16 Must-Try Tapioca Flour Recipes for Gluten-Free Cooking (2024)

FAQs

What does tapioca flour do in gluten-free baking? ›

Adding just the right amount of tapioca flour to your baked treats will create a light, airy, crispy and chewy texture. Perfect for adding to bread, cookies, brownies and pie crusts, tapioca flour is a great way to ensure that your ingredients bind together without using gluten!

Tapioca flour is one of the most popular flours in the world. It is highly prized as a South America and Caribbean baking staple for quick cheese bread. In addition, it can be used to thicken pie fillings, gravies, soups, and sauces. It's not quite as expected in the United States, but it is gaining popularity quickly.

The bottom line. Tapioca is high in carbs and calories, so it is not a traditionally healthful food. However, it can help a person meet the recommended daily allowance of several important nutrients. It can also be a tasty, nutritious food choice for people who need to gain weight.

Rice flour works as a good alternative for tapioca flour in baking. It offers a mild rice flavor to bakes and is gluten-free. Rice flour often features in recipes for rice noodles and some pancakes.

It's easy on your gut.

Tapioca starch is gluten-free, so it's a good choice if you have celiac disease. It's also easy to digest because it's low in FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), a type of carbohydrate that's hard for your gut to process.

Arrowroot flour is a good low-carb substitute for tapioca starch in recipes. It's also a starch-based thickener, but contains fewer carbohydrates.

Tapioca starch has a different effect when used as a coating for fried foods. Instead of becoming slippery, it creates an exquisitely crunchy crust that will stay crunchy for a long time. Imagine the same beautiful crunch you hear when eating a potato chip but while biting into a chicken tender.

Tapioca flour often provides a glossy final product, whereas cornstarch results in more of a matte finish. In most recipes, these two starches can be used interchangeably. Yet, you'll want to be careful of the differences listed and only swap in cornstarch if tapioca flour is not readily available to you.

Tapioca starch starts to thicken (gelatinize) at temperatures between 63°C and 84°C (145°F–193°F). It is recommended to mix tapioca starch with liquid ingredients before heating, and to leave it for 5-10 minutes to absorb the liquids. Tapioca makes shiny, translucent thick mixture, and it tolerates freezing very well.

Side effects might include stomach pain, bloating, gas, and vomiting. Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Tapioca is commonly consumed in foods. There isn't enough reliable information to know if tapioca is safe to use in larger amounts as medicine when pregnant or breast-feeding.

What are the negatives of tapioca starch? ›

Due to its lack of protein and nutrients, tapioca is nutritionally inferior to most grains and flours ( 1 ). In fact, tapioca can be considered a source of “empty” calories, since it provides energy but almost no essential nutrients.

Tapioca is low in saturated fat and sodium and contains small amounts of potassium, which may help regulate blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Cassava root is a source of natural resistant starch.

Is Tapioca Gluten-Free? Tapioca is gluten-free. Because it is not a grain (gluten only occurs in the grains wheat, barley, and rye), tapioca is naturally gluten-free in its pure form. However, not all brands and products with tapioca as an ingredient are safe for a gluten-free diet.

Yes! Tapioca flour is a grain free and naturally gluten free powder that you can use in baking, cooking, and frying. It has a neutral flavor that makes it perfect for both sweet and savory foods. Tapioca flour is also Paleo (it's grain-free), and vegan.

Tapioca flour, or tapioca starch, is a popular, gluten-free flour made from the starch of cassava root ( 1 ). It's perhaps best known for the thick, chewy texture it lends to gluten-free baked goods but also works well as an allergy-friendly thickener for sauces, soups, puddings, and stews.

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

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.