How to Cook with Chestnut Flour

Chestnut flour is undoubtedly the most underrated paleo flour option in the world.

Why do I think it’s so amazing? Well, for one, it’s delicious.  The first time I sampled a baked good make with it, tears nearly sprang to my eyes.  It tasted almost like Grandma’s home-baked bread! I sometimes get puffed up over how much self-control I posses, but then I eat something (or a few somethings…) made with chestnut flour, and well….I guess I need to work on my willpower.

But I like chestnut flour for other, more nerdy reasons, too.  It is made from a nut, but it has more starch content that other nut flours, so it ends to result in fluffier, lighter confections.  However, it is not nearly as carb-loaded as tapioca, potato, or arrowroot flour.  It doesn’t require nearly as many eggs to rise and be remotely edible like coconut four does, either.  So chemistry-wise, it’s the perfect paleo flour.

Before you go out to buy a 100-pound bag of this stuff, though, here’s a few tips on implementing the use of chestnut flour in your real food kitchen.

Chestnut flour is best used in recipes that benefit from its nutty, slightly earthy flavor.  Think pumpkin muffins, spice cake, and zucchini bread.  When used in the proper context, chestnut flour gives the taste buds the illusion of honey-whole-wheat.  So maybe this flour isn’t great for paleo angel food cake, but it’s perfect in sweeter muffins and breads.

Another thing that’s great about chestnut flour is that it is really fine, and tends to create batters that are about the same consistency as wheat flour batters.  So when contemplating amounts of chestnut flour to add to recipes, you don’t have to completely shift your paradigm like have to with coconut flour.

Chestnut flour has a distinct flavor to it, so if you want to downplay that a bit, you can use chestnut flour in tandem with other grain-free flours, like almond or coconut.  Adding some almond flour to the mix is good for adding volume, while coconut flour is a good thickening agent. (My post on coconut flour)

Chestnut flour has a sweet taste to it, so you can partially rely on it to sweeten your recipes, and get away with adding less sugar to your baked goods.  With things like breads and pancakes, which aren’t supposed to be overly sweet, you can probably nix added sugar altogether.

If you’re wondering where to buy chestnut flour, you can get in off of Amazon:

Hope I’ve convinced you to give chestnut flour a try.  If you need more incentives though, here’s a few recipes from my blog to get you started:

Spiced Pear Crumb Muffins

Chestnut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fluffy Chestnut Flour Pancakes

Chestnut Flour Mug Muffin

Leave a Comment…

1. Have you ever eaten anything made with chestnut flour?
2. Ever eaten anything that brought an old memory to the surface?
3. What chestnut flour recipe do you want to try?

Shared at Fat Tuesday

And Fight Back Friday

And Real Food Friday

*Disclosure: I may receive compensation if you buy products through the links in my blog posts.  I do not link to products I would not personally buy and use myself.