7 Best Tapioca Flour Substitutes if You Need an Easy Swap (2024)

You probably have at least one kind of flour in your pantry, but do you have tapioca flour? It can be used to thicken soups, sauces, gravies, and pie fillings, and bakers use the gluten-free flour to give breads and desserts a pleasantly chewy texture. Tapioca flour is a staple in many parts of the world, including the Caribbean and South America (try it in this Brazilian Cheese Bread!), but it’s not quite as common in the United States. If you find yourself needing tapioca flour, don't worry: There are a few easy tapioca flour substitutes that you can try in a pinch. Read on to find the one that works best for your recipe.

But first, what is tapioca flour exactly? If your mind goes straight to tapioca pudding, you’re not totally off—but tapioca flour is not the same as the pearls used in the classic dessert. Tapioca flour is made from cassava, a starchy root vegetable (also known as yuca). Like most flours, tapioca flour is a fine, white powder. It's flavorless, which means it's great for both sweet and savory recipes. You may also find it labeled as tapioca starch. In fact, it can be used much like cornstarch in many recipes. The best tapioca flour substitutes are other flours or starches.

Is tapioca flour gluten-free?

Yes! Tapioca flour is naturally gluten-free. (Always check ingredient labels to make sure that your flour is produced in a gluten-free facility.) Because it can be used for baking or as a cornstarch substitute to thicken fruit pies, puddings, soups, sauces, and gravies, tapioca flour is a great ingredient to keep on hand if you have a gluten intolerance or just want to cut back on gluten.

Where can I buy tapioca flour?

There used to be a limited variety of flour varieties at the supermarket, but these days, the flour options are endless! Look for tapioca flour in the baking aisle at your grocery store, or try a natural foods store. Tapioca flour can also be ordered online. Just don’t confuse it with tapioca pearls—those are used to make pudding!

(Want to learn more simple pantry swaps? Check out these regular flour substitutes.)

This may seem obvious, but before you start looking for tapioca flour substitutes, check to see if you have any tapioca starch—they're the same thing! (The label just varies by brand.) The flour is made from the starchy pulp of the cassava and dried in order to extract as much starch as possible, which is why it’s often referred to as tapioca starch.

Cornstarch is probably something you have in your kitchen—and it's a great tapioca flour substitute if you're using it as a thickening agent. You only need to use half the amount of cornstarch in place of any tapioca flour called for in a recipe (cornstarch is a stronger thickener). Bonus: It’s also gluten-free!

You can usually use cassava flour in place of tapioca starch or tapioca flour—it will lend structure to baked goods and act as a thickener in watery dishes like soups and stews. Despite coming from the same root, cassava flour and tapioca flour are different: Cassava flour comes from the entire cassava root (tapioca flour comes just from the pulp). Cassava flour is higher in fiber, so you don’t need to combine it with other thickening agents. Replace tapioca flour with cassava flour in a 1:1 ratio, but leave out or reduce any additional thickeners, like other flours or gums. While mild in flavor, cassava flour does have a slightly nutty note to it, whereas tapioca flour is flavorless.

If you’re in a pinch, you can swap all-purpose flour evenly for tapioca flour in most recipes, but keep in mind that all-purpose flour contains gluten. The swap may affect the texture of baked goods slightly—they'll have a little less chew and be slightly more dense. If you're using all-purpose flour as a thickener, remember that it has raw taste that needs to be cooked off—you may need to cook sauces or gravies a little longer. The added cook time will also help to incorporate the powdery texture of all-purpose flour, as it’s a little thicker than tapioca flour. One other thing to note: If you’re using all-purpose flour, don’t expect your dish to have the same glossy finish as when you use tapioca flour.

Potato starch is another gluten-free alternative to tapioca flour. It’s a lot heavier, however, so the replacement ratio will vary depending on what you’re making: If you want to use a small amount to thicken a sauce or gravy, swap equal parts potato starch for tapioca flour. Baked goods will be much more dense if you use a 1:1 ratio, so you’ll want to use a mix of 25 to 50 percent potato starch plus another flour.

Another gluten-free substitute for tapioca flour is rice flour. It’s slightly stickier and thicker compared to tapioca flour, so use about half the amount of rice flour than the amount of tapioca flour in your recipe. If you're baking, you'll want to make up the difference with another flour.

Arrowroot can be labeled as a starch or flour—just like tapioca flour. Arrowroot is also gluten-free, it’s virtually flavorless and it has a similar texture to tapioca flour. You can do an even swap if you’re using it to thicken a dish like a stir-fry. However, you’ll want to use arrowroot with another flour or starch for baking—don't use it as a 1:1 substitution. If you use arrowroot alone, your baked goods will be too dense.