Winter melon substitutes
Winter melon substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Chayote squash
Same amount by weight as the winter melon
The closest match and easy to find in Latin and Asian groceries. Cooked, it is pale, mild and slightly sweet with a firm crisp-tender bite that holds up better than winter melon, so the cubes stay intact in a long simmer instead of going translucent and slumping. Flavour difference is tiny, a hint more green and grassy.
Winter melon is bulk and body, not flavour. Its job in a soup like canh bi dao is to give you soft translucent pieces that soak up the broth and add a clean faint sweetness, which is why it works with such simply seasoned soups and why substituting is easy. Chayote is the best swap at 1:1 and holds its shape even better. Peeled and seeded zucchini is the most available option at 1:1, but it cooks in about five minutes instead of twenty, so add it much later. Daikon radish works 1:1 if you do not mind a peppery edge. Peeled large cucumber is a genuinely good stand-in in a quick soup. Avoid butternut and other sweet winter squashes, which taste and behave nothing like it despite the name.
- Verdict —
- Works
- Best for —
- canh bi dao and clear soups
Updated 26 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
Every option, one card
Ranked| # | Substitute | Instead of winter melon | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chayote squashcanh bi dao and clear soups | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 2 | Zucchini, peeled and seededquick weeknight canh | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 3 | Opo squash or bottle gourdcanh bi dao | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 4 | Daikon radishpork bone and rib soups | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 5 | Large cucumber, peeled and seededquick clear soups | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Not this: butternut, kabocha or other sweet winter squashnothing here | Not recommendedYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
Chayote squash
similar taste and texture
The closest match and easy to find in Latin and Asian groceries. Cooked, it is pale, mild and slightly sweet with a firm crisp-tender bite that holds up better than winter melon, so the cubes stay intact in a long simmer instead of going translucent and slumping. Flavour difference is tiny, a hint more green and grassy.
- Best for
- canh bi dao and clear soups, long-simmered soups, stir-fries, braises
Peel it under running water, since some chayote leaves a slightly sticky sap on your hands. The soft seed in the middle is edible and does not need removing.
Zucchini, peeled and seeded
similar taste, different texture
The everyday supermarket answer. Peel it and scrape out the seedy core and the remaining flesh is pale and mild and looks right in the bowl. The real difference is timing: zucchini goes from firm to mush in about five minutes where winter melon takes twenty, so added at the same point in the recipe it will disintegrate. It is also a touch more grassy and holds less broth.
- Best for
- quick weeknight canh, soups you are eating immediately, stir-fries
Add it in the last five minutes only, cut into chunks at least an inch thick. Do not skip the peeling, because the dark green skin makes a clear soup look muddy.
Opo squash or bottle gourd
similar taste and texture
Almost the same eating experience, from the same family. It is pale, watery, faintly sweet and turns soft and translucent exactly the way winter melon does, and it comes in a manageable size, which is often the real reason people are looking for a substitute. If your grocery has it, this is arguably a better buy than winter melon itself.
- Best for
- canh bi dao, clear soups, Indian and Filipino gourd dishes, smaller households
Sold as opo, bottle gourd, lauki, doodhi or upo. Taste a raw sliver first and discard the whole gourd if it is bitter, which occasionally happens and means it is not good to eat.
Daikon radish
different taste, similar texture
Right texture, different personality. Simmered long enough daikon goes soft and translucent just like winter melon and drinks up broth beautifully, but it brings a distinct peppery radish bite and a faintly sulphurous smell that winter melon does not have. In a pork rib soup that is welcome and traditional in its own right, in a delicate chicken broth it dominates.
- Best for
- pork bone and rib soups, long-simmered broths, braises, Japanese and Chinese soups
Give it twenty-five to thirty minutes, longer than winter melon needs, because undercooked daikon is sharp and hard. A pinch of sugar in the broth softens the peppery edge.
Large cucumber, peeled and seeded
similar taste, different texture
Sounds wrong, works well, and is done in Vietnamese kitchens. A peeled English or field cucumber simmered briefly turns soft and translucent with a clean cool sweetness, quite close to winter melon in a bowl. It is more watery, so it thins the broth slightly, and it will collapse entirely if you cook it more than a few minutes.
- Best for
- quick clear soups, canh with pork or shrimp, when the only gourd in the shop is a cucumber
Cut it into thick half-moons and add it for the last three or four minutes. Scoop out the seeds, which turn slimy and separate from the flesh in hot broth.
Not this: butternut, kabocha or other sweet winter squash
different taste and texture
Worth flagging because the name winter melon invites the mistake. Butternut, kabocha, acorn and pumpkin are sweet, dense and starchy, they thicken and cloud a broth as they cook, and they turn a clean savoury canh into something closer to a sweet vegetable soup. Nothing about their flavour or their behaviour resembles winter melon.
- Best for
- nothing here
If squash is genuinely all you have, chayote, zucchini, opo, cucumber and daikon are all better choices, and so is simply making a different soup.
Questions
5 questionsWhat does winter melon taste like?
Very little, and that is the point. Cooked, it is mild and faintly sweet with a clean vegetal note, somewhere between a cooked cucumber and a very mild summer squash. It exists to take on the flavour of the broth around it and to add soft translucent bulk, which is why a nearly flavourless vegetable can be the star of a soup.
Can I use zucchini instead of winter melon?
Yes, and it is the most practical swap in an ordinary supermarket. Peel it, scrape out the seedy centre and cut it into thick chunks. The one thing you must change is timing: add it in the final five minutes rather than simmering it for twenty, or it will fall apart. It is slightly grassier than winter melon and holds a bit less broth.
Is winter melon the same as winter squash?
No, despite the name. Winter melon is a pale, watery, almost flavourless gourd used in savoury soups, and it is called winter melon because it keeps well through winter rather than because it resembles butternut or pumpkin. Sweet winter squashes are dense and starchy and will make a soup sweet and cloudy. Chayote or opo squash are the right family of substitutes.
Can I leave the winter melon out of canh bi dao?
Not really, since it is the entire vegetable in the soup and the dish is named after it. What you can do is swap it for chayote, opo, peeled zucchini, daikon or peeled cucumber, all of which give you the same soft broth-soaked chunks. If you have none of those, make a different canh with cabbage or bok choy rather than serving a bowl of plain broth.
Is ash gourd the same as winter melon?
Yes. Ash gourd, petha, wax gourd, bi dao and dong gua are all names for the same vegetable, called ash or wax gourd for the pale powdery bloom on a mature skin. An Indian recipe calling for ash gourd and a Vietnamese one calling for bi dao want the same thing from the same market bin.
Tips for substituting winter melon
5 tips- Cut the rind off generously with a knife rather than a peeler, going deep enough to remove the pale hard layer under the skin. That layer never softens and it is why some people find winter melon unpleasantly tough.
- Scrape out the seeds and the spongy core with a spoon. The core cooks to a stringy mush that clouds an otherwise clear broth.
- Cut it into pieces at least an inch thick. Thin slices dissolve, and part of the pleasure of canh bi dao is a soft chunk that still holds together on the spoon.
- Because winter melon has essentially no flavour, it is the broth that has to be right. In a Vietnamese canh that means good pork or chicken stock and fish sauce added at the end, not more of the melon.
- Shops sell it in huge wedges cut to order, so you can buy a pound rather than a whole gourd. Wrapped tightly, a cut wedge keeps about five days in the fridge and the cut face goes slimy before the rest does, so trim it before using.