Matzo substitute

Best substitute

Water crackers, cream crackers or unsalted saltines

Use the same amount by weight, roughly 30 g or 1 sheet of matzo per 4 to 5 crackers as the matzo you are replacing

Best for serving with chopped liver, cheese or dips

Close match

What matzo is doing depends entirely on the recipe. Eaten with butter or chopped liver it is simply a crisp neutral vehicle, and plain water crackers, cream crackers or unsalted saltines swap for it weight for weight. Cooked in matzo brei or matzo lasagna it is functioning as a dry starch sheet that hydrates and gives structure, exactly like a no-boil lasagna sheet, and no-boil lasagna sheets swap in one for one for that purpose. If you cannot buy it, matzo is genuinely easy to make: 1 cup flour, 6 tablespoons water and a pinch of salt, rolled paper thin, pricked all over with a fork and baked at 250C / 475F for about 5 minutes. One thing no substitute covers: at a Passover seder matzo is a religious requirement, not a culinary ingredient, and nothing else can stand in for it.

Other matzo substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2No-boil lasagna sheets
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by piece
For matzo lasagna this is very nearly the same object: a dry flour-and-water sheet that softens as it absorbs sauce.
What changes
They stay noticeably firmer and chewier than matzo, which goes soft and almost custardy, and they taste of durum wheat rather than plain flour. The result is a better lasagna and a less authentic one.
Best for
matzo lasagna, layered baked dishes, mina and pie-style bakes
They need more liquid than matzo does, so make the sauce a little looser and cover the dish with foil for the first two thirds of the bake. Break them to fit rather than trying to trim them neatly.
3Homemade matzo
Close match
1 cup / 125 g plain flour, 6 tablespoons water, pinch of salt makes about 4 sheets
The best answer when you simply cannot buy it, and easier than people expect.
What changes
Mix to a stiff dough, divide, roll each piece as thin as you physically can, prick all over with a fork so it does not balloon, and bake on a preheated tray at 250C / 475F for 4 to 6 minutes until blistered and dry. It tastes fresher and a little more wheaty than shop-bought.
Best for
matzo brei, matzo lasagna, crackers with dips, grinding into matzo meal, year-round cooking
Work fast and keep the pieces thin, or you get flatbread rather than a cracker. Important: a home-baked version is not kosher for Passover, which requires a supervised process completed within eighteen minutes using specially watched flour. Use this for cooking, not for the seder.
4Plain crispbread (Ryvita or Wasa style)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Sturdier than matzo and usually made with rye, so it is darker, denser and much more assertively flavoured, with a nutty sourness matzo does not have.
What changes
Excellent under toppings, where its strength is an advantage, and poor in matzo brei, where it stays gritty and grainy instead of softening.
Best for
cheese and dips, chopped liver and pate, open sandwiches, crumbling as a topping
Choose the plainest, thinnest variety rather than a seeded or multigrain one. Do not use it anywhere the matzo is meant to soften in liquid.
5Pita or lavash, torn and dried in the oven
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 large pita for every sheet of matzo
A workable route for matzo brei specifically.
What changes
Tear the bread, spread it on a tray and dry it at 150C / 300F for 10 to 15 minutes until brittle, then use exactly as you would matzo. It stays a little bready and chewier than matzo, which goes properly custardy, but the dish works.
Best for
matzo brei, savoury bread puddings, crumbing
It must be genuinely dried out and brittle, not just toasted, or it will turn to paste the moment it hits the egg. Note that pita and lavash both contain leavening, so this is a year-round option and not a Passover one.
6Flour tortillas
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by piece
Right shape, wrong texture, and the honest weakest option.
What changes
Tortillas are soft and pliable and will never shatter, so anything that depends on matzo's crispness fails. In a layered baked dish they hold up well and simply eat softer and chewier, more like a lasagna made with crepes.
Best for
matzo lasagna and layered bakes, wrapping fillings, when nothing else is in the cupboard
Toast them dry in a hot pan first to drive off moisture, or the finished bake will be soggy. They will not work at all for a cracker, for matzo brei or for grinding into matzo meal.

What is Matzo?

Matzo is Matzo is a large, thin, brittle unleavened cracker made from nothing but flour and water baked very fast, spelled variously matzah, matza or matzoh, and eaten at Passover as well as year round as a plain cracker.

Cooking tips

Matzo is bone dry, so it drinks liquid faster than any bread. For matzo brei, run the broken sheets briefly under a cold tap or pour boiling water over them and drain immediately. Soaking them for even a minute gives you paste instead of pieces.
One standard sheet weighs roughly 30 g and grinds down to about a third of a cup of matzo meal, which is useful if a recipe wants meal and you only have sheets. Blitz in a food processor for meal, and grind much finer and sift for cake meal.
Store it flat, airtight and dry. Matzo does not go mouldy, it goes limp, and a stale sheet tastes of cardboard. If a box has softened, five minutes in a 160C / 325F oven crisps it back up.
Matzo is not gluten free, since by definition it is wheat flour and water. Oat matzo made for people with coeliac disease is produced under supervision and is available from Jewish grocers around Passover, and it is the only version that is both gluten free and valid for the seder.
For matzo lasagna, dip the sheets in warm water or thin sauce for a few seconds before layering rather than putting them in dry. Dry sheets pull moisture out of the filling and leave hard patches in the middle of the dish.

Frequently asked questions

Can I substitute anything for matzo during Passover?

For eating at the seder, no. Matzah is a specific religious requirement and nothing else fulfils it, including homemade versions, which are not kosher for Passover because the process must be supervised and completed within eighteen minutes. Anything containing leavening is chametz and is not an option. For cooking during the week, matzo meal, cake meal and potato starch are the standard alternatives, and if you have questions about what is permitted, ask your rabbi rather than a recipe site.

What is the difference between matzo and matzo meal?

Matzo is the whole cracker sheet and matzo meal is that same cracker ground to a coarse crumb, roughly the texture of breadcrumbs. Meal is what binds matzo balls and coats schnitzel, and sheets are what you eat with butter or layer into a lasagna. You can make meal from sheets in a food processor, but you cannot go the other way.

Can I just use crackers instead of matzo?

For eating with toppings, yes, and unsalted water crackers or cream crackers are close. For matzo brei, crackers made with fat go greasy and mushy rather than softening cleanly, so they are a poor swap. And for anything at Passover, crackers contain leavening and are not an alternative at all.

Can I leave matzo out of matzo ball soup?

No, though the confusion is understandable. Matzo balls are made from matzo meal, not sheets, and the meal is what gives them structure. Without it you have seasoned egg. If you have sheets but no meal, blitz three sheets to a crumb and you have roughly a cup of meal, which is enough for a batch.

Is matzo gluten free?

No. Standard matzo is wheat flour and water and contains gluten by design. Oat matzo, produced specifically for people with coeliac disease, is available from Jewish grocers around Passover. Rice crackers and gluten-free crispbread work for everyday cooking but are not valid for Passover.

Related substitutes

More grains & starches substitutes

Matzo substitute

Other matzo substitutes

2No-boil lasagna sheets

3Homemade matzo

4Plain crispbread (Ryvita or Wasa style)

5Pita or lavash, torn and dried in the oven

6Flour tortillas