness plus sharp acid plus green colour.
What changes
Best for
fruit salad, smoothies, yogurt bowls, garnishes
It genuinely does not taste like kiwi, since kiwi has a distinctive musky, faintly gooseberry-like aroma that grapes have no version of. This is a competent fill-in rather than a match, and it will not tenderise anything.

What is Kiwi?

Kiwi is a fuzzy brown egg-shaped fruit, also sold as kiwifruit, with bright green or golden flesh, tiny black seeds and a sharp sweet-tart flavour, and it carries an unusual amount of actinidin, a protein-digesting enzyme that makes it useful as a meat tenderiser and, less helpfully, stops gelatin setting and turns dairy bitter within minutes.

Cooking tips

Never put fresh or frozen kiwi in a gelatin dessert, a panna cotta or a jelly. The actinidin in it breaks down gelatin protein and your dessert will simply never set, no matter how long it chills. If you need kiwi in a set dessert, either cook the fruit for a few minutes first to destroy the enzyme, or set the dessert with agar instead of gelatin and add the kiwi as a topping.
The same enzyme also affects dairy. Blend raw kiwi into yogurt, cream or a milk-based smoothie and it turns bitter and unpleasantly slippery within about twenty minutes. Eat it straight away or keep the kiwi separate until serving.
As a meat tenderiser, kiwi is powerful enough to be a hazard. About half a peeled kiwi, mashed, is plenty for 2 lb of thin beef, and 20 to 30 minutes is usually the maximum. Overdo it and the surface of the meat goes soft, grainy and faintly liver-like, and there is no rescuing it.
A firm kiwi is unpleasantly sour and hard to slice cleanly. Ripen it in a paper bag with a banana or an apple for a day or two until it yields to gentle pressure like a ripe peach, then slice. For neat wheels on a tart, chill the ripe fruit first and use a serrated knife.
You can eat the skin, fuzz and all, and it is where much of the fibre is. If that does not appeal, the fastest way to peel a ripe kiwi is to cut both ends off and run a teaspoon around between the flesh and the skin.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the kiwi out?

On a fruit platter or a pavlova, yes, with no consequence beyond losing the green. In a smoothie, yes, though you should add a squeeze of lime because kiwi was probably the main source of tartness. In a Korean marinade, do not simply omit it without a replacement if the cut is tough, because the fruit is doing real tenderising work; grated Asian pear or a couple of tablespoons of grated onion will cover it.

Why did my kiwi ruin my jelly or panna cotta?

Kiwi contains actinidin, an enzyme that digests protein, and gelatin is protein. Raw kiwi will keep a gelatin dessert liquid indefinitely. Simmering the fruit for two or three minutes deactivates the enzyme and solves it, or you can set the dessert with agar-agar, which is a seaweed carbohydrate and unaffected.

Is Chinese gooseberry the same as kiwi?

Yes. Chinese gooseberry is the fruit's older name, from its origins in China, and it was renamed kiwifruit for export from New Zealand in the mid twentieth century. It is not related to the European gooseberry despite the name, so do not substitute the two for one another.

What is the best kiwi substitute in a Korean bulgogi marinade?

Grated Asian pear, which is the traditional choice, at about half a pear per pound of beef. Grated regular pear, sweet apple, or a couple of tablespoons of grated onion also work, and fresh pineapple is the most similar in strength to kiwi. Whichever you use, remember Asian pear is gentle enough to marinate overnight while kiwi and pineapple are not.

Can I use frozen kiwi instead of fresh?

For smoothies and sorbet, yes, and it is often better since it is picked ripe. For slices on a dessert, no, because freezing collapses the flesh and thawed kiwi slumps into a wet green puddle. Freezing does not destroy the enzyme either, so frozen kiwi still ruins gelatin and still turns dairy bitter.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Kiwi substitute

Other kiwi substitutes

2Fresh pineapple, crushed or pureed (for marinades, and for tart flavour)

3Sliced strawberries (for decoration and desserts)

4Green grapes, halved, or peeled starfruit slices (for the green look)

5Golden kiwi in place of green kiwi, or vice versa

6Kiwi berries, or a mix of green grape and lime juice as a general stand-in