Tigernut milk substitutes

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

Best for

horchata de chufa, kunu aya, smoothies, paleo and AIP baking, porridge

The genuine article and the reason worth checking your cupboard first. Whisk the flour into cold water, leave it twenty minutes to hydrate, blend, then strain through a fine sieve or a cloth. It comes out slightly grittier and a little less sweet than milk made from soaked whole tigernuts, because the flour has already had some of its oil pressed out, so add a teaspoon of honey or a soaked date per cup. Keeps two to three days and separates hard, so shake before pouring.

Milled-rice milk, the closest common match to tigernut milk's sweet, starchy, non-nutty character.

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.

Thin coconut drink from the chiller cabinet, nut-free, grain-free and paleo-friendly.

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.

A built-up plant milk that gets close to tigernut milk's sweet, creamy, mildly nutty profile.

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.

Sweet, creamy grain milk that is easy to find and nut-free.

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.

The non-vegan shortcut, mainly for drinks rather than for allergy or paleo cooking.

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.