Last Updated on April 10, 2024

Almond flour has gained quite a bit of popularity over the last decade or so. It has become a staple flour in a lot of pantries for its versatility, health benefits, and ease of use, especially for those on a gluten-free diet. Almond flour is generally available at most grocery stores now too. You can use almond flour for baking, or for breading in place of other wheat or all purpose flour. You’ve probably heard of almond flour, but in case you haven’t, here’s an overview.

What Is Almond Flour?

Almond flour is a flour made out of finely ground up almonds. Most often, almond flour is just one ingredient- almonds!

Blanched vs. Unblanched Almonds

You may have come across blanched almonds vs. unblanched almonds. Blanched just means the outer skins on the almonds have been removed by boiling the almonds in water prior to grinding up the almonds into a flour as opposed to the whole, skin-on almonds you might be used to snacking on!

Almond Flour vs. Almond Meal

Almond flour is made from blanched almonds (skins removed) and is generally finer in texture. Almond meal is made from ground up almonds with the skins on (unblanched) and is coarser and darker in color. Since almond flour is lighter in color, it’s a better option for desserts where you desire a lighter colored batter, cake, cookie, etc.

I prefer to use almond flour vs. almond meal, for baking especially.

Diets That Include Almond Flour

Almond flour is popular among the gluten-free, paleo, keto, low-carb, diabetic* and plant-based lifestyles. It’s an easy and healthy inclusion into these diets, and often a go-to flour for baking gluten-free and grain-free desserts.

*Almond flour has a low glycemic index making it a great flour option for the diabetic diet, but you’ll still need to be mindful of the other ingredients used in the recipe, such as sugars, other sources of carbs, etc. Be sure to discuss any recipes you’re thinking about making with your physician or dietician.

What You Can Make With Almond Flour

Baking 🍪🧁🍰 Almond flour is most often used in baking, such as cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, biscotti, mug cakes, macarons, and even pies (crust).

Breakfast 🥞🧇🍩 Making popular breakfast food items such as waffles, muffins, donuts and donut holes, banana bread, coffee cake, and pancakes can also be made with almond flour.

Bread 🍞🥖 Making bread from almond flour is popular because of the gluten-free and low-carb component. While yeast doesn’t make almond flour bread rise, using eggs, baking soda and/or baking powder are often used instead of yeast. I have yet to try to make vegan bread using almond flour.

Breaded Foods 🍗 You can use almond flour in place of breadcrumbs for food items such as chicken nuggets, onion rings, fried pickles, cauliflower wings, mozzarella sticks, and those of the like.

No-Bake Snacks & Sweets 🌰 I LOVE using almond flour in no-bake desserts like edible cookie dough, bars, and truffles! It makes these delicious sweet snacks edible because you don’t have to cook almond flour before eating it raw, and there’s no bake time which means these goodies get in my belly faster! 😆

Can I Eat Raw Almond Flour?

Eating almond flour raw is safe, as it’s just made from raw almonds. Other flours really shouldn’t be eaten raw as they can contain bacteria.

You should note that eating raw almond flour may inhibit nutrient absorption. Phytic acid in almond skins can inhibit calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron absorption in your gut. But the blanching process removes the skins, so almond flour (without skins) would be a better choice for those who need to watch their calcium, magnesium, zinc, or iron levels.* Regular (wheat and all purpose flour) also contain phytic acid too. *Source: healthline.com

Nutritional Value (is almond flour healthy?)

Almond flour is considered a very healthy flour to use. Despite the naturally sweeter taste almond flour has, it actually has a low glycemic index (how fast your blood rises from a particular food) and is low in carbs. Almond flour is packed with nutrients, such as vitamin E, helping as an antioxidant, and magnesium (which most Americans struggle to get enough of), helping to improve blood sugar control, reduce insulin resistance, and lower blood pressure.

Almond flour contains higher amounts of healthy fats and fiber compared to wheat flour- which also helps to manage blood sugar levels. Almonds may also lead to lower LDL levels (the “bad” cholesterol). Source: healthline.com

Where To Buy Almond Flour

You can find almond flour in most grocery stores nowadays. You can also buy almond flour online and on Amazon.

Making Your Own Almond Flour

If you are unable to find almond flour in stores, or if you prefer- you can make your own fairly easily at home! Homemade almond flour is simple to make, but you will need a food processor or high quality blender.

Simply add the whole RAW almonds to a quality food processor and blend for short amounts of time, until you achieve a fine flour-like texture. You don’t want to use roasted & salted almonds.

Be careful not to blend too much or it will turn into almond butter! 🙃 Find my full recipe (just 1 ingredient!) in the recipe card below.

How To Store Almond Flour

Almond flour should be stored in an airtight container in a cool dark place. You may also extend the shelf life of almond flour by storing it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a year.

Who Should Avoid Almond Flour

Unfortunately, those with an almond or a nut allergy should NOT use almond flour.

An allergy friendly flour you can try using in place of almond flour in recipes could be sunflower seed flour. I can’t guarantee the results will be the same, but it should work in most recipes.

Can I use Almond Flour in a 1:1 Ratio to Other Flours?

This is a tricky question. The answer depends on the recipe. Almond flour has a lot finer of a texture than other flours, like gluten-free all purpose flour for example. Almond flour doesn’t “soak up” the liquid in a recipe as much as other flours do, so in my opinion I would have to say that with most recipes, swapping almond flour for another flour in a 1:1 ratio would not be optimal for gluten-free, vegan baking. In my experience paying attention to the consistency of the batter/dough rather than subbing 1:1 is the best method. If you have had good experiences with doing so, please leave me a comment below!

Combining Almond Flour With Other Flours

You can certainly use almond flour as the only flour in the recipe, however, I find that mixing almond flour with coconut flour and cassava flour is a wonderful combination for soft baked goods, making them not only gluten-free but grain-free also. Adding coconut flour in the mix does increase carbs a bit, so keep that in mind. I use this combination for many of my grain-free recipes, like my grain-free cupcakes, grain-free donuts and grain-free muffin recipes.

I definitely plan to start making more recipes with just almond flour, so stay tuned! 😉 In the meantime, check out these recipes using almond flour.

Breakfast Recipes Using Almond Flour

Breaded/Savory

Cookies Made With Almond Flour

Pie (Crust)

Almond Flour In Cupcakes

No-Bake Almond Flour Recipes

I hope you love this easy almond flour recipe round-up post and you find some recipes that you love! Almond flour recipes are super popular on the Healthy Little Vittles blog, so I plan to continue to develop and add more over the years. I’ll update this post when I do!

Have you tried any of these recipes? I’d also love to know YOUR favorite way to use almond flour! LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!👇🏻

And in case you want to try making your own almond flour at home, I’ve included a recipe below 🤩.

Pin one of these images on Pinterest!