Tapioca Flour Substitute

Tapioca flour is used as thickener in food. If you ever run short of tapioca flour, you can prefer the substitutes also. So here’s the article that speaks about tapioca flour substitute.

Tapioca flour is made from the roots of tapioca plant. The scientific name of this plant is Manihot esculenta. Originally, tapioca is a native to Amazon, but today it is cultivated world wide due to its immense benefits as cooking agent. This plant is also known by common names, like cassava, yuca, mandioca, aipim, boba, etc. The roots are ground to produce the starch. The starch further undergoes processing to form powder, flakes, sticks and pearls. Toxins are removed during the processing steps to make it edible. These products are soaked in water. They soak water and get rehydrated. This quality renders them as good edible thickener. Tapioca flour is most commonly used as thickener for soups and gravies. However, there are other thickeners like arrowroot, corn starch, potato starch that form a good tapioca flour substitute.

Tapioca Flour Uses

Tapioca flour is most commonly used in the Western world in variety of recipe. Other products like tapioca pearl and stick also has immense application in culinary activities. Check out the most common uses of tapioca flour.

• Tapioca flour is widely used in milk based dessert puddings and fruit juice. You might also like to read about tapioca pudding recipe.
• In Taiwan, this is widely used to add texture to tea. Tapioca pearls soaked in sugar is used to prepare bubble tea or pearl milk tea.
• Tapioca flour is used in gravies and pie filling.
• It is also used as thickener in stew, sauce and soups. You can freeze the recipe after mixing with tapioca flour.
• Tapioca flour is used as a dairy products thickener.
• It’s used in combination with white rice flour for preparing pancakes, waffles, crackers, pizzas and cookies.

Substitute for Tapioca Flour

Before opting for tapioca flour substitute, you ought to know the quantity of the alternative that can substitute tapioca flour. The most common tapioca flour alternative is arrowroot powder. Corn starch, potato starch, kuzu powder, sago starch, sahlab, soy starch, sweet potato starch, sweet rice flour and water chestnut flour are other substitutes. These ingredients has a particular measurement which allows its application in tapioca flour substitute.

Other tapioca flour substitutes are almond flour, garbanzo bean flour and coconut flour. Tapioca flour renders food chewy and tasty. It is used for making white bread and French bread.

For example:

• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or corn flour = 2 tablespoons of instant tapioca flour
• 1 tablespoon of potato starch or rice starch or flour = 2 tablespoons of instant tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour = 2 tablespoons of instant tapioca
• 1 tablespoon of Arrowroot = 2 tablespoons of instant tapioca flour

Tapioca Flour Preparation

Tapioca flour has a specific method of preparation. If the quantity is not enough or is in excess the food recipes gets spoiled. In one cup of water, you need to add 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour to make the solution thick for pie filling. You can also mix it with potato starch or rice flour in adequate quantity for making soups, sauce and stews. Xanthum gum can be combined with tapioca flour for better thickening. It can also be mixed with cornstarch and soy starch for preparing meat sauce.

Read more about:

• Arrowroot vs Cornstarch
• Arrowroot Substitute
• Cornstarch Substitute Tapioca flour is gluten free and does not contain any artificial ingredients. This makes it a good component of healthy recipes

. If you run short of tapioca flour in between any recipes, you can always pick any of these tapioca flour substitutes. But remember the type of menu you are preparing before choosing any tapioca flour substitute, especially for dairy based products.