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Sometimes you don’t have the exact ingredient available in your kitchen, and the supermarket may not stock certain specialty ingredients. It’s good to know what substitutes are suitable.
Matzo meal is a good example of something that not everyone keeps in their pantry. It’s also not a commonly stocked item at your corner store. However, many Jewish recipes call for it.
Of course, to substitute anything accurately, one needs to know what it consists of and what it tastes like. We’ve got you covered on all this, so read on to learn how to substitute for matzo meal in various recipes.
What Exactly Is Matzo Meal?
Matzo, matzah, or matza is a Jewish ritual bread that they have during their Passover festival.
The Torah – Jewish holy scriptures – states that God commanded the Jews to eat only unleavened (without yeast) bread during the Passover festival.
Therefore, matzo has a special significance for Jewish people and forms an important part of their religious life. However, matzo is not only used by Jews but has become a necessary ingredient in many recipes.
Matzo is basically a flat, unleavened bread. It may be soft, similar to pita bread, or firm and crispy. Shops only stock the crisp variety because the soft variety does not last long on the shelf.
The flour that’s used to make it could be wholegrain or refined, but it has to be made from a choice of five non-self-leavening grain types, namely, wheat, barley, spelled rye, or oats.
Commercially available, matzo crackers are usually made with wheat flour. Apart from being Passover’s essential meal, it is eaten as a staple food at other times of the year.
Matzo crackers are readily available in many supermarkets and serve the same purpose as matzo bread. Matzo meal is simply the ground powder of dried matzo crackers.
Matzo balls are a more flavorful item and are made with matzo meal and spices such as onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt, etc. These are often eaten as a special kind of dumpling in soup.
One Time When You Can’t Substitute Matzo Meal
If your recipe calls for a matzo meal and you can’t find any, don’t worry. There are some substitutions you can use.
Of course, if you are Jewish and are using it for sacred purposes, you should use the genuine thing for the sacred Passover Festival and never substitute it with yeast items.
Best Substitution for Matzo Meal
Substituting matzo meal with any other easily available item depends a lot on what you will cook.
For instance, if you are baking a cake, then there is no way that you can substitute matzo meal with breadcrumbs. You might need rather use very finely crushed crackers instead.
Here are some tried and tested alternatives for matzo meal:
1. Plain Bread Crumbs
This is probably the closest substitute for a matzo meal. The only real difference is that they contain yeast and more moisture.
These work great if you make matzo balls or other moist recipes like meatloaf and you are out of matzo meal.
To make bread crumbs, take any loaf of plain bread, such as a white loaf or pita bread. Break it into pieces and put it into a food processor with a sharp blade.
Process until you have fine crumbs. Easy! It’s best to use slightly stale bread as it won’t have as much moisture in it.
Remember, you can’t use bread crumbs for making matzo cake.
2. Soda Crackers
Soda crackers or saltine crackers are other wonderful items to use in your matzo balls recipe in place of matzo meal.
Blend the soda crackers very finely in a food processor or blender until you obtain an almost powdery texture.
Now you may replace the matzo meal with crushed saltine crackers. Just be sure to get the unsalted variety of crackers, or your recipe may end up too salty.
3. Panko Crumbs
Panko crumbs are a little different from ordinary breadcrumbs. They’re a Japanese version that is made from white bread with no crusts.
This yields a lighter crumb with a flaky texture that does not absorb as much oil and stays crisp for a longer time than normal breadcrumbs.
Panko crumbs are great if you’re looking to substitute them for matzo for frying purposes. However, they will also work well for matzo balls, meatballs, crab cakes, and meatloaves.
4. Unflavored Crackers
If you are preparing matzo cake and matzo meal isn’t available, then finely crushed unflavored crackers will do the job.
If you don’t have a food processor to crumble them, put them into a clean plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin until you have a fine powder.
5. Plain Crushed Biscuits
Plain or zero flavored biscuits such as rice crackers are always easily available. For a sweet recipe, you could use something like Marie biscuits.
Even a crumbled scone would do the job. Remember, though, these substitutions contain sugar, so they will not be suitable for a savory dish.
If you’re using them for a sweet dish, reduce the sugar in the recipe slightly. As before, crush the biscuits into a fine and fluffy powdery texture.
Final Thoughts
Matzo meal is a traditional cooking item, and the bread made from it is also a part of a Jewish religious ritual. Matzo meal has a fairly bland flavor which makes it quite easy to exchange for other items.
The aforementioned substitution for a matzo meal won’t affect your recipe’s taste. Let us know how they worked for you and what you made! We love to hear from you in the comment section.