Macadamia nuts substitutes

The answer for nearly every use, and the cheapest close match by a wide margin. Use raw cashews for blended sauces and creams, and lightly toasted salted ones for cookies and baking.

Best for

white chocolate macadamia cookies, blondies, vegan cream sauces and cheeses, salads and grain bowls, crusts for fish, candy and brittle

Softer and sweeter with a milky mildness, and nearly as creamy when blended, so a cashew cream sauce is essentially as good as a macadamia one and a cashew cookie is very close. What you lose is the specific buttery richness and the slightly firmer crumbly snap of a macadamia, so a cookie made with cashews tastes marginally lighter and less indulgent. A pinch more salt on the nuts closes most of the gap.

Similar fat content and a similarly soft crumbly bite, which makes them a genuinely close textural match. Chop them by hand rather than in a processor, because they crumble to paste quickly.

Best for

cookies, brownies and blondies, vegan creams and cheeses, nut crusts, toppings

Almost the same richness and the same yielding texture, but with a distinctive musky, faintly mineral flavor that macadamias do not have. In a cookie with white chocolate that reads as a slightly earthier, more grown-up biscuit, which some people prefer. Worth knowing that brazil nuts are unusually high in selenium, so a couple a day is plenty and it is not a nut to eat in large handfuls regularly.

The most likely nut to be in the cupboard already, and fine wherever you need crunch and bulk rather than creaminess. Use blanched rather than skin-on so the color and flavor stay pale.

Best for

cookies, granola, crumble and streusel toppings, nut crusts for fish or chicken, salads

Much harder, drier and snappier, so where a macadamia gives way and almost melts, an almond resists and cracks. Flavour-wise it is cleaner and less rich, and it does not blend to a smooth cream unless you soak it for hours and strain it, so it is the wrong choice for sauces and vegan cheeses. In a cookie it works but reads clearly as an almond cookie, particularly against white chocolate.

Soft, oily and pale, which is a good match for macadamia's texture and color. Best in savory applications and blended sauces, and toast them briefly and carefully because they scorch very fast.

Best for

pesto and blended sauces, salads, savory nut crusts, vegetable dishes, shortbread

The soft creamy bite is right and they blend beautifully, but pine nuts have a distinctive resinous, slightly piney flavor that is much more assertive than a macadamia, so they will lead a dish rather than enrich it quietly. They are also often as expensive as macadamias, which defeats the usual reason for substituting. Use them when they are what you already have.

The best approximation for the classic white chocolate macadamia cookie, and it takes no extra work. Toast the coconut in a dry pan until golden, and fold it in with the cashews.

Best for

white chocolate macadamia cookies, blondies, tropical style baking, granola

Closer than cashews alone, because toasted coconut supplies exactly the sweet buttery tropical note that macadamias have and cashews lack, and it reinforces the richness too. The result is not identical, since coconut brings its own recognisable flavor and a chewier texture, but people who like the original tend to like this. Use unsweetened flakes, since sweetened ones make an already sweet cookie cloying.

Widely available and reasonably priced. Toast at 180C for ten to twelve minutes, then rub off the skins in a tea towel while warm, which removes most of the bitterness.

Best for

brownies, chocolate baking, biscotti, praline and nut brittle, coffee cake

A firmer, crisper crunch and a much bolder flavor, which is a straightforward gain with dark chocolate and a straightforward problem with white chocolate, where hazelnut simply overpowers it. So this is a good swap in a brownie and a poor one in the cookie most people are making. It also does not blend to a smooth cream, so it is unsuitable for vegan cheeses and sauces.

The nut-free option, and the practical choice for school baking. Toast the kernels in a dry pan until golden, and use slightly less than the nut quantity because seeds are denser.

Best for

nut-free cookies, school-safe baking, granola, crumble toppings

This keeps the crunch and some of the oily richness and nothing else, so be honest with yourself about it. Sunflower seeds taste grassy and mineral rather than buttery and sweet, so a nut-free white chocolate cookie made this way is a good cookie but it is not a macadamia cookie. Watch out for sunflower seeds turning the crumb faintly green when they meet baking soda, which is harmless but surprising.