What Can You Substitute Fenugreek?

If you love curry powder blends such as garam masala, you might be interested in fenugreek too. Fenugreek is a common spice that is often used in Indian dishes and other curry powder blends. It makes meat tasty and is also used in particular tea blends.

However, sometimes getting it in the market can be an uphill task. Did you know that you can get a fenugreek substitute and use it instead? Find out some alternatives that you can use in place of this superb ingredient.

What is Fenugreek Spice?

Fenugreek spice is a popular ingredient in Indian food. It comes from a plant called fenugreek, which is also called Greek hay. This is a native plant in the Mediterranean and Asia.

Its square-shaped golden seeds are dried and used as a spice. This spice produces a maple-syrup flavor and has a pinch of bitterness that enhances its taste. Its fresh leaves can also be used as a spice in some culinary dishes.

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What is Fenugreek Used for?

There are many ways of using this herb, especially in the kitchen. You can use it for soups and make them have an amazing flavor. The leaves are also used in tea and act as a substitute for coffee.

You can use fenugreek as a meat rub to make your meat delicious. Finally, its seeds are used as a spice on various dishes through slow cooking.

Fenugreek Seeds Substitute

These seeds are essential because of their health benefits and a wide variety of uses. However, if you are looking for a substitute for fenugreek, do not be tempted to use its leaves. The cause is that fenugreek leaves have a different flavor than the seeds. Below are other substitutes that you might instead of.

Maple Syrup

If you are looking for another fenugreek alternative with the same taste as it is, maple syrup is your best choice. Both maple and fenugreek have a compound called sotolon, which has the same taste.

However, there’s no guarantee that you can achieve the same taste as fenugreek when you use maple syrup for all dishes. It’s possible to end up with too sweet tastes depending on the nature of that food.

You can try both ingredients if they are available and alternate between them. The most important thing is to be cautious not to use too much maple syrup on your dish. Maple syrup is too sweet. Adding more than one tablespoon might interfere with the taste of the food especially if it’s salty.

Curry Powder

Curry powder is a common spice that gives food a great flavor. If you need something else to substitute with fenugreek, you might want to use curry powder. Curry powder is a mixture of several ingredients like powdered fenugreek seeds, coriander, turmeric, ground cumin, ground cloves, and other natural spices.

To get the best results when using curry powder as a substitute for fenugreek, consider cooking it first. This helps to reduce the aromas of other spices in fenugreek.

Mustard Seeds

Get ready to enjoy another flavor that stands in place of fenugreek. Mustard seeds are a great fenugreek replacement, thanks to their earthiness and lack of sweet taste.

However, consider using the yellow mustard seeds to get the taste of fenugreek. The only difference between fenugreek and mustard seeds is that mustards tend to have a stronger aroma.

You can reduce the strong aroma in mustard seeds by slightly heating them. With this, you will achieve the exact taste of fenugreek.

Fennel Seeds

You can use fennel seeds to substitute fenugreek seeds. However, be careful to use the right amount since they tend to be sweeter than fenugreek seeds. You might want to combine it with yellow mustard seeds and crush them.

Heat the mixture slightly, and you will notice that the sweetness of fennel seeds will reduce.

Fenugreek Leaves Substitute

You can use fenugreek leaves to prepare popular dishes like butter chicken. In this case, you will be using fenugreek leaves as vegetables. What if fenugreek leaves are not available? Can you get any replacement for fenugreek leaves?

Let’s find out some substitutes below.

Spinach

Who knew that spinach could be a perfect alternative for fenugreek leaves? The best thing is that spinach is always readily available. However, the taste of spinach may not be the same as fenugreek leaves.

But it’s a great substitute because it offers the same benefits. You can also use it as curry leaves substitute and achieve awesome results.

Collard Greens

Here is yet another substitute that you can use when you don’t have fenugreek leaves. Collard green tastes like fenugreek but has a slightly bitter taste. Pluck collard green leaves wash them and use them in your recipe.

Celery Leaves

Celery leaves might be great fenugreek spice substitutes if you can’t access it. The most amazing thing is that it has the same health benefits and tastes as fenugreek leaves. It would help if you chopped it into small pieces to enjoy the taste.

Final Advice

Fenugreek is an awesome herb with many health benefits. That’s the reason why it’s always in demand. While it is always available in the market, sometimes it may run out of supply. That’s why it’s important to know other replacements, except fenugreek, cardamom substitute for example so that you can use all needed ingredients when one herb isn’t available.

What do you use in place of fenugreek? Share your recipes in the comments below!