Cardamom Substitute: What to Use in Chai, Sweets and Biryani

No spice tastes exactly like green cardamom, so the best substitute depends on the dish. In chai, use a slice of ginger with one clove. In sweets and payasam, use a small pinch of nutmeg with a few saffron strands. In biryani and curries, use a little extra cinnamon and clove or some garam masala. In baking, use equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg.

Why is cardamom hard to replace?

Green cardamom has an unusual mix of flavours: floral, a little citrusy, slightly cooling, with a sweet warmth underneath. Most substitutes cover one or two of those notes but not all of them. So the aim is to match the role cardamom plays in your dish rather than its exact taste.

Cardamom substitutes by dish

For chai

• A thin slice of fresh ginger plus one clove per two cups. It won't taste of cardamom, but you'll still get a warm, spiced chai.
• A small piece of cinnamon (about 2 cm) per two cups, for a sweeter, woodier cup.

For payasam, kheer and Indian sweets

• Freshly grated nutmeg: warm and sweet, but much stronger than cardamom. Use about a quarter of the amount.
• Saffron or a few drops of rose water: for fragrance rather than spice.
• Dry ginger (chukku) powder: works well in jaggery-based pradhamans, a pinch at a time.

For biryani, pulao and meat curries

• Slightly more of the other whole spices: an extra clove and a little more cinnamon in the hot ghee.
• A pinch of fennel seeds: adds some sweetness in Kerala-style meat dishes.
• Garam masala at the end: most blends already contain some cardamom.
• Black cardamom (half a pod): smoky rather than floral, but it fits savoury dishes.

For cakes and baking

• Equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg, adding up to the amount of cardamom in the recipe.
• Orange or lemon zest with a little cinnamon, to echo cardamom's citrus side.

Quick substitution table

If your recipe lists pods instead of ground cardamom, our cardamom pods to ground conversion helps you work out the amount first.

Can you use black cardamom instead of green?

Only in savoury food. Black cardamom (badi elaichi) is a different spice, dried over fire, with a smoky, earthy, camphor-like flavour. Use about half as much in biryani, dal or meat curries. In sweets, chai and baking it tastes wrong. Our post on green vs black cardamom explains the difference.

What not to use

• Cumin or coriander: earthy and savoury, nothing like cardamom.
• A lot of clove: one clove helps, but three will take over the whole dish.
• Too much nutmeg: in large amounts it turns bitter, and it isn't meant to be eaten in big quantities.
• Vanilla in savoury food: fine in a cake, odd in a curry.

Can old cardamom still work?

If you have a few old pods or some tired powder, use them before reaching for a substitute. Crush the pods well and use one and a half times the usual amount. Stale cardamom is weaker but still tastes like cardamom, which no substitute does. For why powder fades so much faster, see cardamom pods vs powder.

For next time, a small pack of whole pods keeps well for months in a closed jar. Our Kerala cardamom comes as whole pods from Idukki.