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Whether you can’t use them or don’t have any available, here are the best substitutes for pine nuts for pesto and other recipes.
There are lots of recipes that call for pine nuts, technically the seeds from pine cones. The most popular recipe with pine nuts is pesto, but they’re common in other Mediterranean and Italian-style recipes for pasta, on greens, and even in baking.
You’re here for substitutes, though, and I get it. Pine nuts can be expensive and hard to find because they’re difficult to harvest, and the health of trees worldwide is waning. If you’re looking to substitute these fancy nuts in a recipe, there are ways to get around it. I’ve tested the options I’ll offer here, so you can rest easy that the finished product will still taste great.
Best substitutes for pine nuts
How these options work depends on the type of recipe and how the pine nuts are used, but I’ll include some tips on best uses for each.
1. Cashews
The best substitute for pine nuts is chopped cashews. Cashews have a lightly sweet flavor and soft texture that mimics pine nuts rather well. Chop them down into roughly the size of pine nuts, about 1/2-inch long pieces.
To make them even better, toast the cashews in a dry pan for 3 to 5 minutes over medium heat until they’re fragrant and lightly browned. Toasting the nuts gets an even more similar flavor to the nuttiness of pine nuts.
Cashews work very well as a substitute for pine nuts in pesto. Try my basil cashew pesto or vegan cashew pesto to see what I mean.
2. Almonds
Toasted almonds are my second-favorite pine nut flavor dupe. They’re best slivered or sliced, or you can chop whole almonds into 1/2-inch pieces. Almonds have a different flavor from pine nuts, but they’ll work in a pinch. They have a lightly sweet flavor that gets even better toasted to mimic the nutty flavor of pine nuts. They work in pesto as well as pasta and salads.
3. Pistachios
While they’ll result in a different flavor profile, that can be a welcome thing if you love pistachios. (I do!) Much like almonds, pistachios are commonly used in Italian recipes, so they’re an easy substitute for pine nuts if you’re cooking with those flavors. You can use pistachios in pesto, pasta, and salad. Again, just know that the unique flavor of a pine nut is not replicated. It will taste like pistachio!
Related recipes
Here are a few more recipes made with pine nuts:
To substitute almonds or walnursdo I / can I I use salted nuts?
Yes, but you may need to cut salt in the remainder of the recipe.