Want a substitute for almond flour?
Make your own Sun-Flour (a.k.a sunflower seed flour)!
What is Sun-Flour?
Sun-Flour is my nut-free substitute for almond flour made with soaked, dehydrated and ground sunflower seeds!
If you frequently use almond flour or other nuts/seeds for baking, please read my post 5 Reasons to Avoid Almond Flour for important information!
Why soak and dehydrate?
Yes, it would be much simpler to just throw some raw sunflower seeds into a coffee grinder and get instant sun-flour. But I always soak and dehydrate any nuts or seeds. Why?
Nuts and seeds are naturally high in enzyme inhibitors, which often causes stomach aches and after consumption. Soaking in salted water activates other enzymes that neutralize these trouble-causing enzyme inhibitors. The seeds then must be dried before they are ground into flour.
You may also use pumpkin seeds or probably even sesame seeds with this technique!
Nut Free? Try This Almond Flour Substitute!
I can’t eat nuts right now (“right now” because I hope GAPS will correct this food sensitivity) so I have been staying away from recipes that call for almond flour. I recently started experimenting with using Sun-Flour in place of almond flour, and the results are delicious! I can’t guarantee that you will have perfect results every time you make this substitution, but it is a great solution for those who have nut allergies.
How to make Sun-Flour:
Cover sunflower seeds with filtered water and add 1 Tbs. sea salt for about every 2 cups of seeds (you don’t need to be exact). The salt helps destroy the phytic acid.Soak for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Rinse the sunflower seeds in a colander.
Spread sunflower seeds onto dehydrator sheets and dehydrate between 105 to 150 degrees until crispy, 12 to 24 hours. Alternatively, dry on baking sheets in a warm oven (no more than 150 degrees) for 12 to 24 hours.
Grind sunflower seeds in a carefully cleaned coffee or spice grinder until fine, about 15 seconds. Grind in batches. This seems like it would be time consuming, but it only takes me about 5 minutes to grind 2 cups of flour! Grind until very fine. It’s okay if it starts to get clumpy, that just means it is finely ground and you can fluff out the clumps with a fork.
You will get approximately 1 cup flour for every cup of sunflower seeds. Store your sun-flour in a jar in the refrigerator or freezer, and use within a few months. Substitute for almond flour in recipes!
Do you have a nut allergy/sensitivity? Or do you use almond flour?
shared at: Allergy Free Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Healthy 2day, Real Food Wednesday, Rural Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Freaky Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Fill Those Jars Friday, Sunday School, Homestead Barn Hop, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Keep It Real Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday
Thanks for the great idea! Sometimes it is hard to find raw almonds, but I can find sunflower seeds easier!!! Thank you…I never thought of doing this!
That’s a good point–and raw sunflower seeds are very affordable, too.
is it possible to use jack fruit seeds instead of sunflower seeds?
Yes
I’ve never even heard of that! But now I’m intrigued… I don’t know if it would work.
What a blessing! I have IGG allergies to almonds, apples, lemons, green beans, eggs, dairy, wheat, etc. and am tearing my hair out trying to avoid these items and find substitutes. Thanks so much for this recipe, I can start baking again!
Yay–I’m so glad this helps you! I know how frustrating it is to have to avoid so many foods, and I hope you enjoy this!
This is so great! My daughter and I were talking about how expensive almond flour is. But sunflower seeds are really reasonable. Also in the past when I have baked with sunflower seeds the baked goods would later turn green on me. The taste wasn’t affected but I really didn’t like the color. Have you had any problems with your baked goods turning green? Thanks again for such a great post!
Previously, I used homemade sunflower butter for baked goods and I couldn’t figure out why they would have little green spots the next day! So yes…I do have that issue, and I think it is the sunflower seeds. But, like you said, it doesn’t affect the taste so I don’t mind.
Hey! Just a little tip from a passer by and professional baker with food allergies; sunflower seeds react to the aluminum in baking soda. The best way to thwart it? Get aluminum free baking soda (which is better for you anyways!). (:
Interesting! And I always use aluminum-free baking soda. I’ve also heard that sunflower seeds contain chlorogenic acid, which reacts with the baking soda in a warm environment (like an oven).
I do use Almond Flour. I really appreciate that your post including step by step pictures for the Sun flour. I can’t wait to buy some sunflower seeds and try baking with it. Thanks.
I’m glad the pictures are useful! I’m trying to incorporate more pictures into my posts.
Great idea Lauren! I hate how expensive almond flour is, so this is an awesome alternative!
P.s. You should put a facebook and ‘tweet this’ button at the bottom of your posts so I can share!
Good idea! I’ll do that right now! I like the one you have–it’s very clean. Do you know what that specific plugin is called?
Why didn’t anyone else think of this before?! You are so creative.
I bet this flour would make great baked goods with people that have allergies for sure!
Thanks, Caroline! I do hope it is helpful!
Can you share what you have baked with sunflour that tastes as good as baking with almond flour? I am scared of going through the whole process and finding that it doesn’t taste right
Thanks!
I would love to! I’ll work on some posts this week about that!
I just tried this today, it is amazing! I used it for brownies. It baked up like wheat flour and imparted no distinguishable taste. We have been gluten free for 3 years and gaps for a few months. This is the BEST flour I have used. I am sold.
Thank you!
I’m glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing.
Does everything bake the same if you replace with sun-flour? THis is a great idea.
Hey Jen! It’s hard for me to compare, because I don’t use almond flour due to a sensitivity. I have mostly just used this in my experimental recipes, and not other recipes that call for almond flour. But I am just about to bake this almond flour cake using sun-flour instead and I will report the results!
Help… I need advice… This is off topic from this post but I just started gaps intro and I’m in sooo much pain. I’m on week two and before I started intro I introduced broth for a month and cut out all grains. Was not hard as I was already dairy, gluten, sugar and yeast free. I have a lengthy history of candida and adrenal fatigue. When I had my first baby it all got better. Then I had a second two yrs ago and very long sad story short she is totally fine but did die for 5 mins and was chilled on ice for 3 days. They expected she would not live but she’s here and strong. I however am far from it. I had a couple issues with my bowels after my son, three times where I felt like I was in labor but all three times was when I had Alfredo sauce so I just didn’t have it and life was good. After my daughter I have a lot going on, post partum, post traumatic stress, yeast infections that don’t go away easily, bladder pain, adrenal fatigue, suspected pyroluria ect… I started intro two weeks ago, had a bad initial die off but nothing I couldn’t handle. Then I had a few good mental days where I was really pretty clear. Now anything I eat I feel like I’m in labor with colon spasms within 20 mins…. I just ate cauliflower Nd broccoli soup and it happened. I introduce tomatoes, avacado, mushrooms just to give me additional foods. Ithe first week my BMs were normal, then three days constipated and yesterday was horrible runs. Today fine again but still the pain. What is this???? I’m so scared I’m going to give myself chrones or something…. I can’t be on my knees in the bathroom with two little ones. I do the detox baths and am on a probiotic that I stayed on as I’ve been on it for some time. I can’t take any enzymes as the ones I’ve tried give me a yeast infection within a day..
I was ready to go vegan two months ago to try and get better Nd I don’t care what diet I do I just need it to work.
Any advice would be awesome
tammy_robyn@yahoo.ca
I’ve emailed you!
Does anyone know of a source for sunflower seeds that aren’t cross-contaminated with nuts? All the packages of sunflower seeds I’ve seen locally have a warning like “may contain tree nuts” or “manufactured on shared equipment with tree nuts.”
I wish I could help. I get mine from Trader Joe’s but I can’t remember if they have a warning label on the package.
Just found your blog from CCC and your caramel sauce which I can’t wait to try!! Just an FYI baked goods with sunflower seed flour or Sunbutter will turn green (getting deeper with time) when mixed with baking soda…..works great for Christmas cookies!! It’s due to a change in ph, sunflower seeds and a few other things are sensitive to it and will change color. Looking forward to exploring your blog!
Christi, thank you so much for solving the mystery of the green sunflower baked goods! I didn’t know it was the baking soda combination. How interesting! And LOL about the Christmas cookies –that is a creative solution to the issue! I hope you enjoy the caramel sauce, and thanks for visiting!
This is a great post, thank you for sharing. I am currently dealing with many food sensitivities due to leaky gut and I can’t wait to try this
I have used coconut flour but sparingly because of the high fiber content. Do you know if the sun flour is high or low in fiber?
I just soaked and dehydrated five pounds of seeds…you can bet I will be trying this stat inan almond flour recipe! So excited!
Thank you so much for sharing this, Lauren! So many great gluten-free recipes call for almond flour, but it’s on my no-go list.
Love that you give instructions for dehydrating the soaked seeds in the oven as well (since a dehydrator is still only on my wish list).
I don’t eat grains, and I can’t have almond flour… and there’s only so much coconut flour I can handle, so this is a great alternative. Thanks!
Just wondering what would be another good way to dry the seeds out if you don’t have a dehydrator ?
I think you can dry them out on the lowest setting in an oven, on baking sheets. I don’t know how long it would take, though.
Hi,
I love your devotion to health and feel an connection to all plant food as you do. I do have a lot of almond meal left over from my milk I make every three days and I freeze the solids for further cooking, but I have to throw out some as it gets too much. Any ideas on what to foo with home made almond meal? Thanks for all your recipes.
I know Kelly at the Spunky Coconut posts lots of recipes for almond meal (or she used to). I think she uses Bobs Red Mill which is much coarser than for instance Honeyville almond flour. The textures are different. Elana’s Pantry also uses some almond flour. You could try those bloggers for recipes off the top of my head.
I’m interested to try sun-flour (ha!) but am concerned about any strong flavors. Almonds to me are pretty neutral. I also don’t have a dehydrator so would have to attempt the oven. My DH would have a cow if I brought home one more piece of kitchen equipment! (at least until we get our pantry room put together)
Thanks for posting this though. I’m going to print it off and save it for future use. I appreciate all you do, Lauren!
Can you please make a muffin or cookie recipe with sun-flower, I’m allergic to nuts and coconuts.
Lauren,
The SproutPeople site is excellent for finding soaking and sprouting times for various enzyme-inhibited foods (nuts, seeds, beans, grains, vegetables). They say sunflower seeds only need 30 minutes, and pumpkin seeds as little as 1 hour. This is good info for those in a hurry, or with a spontaneous sweet tooth (assuming people don’t mind using wet seed mash, rather than dehydrated and ground). Visit Sproutpeople to get info on anything you want to soak to remove phytates. http://sproutpeople.org/sunny.html (It’s not my site)
Where did you get your info on adding salt to soaking seeds? I’ve never read that before (I used to be a big sprouter).
Isn’t all baking soda aluminum-free? I thought it was baking POWDER that you had to watch out for.