Tamarillo substitute

Best substitute

Red Plum plus Peeled Tomato

Use 2 parts plum to 1 part tomato, plus 1 tsp lemon juice for every cup, replacing tamarillo 1:1 by volume

Best for tamarillo chutney

Close match

The closest reconstruction available in an ordinary supermarket. Use dark red plums, skin on, and a ripe plum tomato or Roma with the skin slipped off in boiling water. Chop both and cook them together exactly as you would the tamarillo.

Other tamarillo substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Red Plums Alone
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, plus 2 tsp lemon juice per pound
The single best one-ingredient swap for anything sweet or preserved.
What changes
Plums have the same soft flesh that breaks down into a thick puree and the same tart-sweet balance, and they set well with sugar.
Best for
tamarillo jam, chutney, crumble and pie filling, poached fruit, compote
Noticeably sweeter and less sharp, and it loses the faintly savoury undertone that makes tamarillo chutney taste like tamarillo chutney rather than plum chutney. The lemon juice is not optional; without it the finished preserve tastes flat and syrupy. For chutney, a tablespoon of tomato paste per pound of plums pulls the flavour back toward the original.
3Ripe Roma Tomato plus Sugar and Lime
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, plus 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp lime juice per cup
The right answer when the tamarillo is being used savoury, as in a Colombian or Ecuadorian aji, a salsa or a braise.
What changes
Blanch and peel the tomatoes so the texture matches the skinned tamarillo flesh.
Best for
aji de tomate de arbol, salsa, savoury sauces, braises, soups
Thinner, milder and much less tart than tamarillo, and it has none of the passion-fruit note that comes from the seed pocket. The sugar and lime are there to fake the sweet-sour tension. In a blended aji with chilli, garlic, coriander and lime the difference is small; in a dish where the fruit is the main flavour it is obvious.
4Passion Fruit Pulp plus Plum
Close match
Use 1 tbsp passion fruit pulp plus 1 cup chopped plum for every cup of tamarillo
If you can get passion fruit, this gets closer to the actual aroma of tamarillo than any other combination, because the seedy centre of a tamarillo genuinely does taste of passion fruit.
What changes
Best for
desserts, sorbet and ice cream, cocktails and drinks, sauces for pork or duck, jam
Very close on aroma and acidity, and clearly the best option for anything where the fruit flavour is the point. It is more perfumed and more tropical than tamarillo, so stay near a tablespoon of pulp per cup rather than dumping in the whole fruit. Strain the seeds out if you want a smooth sauce.
5Rhubarb plus Sugar
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, plus 2 tbsp extra sugar per pound
Not a flavour match at all, but a genuinely good behaviour match for baked and preserved tamarillo, because rhubarb brings the same aggressive tartness and collapses into a thick, tangy puree.
What changes
Best for
crumble and cobbler, jam, pie filling, compote
Tastes green and sour rather than fruity, and it turns pink-grey rather than deep red, so add a few chopped dark plums or a spoonful of raspberry jam for colour. Choose this only if tartness matters more to your recipe than fruitiness. Rhubarb leaves are not edible, so use stalks only.
6Tamarind Paste plus Tomato
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 tsp tamarind paste plus 1 cup chopped tomato for every cup of tamarillo
A pantry improvisation for savoury cooking, where the tamarind supplies the fruity sourness and the tomato supplies the flesh and colour.
What changes
Best for
curries and stews, savoury sauces, marinades, chutney
Darker, earthier and distinctly more Indian-tasting than tamarillo, with a molasses note tamarillo does not have. It works well in anything already spiced and badly in anything delicate. Add the tamarind gradually, since a teaspoon can quickly turn into the dominant flavour.

What is Tamarillo?

Tamarillo is an egg-shaped South American fruit, also called tree tomato or tomate de arbol, with glossy red or golden skin and tart flesh around a pocket of seeds that tastes closer to passion fruit than to anything in the tomato aisle, and in a recipe it is doing three jobs at once: supplying sharp acidity, a thin fruity body and a deep red colour.

Cooking tips

Peel tamarillos the way you peel tomatoes: cover with boiling water for about 30 seconds, then slip the skins off. The skin is thin but tough and bitter, and leaving it on is the single most common reason a tamarillo dish tastes unpleasantly astringent.
Golden tamarillos are milder and sweeter than red ones, so if a recipe specifies red and you have gold, add an extra squeeze of lemon; if it specifies gold and you have red, add a little more sugar.
A ripe tamarillo gives slightly when pressed, like a ripe plum. Firm fruit tastes harsh and green, so leave it on the counter for a few days before using. Ripe ones keep about a week in the fridge and freeze well whole for later jam.
Tamarillo browns and dulls quickly once cut. Toss chopped fruit with a little lemon juice if it is going into a salad or on a tart rather than into a pot.
If your recipe is a tested water-bath canning recipe for tamarillo jam, chutney or relish, do not swap in a lower-acid fruit like tomato or pear and do not reduce the vinegar or lemon juice, because the acidity is what makes the jar safe. Use the substitute for a fresh batch you keep in the fridge, or follow a tested recipe written for the fruit you actually have from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just use tomatoes instead of tamarillos?

In a savoury dish, mostly yes. Peel ripe Roma tomatoes, use them one for one by weight, and add about a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of lime juice per cup to imitate the sweet-sour balance. In a jam, crumble or dessert, tomatoes alone will taste watery and vegetal, so use plums instead, or a blend of two parts plum to one part tomato.

Is a tamarillo a tomato?

It is a relative, not the same thing. Tamarillo, tree tomato and tomate de arbol are all names for the same fruit, which belongs to the same botanical family as tomatoes, potatoes and aubergines. It is much tarter and more intensely fruity than a tomato, and it is used far more often in sweet dishes, jams and drinks than tomatoes are.

Can I leave the tamarillo out altogether?

Not if it is a main ingredient, because a tamarillo chutney or a tamarillo loaf has nothing left without it. If it is one fruit among several in a compote or a salsa, you can leave it out and simply increase the other fruit, but add a squeeze of lemon or lime to replace the acidity you removed, or the dish will taste noticeably duller.

What can I use instead of tamarillo in aji?

Ecuadorian and Colombian aji de tomate de arbol relies on the fruit for sour body under the chilli. Use peeled ripe tomatoes with a teaspoon of lime juice and a teaspoon of sugar per cup, or better, half tomato and half red plum. Blend with the chilli, garlic, coriander and salt as usual and adjust the lime at the end until it tastes sharp rather than sweet.

Do frozen or canned tamarillos work as well as fresh?

Yes, for anything cooked. Tamarillos freeze whole with no preparation and the flesh is easy to scoop out once thawed, which is what most home cooks in New Zealand do at the end of the season. The thawed flesh is soft and no good for slicing onto a tart, but for jam, chutney, sauce and baking it behaves the same as fresh.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Tamarillo substitute

Other tamarillo substitutes

2Red Plums Alone

3Ripe Roma Tomato plus Sugar and Lime

4Passion Fruit Pulp plus Plum

5Rhubarb plus Sugar

6Tamarind Paste plus Tomato