Pistachios substitutes

The standard Turkish stand-in and the closest match for how pistachios behave in a pastry. Walnuts have the same soft, slightly oily crunch, so baklava, kadayif and stuffed dates still bite the same way.

Best for

baklava, kadayif, cakes and cookies, stuffed dates, salad toppings

Flavour is noticeably more tannic and faintly bitter because of the papery skins, and the filling turns brown-beige instead of green. Rub the skins off after a light toast to cut the bitterness, and if the recipe is sweet, add an extra teaspoon of sugar per cup of nuts to offset the tannin.

Almonds are the most reliable swap for anywhere pistachios are providing crunch and mild sweetness rather than colour. Buy blanched (skinless) and chop them yourself so the pieces are irregular, like chopped pistachios.

Best for

baklava, pilaf and rice dishes, biscotti and shortbread, ice cream topping, granola

Almonds are harder and snappier, so the crunch reads crisper and drier rather than tender. They are also sweeter and much plainer, so the dish loses the faint pine-and-resin note pistachios give. Toast them at 160C for 6-8 minutes to wake up their flavour before using.

The closest aromatic match of any nut. Pine nuts share the soft, buttery, faintly resinous quality that makes pistachios taste the way they do, which is why Turkish cooks use them interchangeably in stuffings.

Best for

ic pilav and stuffed vegetables, baklava, borek fillings, fish and lamb dishes, pesto-style pastes

They are much softer, with almost no crunch once baked, and they are usually as expensive as pistachios so this is a flavour choice rather than a money-saving one. They also burn very quickly, so toast in a dry pan over low heat and stir constantly.

Use these when the green colour is the whole point, for example scattered over a cake, a semolina halva or a rice pilaf where pistachio is the visual signature.

Best for

garnish where colour matters, cake and loaf toppings, salads, nut-free baking, granola

The green is duller and greyer, and the flavour is grassy and savoury rather than sweet, so they can taste out of place in very sweet pastry. Their crunch is thin and papery, not dense. Chop them roughly and toast briefly so they puff. They are seeds, not tree nuts, which makes this the option for tree-nut allergies.

Good where the pistachios are ground or blended into a filling rather than left in visible pieces, because cashews break down into something creamy and sweet.

Best for

ground nut fillings, nut butters and pastes, rice pilaf, curries, sweet fillings

Distinctly softer and sweeter, with no crunch to speak of after baking, so scattered over baklava they go pasty. There is no green at all. Use raw unsalted cashews and toast them lightly, or the filling tastes flat.

A strong-flavoured, cheap and widely available Turkish nut. It works structurally in baklava and cakes but it does not hide.

Best for

chocolate desserts, cakes and tortes, baklava on a budget, praline and nut brittle

Hazelnut is the loudest flavour on this list and will take over the dish, so a pistachio baklava becomes a hazelnut baklava rather than a near miss. Roast at 175C for 10 minutes and rub the skins off in a tea towel, or the bitterness carries through.

There is no honest substitute when the recipe is about pistachio flavour rather than pistachio texture. Pistachio ice cream, pistachio cake, pistachio buttercream and the pistachio-cream chocolate bars people are making at home all need real pistachio.

Best for

pistachio ice cream, pistachio cake and buttercream, pistachio cream fillings, chocolate bars

If you have whole pistachios but the recipe wants paste, blitz shelled unsalted pistachios in a food processor for 4-6 minutes, scraping down, until they turn from crumbs to a loose paste; add a teaspoon of neutral oil if it stalls. If you have neither, change the recipe rather than substituting, because almond or cashew versions taste like almond or cashew and the green colour will not appear.