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Praline Paste substitute

Best substitute

Homemade Hazelnut Praline Paste

Use the same amount replacement as the praline paste you are replacing

Best for paris-brest

Close match

Equal weights of skinned toasted hazelnuts and granulated sugar. Melt the sugar to a deep amber caramel, stir in the warm nuts, pour onto a lined tray, cool until brittle, break up, then grind. This is the actual ingredient, not an approximation.

Other praline paste substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Praline Paste with ratios

  1. 2Nut Butter Plus Dulce de Leche or Thick Caramel

    Close match

    2 parts nut butter to 1 part caramel, used 1:1 for the praline paste

    Smooth unsweetened hazelnut or almond butter blended with dulce de leche.

    What changes

    Gets you sweetness, nut fat and a caramel note in about two minutes.

    Best for
    buttercream, fillings, swirls, ganache, milkshakes

    The difference you will taste is roast depth. Real praline paste has a slightly bitter, almost burnt-sugar edge from amber caramel, while dulce de leche is milky and gentle, so the result is rounder and sweeter. A pinch of salt and a very dark toast on the nuts closes most of the gap.

  2. 3Nutella or Another Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by weight, and cut other sugar

    Textually it behaves much like praline paste, so it will fold into buttercream or ganache without trouble.

    What changes

    Flavour changes character completely: cocoa and milk powder come forward, hazelnut recedes, and the sweetness roughly doubles.

    Best for
    buttercream, cake fillings, ganache, crepe fillings, no-bake desserts

    Reduce the recipe's sugar by around a third of the weight of spread you have used, or the finished dessert will be cloying. Accept that a paris-brest made this way is a chocolate-hazelnut paris-brest rather than a praline one.

  3. 4Almond Praline Paste (Pralin d'Amande)

    Close match

    Use the same amount

    Made identically with almonds instead of hazelnuts, and entirely traditional in French pastry.

    What changes

    Cleaner and slightly sweeter, without the musky, perfumed quality hazelnuts bring.

    Best for
    buttercream, mousse, ice cream, financiers, petits gateaux

    A 50-50 hazelnut and almond mix is what many pastry kitchens actually use, so this is not a compromise so much as a variant. If your recipe leans on the hazelnut identity, mention of praline noisette in the recipe title is your clue that hazelnut matters.

  4. 5Melted Gianduja

    Taste and texture differ

    Use about 1.5 times the weight, and reduce recipe sugar

    Chocolate blended with ground hazelnuts.

    What changes

    Brings real hazelnut and real sweetness, but also cocoa butter, which means the mixture sets firm as it cools rather than staying loose.

    Best for
    ganache, bonbon fillings, layered entremets, spreads

    The setting behaviour is the catch. A cremeux or buttercream that expected a soft paste will come out noticeably stiffer and will need slightly more cream or butter. Work with it warm.

  5. 6Almond Paste or Marzipan Loosened With Oil

    Different taste

    Use the same amount thinned with 1 to 2 teaspoons neutral oil per 100 g

    The least-bad option if you have no nuts to caramelise and no nut butter.

    What changes

    You get sweetness, almond flavour and roughly the right consistency.

    Best for
    fillings, buttercream, quick fixes

    Be clear-eyed about this one. There is no caramel in it at all, so the deep toffee note that defines praline is simply absent, and marzipan often carries a bitter-almond flavouring that reads as marzipan rather than as roasted nut. Use it when the alternative is not making the dessert.

What is Praline Paste?

Praline Paste is Praline paste, also sold as hazelnut praline paste or praline noisette, is a loose oily paste made by caramelising nuts in sugar and then grinding the cooled caramel and nuts together into a smooth toffee-nut puree.

Cooking tips

  • Take the caramel to a deep amber, the colour of an old penny, before adding the nuts. A pale blond caramel gives a paste that is merely sweet, and the slight bitterness of dark caramel is what makes praline taste like praline rather than like nut butter with sugar in it.
  • Do not confuse pralin with praline paste. Pralin, sometimes sold as praline powder or nut brittle crumb, is the same caramelised nuts crushed to a crunchy grit and used for texture. Praline paste is that grit ground on for several more minutes until the nut oil releases and it flows. If a recipe wants paste and you have powder, keep grinding.
  • Rub the skins off the hazelnuts after roasting, using a tea towel. Hazelnut skins are tannic and bitter, and the difference between a praline paste with skins and one without is obvious in a delicate buttercream.
  • If the paste stalls and stays gritty no matter how long you grind, add neutral oil a teaspoon at a time. Small batches are the usual culprit, because there is not enough mass for the blade to work against.
  • Praline paste separates in the jar and the oil rises. Stir the whole jar back together before measuring, and store it in a cool cupboard rather than the fridge, where it sets too hard to scoop.
  • American pecan pralines are an entirely different confection. If a recipe from a French or Italian pastry book asks for praline paste, it is not asking for anything related to a New Orleans pecan candy.

Frequently asked questions

Is praline paste the same as Nutella?

No, and the difference matters in a recipe. Praline paste is caramelised nuts ground with their own caramel, so it is essentially nuts and sugar, with no chocolate and no added fat. Nutella is a sweetened spread built on sugar and palm oil with cocoa and a modest amount of hazelnut. You can substitute Nutella for praline paste, but you should reduce the sugar elsewhere and expect the dessert to taste of chocolate rather than caramel.

Can I just leave praline paste out?

Usually not. In the recipes that call for it, a paris-brest creme mousseline, a praline buttercream, a praline cremeux, the paste is the entire flavour of the dish rather than an accent. Leaving it out gives you plain pastry cream. The least-bad shortcut is two parts toasted nut butter to one part caramel or dulce de leche, which at least gives you roasted nut and burnt sugar in roughly the right proportions.

Can I use praline powder or crushed nut brittle instead?

Yes, and it is the easiest route if you already have it, but grind it first. Put the brittle in a food processor and run it well past the sandy stage until the nut oil releases and it becomes a paste. If you stir the powder in as-is, the sugar will dissolve into your cream or butter and leave you with a sweet, slightly gritty filling instead of a smooth one.

Does praline paste have to be hazelnut?

No. Hazelnut, or praline noisette, is the classic in French pastry, but almond praline paste is equally traditional, and a half-and-half blend is extremely common in professional kitchens. Pistachio and pecan versions work by the same method. Hazelnut has a distinctive musky perfume that a recipe may be built around, so check whether the name specifies noisette.

How long does homemade praline paste keep?

Several weeks in a sealed jar in a cool cupboard, and longer in the fridge if you are willing to warm it before use. The sugar is a preservative, so the limiting factor is the nut oil going rancid. If it smells sharp or crayon-like rather than sweet and toasty, start again.

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