Tigernut Milk substitute

Best substitute

Tigernut flour blended with water

Use 3 tbsp tigernut flour for every 1 cup water

Best for horchata de chufa

Close match

Ground dried tigernuts reconstituted, which is exactly what the milk is made from.

Other tigernut milk substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Rice milk, sweetened
Different texture
Use the same amount
Milled-rice milk, the closest common match to tigernut milk's sweet, starchy, non-nutty character.
What changes
Best for
horchata-style drinks, smoothies, cereal and porridge, nut-free kitchens, baking
The best supermarket answer, and a logical one: Mexican horchata is made from rice, and Spanish horchata de chufa from tigernuts, so the two drinks are close cousins. Rice milk shares the natural sweetness and the mild starchy body and, like tigernut milk, contains no nuts. It is noticeably thinner and has none of tigernut's coconut-and-almond richness, so add a tablespoon of neutral oil or a spoonful of coconut cream per cup if you want the mouthfeel back. Not suitable for paleo or AIP cooking, where grains are excluded.
3Carton coconut milk (the drinkable kind)
Different taste
Use the same amount
Thin coconut drink from the chiller cabinet, nut-free, grain-free and paleo-friendly.
What changes
Best for
paleo and AIP recipes, smoothies, baking, porridge, iced drinks
The right swap when tigernut milk was chosen for a paleo or autoimmune-protocol recipe, because it clears the same restrictions: no nuts, no grains, no dairy, no soy. The difference is flavor rather than function. Tigernut milk tastes sweet and faintly almondy with an earthy edge; coconut drink tastes clearly of coconut, so a glass of horchata made with it reads as a coconut drink with cinnamon in it. Sweeten it a little, since coconut drink is less sweet than tigernut milk. Buy the carton, not the tin, or the result will be far too rich.
4Almond milk with a spoonful of coconut cream
Close match
1 cup almond milk plus 1 tbsp coconut cream and 1 tsp sugar
A built-up plant milk that gets close to tigernut milk's sweet, creamy, mildly nutty profile.
What changes
Best for
horchata-style drinks, desserts and puddings, baking, smoothies
Flavor-wise this lands nearest of anything you can assemble from ordinary ingredients, because almond gives the nutty note, coconut cream gives the fat and tigernut milk sits somewhere between the two anyway. The obvious problem is that it contains almonds, so it is useless if tigernut milk was chosen for a nut allergy, which is one of its main appeals. Stir well, since the coconut cream needs warming or vigorous whisking to disperse. Also not paleo-strict for anyone excluding nuts.
5Oat milk
Different taste
Use the same amount
Sweet, creamy grain milk that is easy to find and nut-free.
What changes
Best for
porridge and cereal, baking, coffee, smoothies
A serviceable everyday swap where tigernut milk is just the liquid in a recipe. It matches the sweetness well and beats rice milk on creaminess, but it tastes distinctly of oats, which is a very different kind of sweetness from tigernut's earthy, coconutty one, and it can taste slightly slimy in a cold drink. It is also out for paleo and AIP cooking, and standard oat milk is not gluten-free. For a bowl of granola nobody will notice; for a glass of horchata they will.
6Whole dairy milk with sugar and cinnamon
Different taste
1 cup milk plus 1 tsp sugar
The non-vegan shortcut, mainly for drinks rather than for allergy or paleo cooking.
What changes
Best for
horchata-style drinks, baking, puddings and custards
If dairy is allowed and you simply want a sweet creamy spiced drink, whole milk with sugar and a good grating of cinnamon gets you somewhere pleasant, though it is honestly a different drink rather than a substitute; you lose the earthy, faintly almond-like tigernut flavor completely. It performs better than tigernut milk in custards, because it has protein that sets. Useless for the vegan, dairy-free, paleo or AIP contexts that usually bring people to tigernut milk in the first place.

What is Tigernut Milk?

Tigernut Milk is a naturally sweet, creamy drink made by soaking and blending tigernuts, which are small tubers rather than true nuts, so the milk is completely nut-free; it is sold as horchata de chufa in Spain and kunu aya in Nigeria.

Cooking tips

Tigernuts are tubers, not nuts, despite the name, which is why tigernut milk turns up in nut-free and school-safe recipes. If that is why the recipe specifies it, do not swap in almond or cashew milk; go to rice, oat, hemp or coconut instead.
Tigernut milk is already sweet without any added sugar, more so than any other plant milk. Whenever you swap in an unsweetened milk, add roughly a teaspoon of sugar, honey or one soaked and blended date per cup, or a horchata de chufa will taste thin and a kunu aya will taste flat.
For kunu aya, the flavor comes as much from what goes in with the tigernuts as from the tigernuts themselves, usually dates, fresh ginger and sometimes coconut. Blend those into whatever milk you substitute and the drink stays recognisable even if the base has changed.
Homemade tigernut milk and every homemade substitute for it separate within hours, because there are no emulsifiers. Strain through a nut-milk bag or a doubled square of muslin rather than a sieve if you want it smooth, keep it no more than three days, and shake hard each time.
In paleo and AIP baking, tigernut milk is often chosen alongside tigernut flour, and swapping the milk for coconut drink shifts the whole flavor towards coconut. If the recipe already contains coconut flour or coconut oil, consider using rice milk instead so the coconut does not take over, assuming grains are allowed on your protocol.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest substitute for tigernut milk?

Tigernut flour blended with water, at about three tablespoons of flour per cup, since it is the same ingredient in another form. If you have none, sweetened rice milk is the nearest thing on a supermarket shelf, because it shares the sweet starchy character and the lack of nuts, and Mexican rice horchata and Spanish horchata de chufa are close relatives. Add a tablespoon of coconut cream per cup to make up for the fat that rice milk lacks.

Is tigernut milk nut-free?

Yes. Tigernuts, also called chufa, are small tubers from a sedge plant, not tree nuts, so the milk contains no nut protein and appears in nut-free and school-safe recipes. That is important when substituting: if the recipe specified tigernut milk to avoid nuts, then almond, cashew and hazelnut milks are not options, and you should reach for rice, oat, hemp or carton coconut milk instead. As always with allergies, read the specific carton for shared-line warnings.

Can I use tigernut milk and almond milk interchangeably?

In cooking and baking, mostly yes, one for one. Tigernut milk is sweeter and slightly earthier, so swapping in unsweetened almond milk leaves a sweet recipe tasting a little bare; a teaspoon of sugar per cup closes the gap. Where they are not interchangeable is a nut-free context, and in horchata de chufa, where the tigernut flavor is the drink itself. Almond milk plus a spoonful of coconut cream and a pinch of cinnamon comes surprisingly close for that.

Can I just leave the tigernut milk out?

Not really, because it is usually the liquid and a good part of the sweetness. In a smoothie you can cut it back and let the fruit carry the texture. In baking, replace the volume with another milk, or with water plus a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of sugar per cup, rather than omitting it. In horchata de chufa or kunu aya there is nothing to leave out, since the milk is the recipe.

Why does my tigernut milk substitute taste less sweet?

Because tigernut milk is unusually sweet on its own. Tigernuts contain a fair amount of natural sugar and a good deal of oil, so the milk tastes sweet and rich with nothing added, while unsweetened rice, oat, almond or coconut milks do not. Add a teaspoon of sugar, honey or maple syrup per cup, or blend in a soft pitted date, and taste as you go. A pinch of salt also makes any of these read as sweeter than they are.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Tigernut Milk substitute

Other tigernut milk substitutes

2Rice milk, sweetened

3Carton coconut milk (the drinkable kind)

4Almond milk with a spoonful of coconut cream

5Oat milk

6Whole dairy milk with sugar and cinnamon