Pecans substitutes

The default answer, cheaper than pecans, and in the same family of soft oily nuts. Toast them first and, if you have the patience, rub the papery skins off in a tea towel while they are warm.

Best for

banana bread, brownies, carrot cake, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, granola, salads

The texture is essentially the same, soft and oily with a gentle crunch, so anything baked into a batter comes out almost indistinguishable. The difference is a bitter tannic edge from the skin and a lack of pecan's sweetness, so a walnut version tastes slightly darker and more grown-up and less caramel-like. Toasting for eight minutes and rubbing off the skins removes most of that bitterness. In a butter tart or a pralined topping, add a teaspoon of brown sugar to the nuts to close the sweetness gap.

The closest match on the list for what a pecan actually feels like to eat, because macadamias share that high fat content and tender, crumbly rather than hard bite. The catch is price.

Best for

cookies, blondies, coffee cake, sticky buns, salads and grain bowls, praline-style toppings

Richer and creamier than pecans and much milder, with no tannic edge at all, so the result tastes rounder and softer and less distinctly nutty. Because they are so mild, they get lost in a heavily spiced batter like carrot cake, where a pecan would still register. They also scorch faster than most nuts, so toast at 160C rather than 180C and watch them.

Excellent in anything with chocolate or coffee in it, and easy to find. Toast them at 180C for ten to twelve minutes, then rub the skins off in a tea towel, which makes a real difference to the flavour.

Best for

brownies, chocolate cakes, coffee cake, biscotti, granola, ice cream toppings

A firmer, snappier crunch than a pecan, so a brownie gets distinct crunchy pockets rather than soft nutty ones, and the flavour is stronger and unmistakably hazelnut, which will lead the dish rather than support it. That is a gain with chocolate and a loss in something delicate like a butter pecan cookie, where you want the nut to stay in the background.

The most likely nut to already be in the cupboard. Use sliced or roughly chopped rather than whole, and toast them, because raw almonds taste flat and papery.

Best for

granola, streusel and crumble toppings, coffee cake, salads, quick breads

Much harder, drier and snappier, so where a pecan gives way when you bite it an almond resists, and the flavour is cleaner and less buttery. That works well as a topping where you want crunch, and works poorly in anything where the nut is supposed to soften, so in a pecan pie or a sticky bun filling the almonds stay stubbornly hard while everything around them goes gooey. Slivered almonds behave better in batters than chopped whole ones.

Soft, sweet and mild, which makes them a decent stand-in for pecans in sweet baking specifically. Toast them until just golden and chop them coarsely, since they crumble easily.

Best for

blondies, caramel and toffee bars, sweet breads, sticky buns, granola

The sweetness is right and the softness is right, and cashews are noticeably less assertive than pecans, so the dish tastes gentler and slightly milky. Where they let you down is staying crisp: cashews soften faster than almost any nut once they meet moisture, so a cashew streusel goes soft overnight and a cashew salad topping is limp within an hour. Add them late and eat the result fresh.

The nut-free option, and a genuinely good one for texture. Toast them in a dry pan until they pop and smell nutty, then use a little less than the recipe's nut quantity because seeds are denser and more insistent.

Best for

school-safe baking, nut-free granola, salads, muffins and quick breads, crumble toppings

You get the crunch and some of the oily richness, but the flavour is entirely different: pepitas are green and mineral, sunflower seeds are grassy and slightly sweet, and neither reads as buttery. In a spiced batter this works well because the spice carries the dish. In something where the nut is the flavour, like butter pecan or a pecan sandy, it will read as a different cookie. Sunflower seeds also turn baked goods faintly green when they react with baking soda, which is harmless but startling.

The honest answer for pecan pie specifically, and it is a real Southern recipe rather than a compromise. Oats toasted in butter and set in the same corn syrup, egg and sugar custard make what is often called oatmeal pie or mock pecan pie, and it is good enough that people have baked it deliberately for a century.

Best for

pecan pie without pecans, nut-free pecan pie, crumble and streusel toppings, budget baking

It gives you the chewy, caramelised, buttery quality of a pecan pie filling and none of the nut flavour or the crisp bite. The top will not have that layer of glossy toasted halves, so the pie looks plainer, and the texture is chewier and more homogeneous rather than crunchy in places. Toast the oats in the butter first for five minutes or the filling tastes raw and pasty.