Pistachio paste substitutes

The answer for almost everybody. Blanch shelled raw pistachios for one minute and rub off the papery skins if you want a green paste, then process for five to ten minutes, scraping down often, until it goes from crumbs to a thick glossy paste. It is slightly coarser and a touch paler than commercial paste and just as intense; the flavour is fresher because it has not been sitting on a shelf.

Best for

gelato and ice cream, buttercream and fillings, tiramisu and mousse, cake batters, croissant and pastry fillings

Use raw nuts, not roasted, for the bright green flavour Sicilian desserts are after. A high-powered blender needs a tamper; a food processor needs patience and scraping.

The two-minute version, stopped before it goes fully smooth. The flavour is exactly right and the texture is grainy, which you will notice as a slight sandiness in a smooth mousse or gelato but not at all in a cake batter, a frangipane or a crumbly filling. It also incorporates less evenly into buttercream.

Best for

cake and muffin batters, frangipane and tart fillings, cookies, crumbles and streusel

Sift out the coarsest bits and reprocess them if the texture matters. Do not use this where a silky mouthfeel is the point, such as a set mousse or a smooth gelato.

Widely sold and often mistaken for the same product, which ruins recipes. Pistachio cream is typically 40 to 50 percent sugar and frequently contains white chocolate, milk powder and vanilla, so a dessert made with it 1:1 without adjusting is sweet to the point of flat and sets softer. The flavour reads as creamy and confectionery rather than nutty, and the colour is usually pastel rather than deep green.

Best for

fillings for croissants and pastries, swirling into ice cream, spreading, quick no-bake desserts

It also carries fat and liquid, so a set dessert may need slightly more gelatin or a longer chill. Taste the mixture before you commit it to a mould.

Structurally the closest ready-made product: the same thick, oily, nut-and-sugar body that behaves the same way in a batter or a filling. What it cannot do is taste of pistachio; it tastes squarely of almond, and the colour is beige rather than green. Stirring in a handful of finely chopped pistachios gives the filling some real pistachio flavour and texture.

Best for

tart and cake fillings, pastry fillings, cookies, when there are no pistachios at all

If the colour matters, a little green food colouring is the honest fix; a small amount of matcha adds colour but also its own bitter, grassy flavour. Consider simply calling the result an almond dessert.

Cashew butter is mild, sweet and very smooth, so it provides the right fat and the right silky body without imposing a competing flavour, which lets a small amount of real pistachio carry the whole dish. The colour is pale cream, and the overall flavour is gentler and rounder than pure pistachio paste.

Best for

mousse and no-bake fillings, buttercream, stretching a small amount of expensive paste, smoothies and spreads

Use unsweetened natural cashew butter, not a sweetened spread. This is the best way to make 50 g of real pistachio paste do the work of 150 g.

The honest last resort, and it only works when the pistachio is not the headline flavour. Peanut is loud and unmistakable, so a pistachio tiramisu made with it becomes a peanut tiramisu, full stop. The fat content and consistency are correct, so it behaves properly in the mixing bowl even as it changes the identity of the dessert.

Best for

cookie and brownie fillings, no-bake bars, when nothing else is in the cupboard

Do not use it in gelato or anywhere the flavour is meant to be delicate. Choose a natural style with no added sugar or palm oil so you can control the sweetness.