You’re doing some baking or cooking up a dish, and you need to use oat flour. The problem is that you don’t have any on hand to use. You’re not even sure if the store stocks it. What do you do?
Thankfully, there are lots of good alternatives to oat flour that you can substitute for using instead.
The popularity of oat flour has grown because it is healthy, can be purchased gluten-free, and works well in various recipes, from fluffy muffins to wholesome bread.
Check out our list of substitutes for oat flour below.
1. All-Purpose Flour
If you’re following a simple recipe and not on a gluten-free diet, you can use regular white flour (all-purpose flour).
Self-raising flour might be a better idea for some dishes and could even improve the overall feel of the food compared to oat flour. So it would be best if you kept that in mind.
When using regular flour, it does absorb water more readily than oat flour, so you should make sure to adjust the quantities of water, other ingredients, and so on while cooking or baking.
2. Rice Flour
Rice flour is another popular alternative to oat flour because it is gluten-free, making it ideal for people with celiacs.
You can use rice flour for making everything from noodles and pasta to cookies. However, it isn’t as absorbent as other flours, which means you should mix well and add water gradually. Another thing about rice flour is that it might not be as sweet as oat flour, but you can also purchase sweet rice flour, which might be better for baking purposes.
Note: Most recommend avoiding using rice flour for baking bread as it doesn’t give the nice texture you’d like for fluffy soft slices of bread.
3. Almond Flour
Contrary to popular belief, almonds are not nuts. However, Almond Flour is considered a nut-based flour. That said, it is gluten-free and extremely healthy. Also, like oat flour, it absorbs water at around the same rate, meaning that you won’t need to adjust the recipe much, if at all.
You can use this as a direct substitute in recipes such as cookies, muffins, and other baked treats. It also works very well for pancakes.
It can add another dimension to many recipes with a mild and sweet nutty flavor, so if you’re not allergic to nuts, then give it a go.
4. Buckwheat Flour
Buckwheat Flour might be considered an acquired taste by some. Still, this flour that has been popular in parts of Asia for hundreds of years is quickly becoming favored in the West by pastry chefs looking to add a new dimension to baked goods with its distinctive earthy flavors.
This flour is gluten-free; it is an excellent option for people looking out for their health. You can incorporate this bonafide health food into your recipes with buckwheat flour to make a more robust and healthy dish.
The main issue with buckwheat flour is that it isn’t always readily available in many grocery stores. Otherwise, it’d be higher up on this list.
5. Amaranth Flour
Amaranth Flour is another gluten-free option packed with protein and has been used for thousands of years in the Americas.
Many people now have this flour in the pantry, having bought it at some point, but it isn’t widely available in all stores yet.
Neither a grain nor a nut, Amaranth has been worked into flour that works well for baking bread, thickening sauces, and making slurries. You should use it as a substitute for oat flour in those situations, especially if you’ve no other option in the kitchen.
Conclusion
There are several good options for an oat flour substitute, and the odds are that you’ll have one of these options at home already. If not, you can run down to the store and buy one of the options on this list, with at least one of them likely to be in the store even when oat flour isn’t.
In most cases, if you don’t have a gluten issue, it would be best if you use all-purpose flour. In other instances, Rice Flour or Almond Flour would be your next best bet.