If you're new to tigernut flour, this is the guide for you! I share all you need to know about tigernut flour, where it comes from, how to use it and the best tigernut flour recipes.

If you've followed a paleo or grain free diet for a while, chances are you've heard about tigernut flour.
Personally, I've been baking with tigernut flour for about 10 years (yes, a long time). I always felt like a grain free diet was too heavy in nuts, so tigernut flour seemed like the perfect baking alternative.
I love that you can create healthy, grain free AND nut free recipes with tigernut flour. Plus, it's naturally sweet, so tastes great in baked goods.
This guide to tigernut flour will tell you everything you need to know about it and how to use it in your baking.
What is Tigernut Flour?
Despite its name, tigernut flour is not made from nuts.
Tigernut flour comes from tigernuts, which are small, round root vegetables. They have a naturally sweet taste and hard, rough outer shell. In addition, tigernuts are rich in prebiotic fiber, making them beneficial for the gut.
Tigernut flour is made from peeled tigernuts that have been ground into a fine flour. It is naturally gluten free, grain free, paleo and vegan friendly.
What Does Tigernut Flour Taste Like?
Tigernut flour has a sweet, nutty flavor. I find it similar to almond flour, but sweeter in flavor.
What's the Texture of Tigernut Flour?
Tigernut flour produces baked goods with a similar texture to almond flour. Tigernut flour can be quite gritty, depending on the brand. Some people find this texture undesirable, but I don't tend to notice it much.
Tigernut flour usually works best in combination with other flours or starches, such as tapioca starch. You'll find that I use the combination of tigernut and tapioca in many of my recipes.
Nutritional Information
Tigernut flour is mostly made up of carbohydrates. Depending on one’s carb tolerance, it can be a part of a ketogenic diet.
¼ cup of tigernut flour contains 14 grams of carbohydrate, and 5 grams of that is sugar; meaning it is naturally sweet. This is great for baking because you don’t need to add as much sugar to sweeten tigernut desserts.
This serving size also contains about 7 grams of fat and 1 gram of protein.
Why is Tigernut Flour Healthy?
Tigernut flour is considered healthy because it's gluten free and grain free and generally well tolerated by people. It can be a great addition to a low inflammatory diet.
Is Tigernut Flour Gluten Free?
Yes! Tigernut flour is naturally gluten free. It's grain free, paleo and vegan friendly as well.
Is Tigernut Flour Better Than Almond Flour?
This is all based on preference and dietary restrictions. People that can't consume nuts may gravitate towards tigernut flour. However, some people find that tigernut flour is too gritty in texture for them.
As far as taste goes, they both have a delicious, nutty flavor. Tigernut flour tends to be sweeter.
Nutrition wise, tigernut flour is lower in fat and protein, and higher in carbs than almond flour. It has less calcium and potassium per serving, but more iron.
Tigernut flour contains large amounts of fiber and resistant starch, that has prebiotic properties and can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.
What Can You Make With Tigernut Flour?
There are SO many recipes you can make with tigernut flour. Anything from cookies to cakes, breaded chicken to pancakes.
Here are some of my favorite tigernut flour recipes:
Where to Buy Tigernut Flour
Tigernut flour can be found online and at some health food stores. Personally, I buy tigernut flour from Amazon. Here are some popular brands:
I tend to use Anthony's in most of my recipes.
Baking Tips
- Sift tigernut flour before using it in a recipe. Tigernut flour has a tendency to clump, which can easily be solved by sifting your flour.
- Combine it with starches such as tapioca starch or arrowroot starch when baking breads, muffins and/or pancakes.
- If your tigernut flour is too gritty, grind it in a coffee grinder for a smoother texture.
Tigernut Flour Substitutes
There isn't a perfect substitute for tigernut flour, but almond flour will work in some recipes.
I find that almond flour can be swapped for most no-bake tigernut flour recipes. Baked goods like muffins and breads can be a bit trickier because the fat-protein-carbohydrate ratios of almond flour and tigernut flour are different.
Noelle F
This article answered all the questions I had about tigernut flour. I hadn't heard of it until I found Katie's blog a few months back. Thank you for this informative read!
Katie
I'm so glad you found it helpful 🙂 Happy baking!!
Nat-a
Thanks for the information on tiger nut and all your wonderful tiger nut recipes 🙌 so very helpful that you offer healthy recipes too thank goodness .
I worry about using *to much nuts/flour within a Palio diet mainly bc of the oxalates 🙁 so Tigernut is a affordable alternative and that it’s actually good for gut health is a huge bonus 😀
Unfortunately I can’t find the brands you suggested so I just followed your suggestions on sifting and grinding the flour so it’s less gritty and that helps for less grit . I think considering the health benefits of Tigernut flour it’s worth the grit. And like you said adding abiT of another flour to the recipe helps again with reducing the grit texture . My child is a picky eater and even he accepts tiger nut.
Katie
Thank you! I'm so glad you found this guide helpful. Hopefully your child likes tigernut - all my kids do, as it's naturally sweet in flavor.
Sheila Middleton
I have started to use tiger nut flour.
My first bread was not quite what I expected it didn’t rise much.
Could this be that as I’m using only egg yolks and not whole eggs due to the autoimmune paleo diet. I made a guess and used 5 yolks and not 4 whole ones.
It also wasn’t quite cooked at the bottom, even though I tested it.
I remembered that my oven is a ‘slow’ one, so I will increase the oven from gas 4 to 5, hopithat will help.
Other than that the bread was delicious and my husband liked it as well.
Thank you so much for showing us all how to cook with tiger nut flour.
Sheila Middleton.
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Katie
Hi! I'm glad you're enjoying the tigernut recipes. Yes, using just the yolks instead of whole eggs will change the texture of baked goods.