Tap into the many uses of tapioca flour! Also known as tapioca starch, it is a gluten-free baking ingredient and ideal thickening agent. Tapioca flour thickens at low temperatures, remains stable when frozen, and has a neutral taste that won’t overwhelm your dishes. It can be used in a wide range of recipes, from soups and gravies, to pie fillings and baked goods. Step aside, cornstarch! Tapioca flour is the new thickener in town.
What Is Tapioca Flour?
Tapioca flour is a versatile ingredient that is ideal for use in baked goods, and for thickening sauces. It’s extracted as a starch from the cassava plant, a shrub native to South America. In South American indigenous language, cassava is known as tipióka, leading to the English word tapioca.
The Perfect Thickener
Tapioca flour is one of the most popular thickeners, and rightly so. It thickens at a low temperature and retains its consistency when frozen, making it easy to use in many recipes. Tapioca flour thickens so quickly that it can sometimes be used to correct the thickness of sauces right before serving!
When used as a thickener, tapioca flour becomes a clear, glossy gel - the perfect sheen for your dish. It is starchy and chewy, with a neutral taste that won’t compete with the other flavors in a recipe. Because our tapioca flour is a fine powder, it will dissolve with a uniform consistency, unlike tapioca pearls.
How to Use Tapioca Flour
1) Substitute for cornstarch: Use 2 tbsp tapioca flour for each 1 tbsp cornstarch.
2) Thickener for soups and gravies: Stir in tapioca flour once your dish is almost finished cooking. The amount of tapioca flour needed will vary depending on the desired consistency.
3) Pie fillings: Perfect for making pies, tapioca flour remains stable when frozen, thickens at low temperatures and imparts a glossy sheen.
4) Baking ingredient: Tapioca flour is often an ingredient in gluten-free baking blends, and you’ll see it in many baking recipes since it adds the chew that gluten-free baked goods often lack. It works best in combination with other gluten-free flours.
Is Tapioca Flour Gluten-Free?
Yes, our tapioca flour is gluten-free. Although the cassava plant is very starchy, it’s also naturally gluten-free, which makes tapioca flour a common ingredient in all kinds of baked goods. Nuts.com takes it a step further with GFCO gluten-free certification, to ensure that our tapioca flour meets the most stringent requirements.
Tapioca Flour vs. Tapioca Starch
Tapioca flour and tapioca starch are the same thing; the names can be used interchangeably.
We also carry Organic Tapioca Flour!
