Poppy Seed Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Poppy Seeds Are Doing

Poppy seeds are the small, kidney-shaped seeds of the opium poppy, grayish blue to dark blue in color.¹ Gernot Katzer sums up their taste as nutty and pleasant, and notes that the nutty flavor develops further when seeds on breads and pastries are baked.² They do three different jobs: a dark, crunchy topping, a speckle of texture in batters and dressings, and, ground, the dense filling of Central and Eastern European pastries.² A good substitute for one job can be a poor one for another.

Some people need a substitute for a reason other than an empty jar. Katzer notes that morphine can be detected in urine after eating a lot of poppy seed,² so anyone facing a drug test may prefer to skip it. See poppy seeds for the safety details.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, with the source named.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. We show each and do not average them.
• Method: we found no published ratio. We give a direction and a cautious starting point, and say so.

We found no credible published ratio for any poppy seed substitute. The only measurable relationship is weight per spoonful, which tells you how much seed you are using, not how much flavor.

If poppy seeds are a topping

On a bagel or a kaiser roll, poppy seeds mostly give a dark scatter and a little crunch. Here you want a seed of similar size that bakes well.

1. Sesame seeds

PROSEA describes sesame as a garnish of breads and pastries,³ the same job poppy seed does. Toasting changes its flavor: Katzer explains that much of toasted sesame’s flavor comes from compounds that form only during toasting.⁴ On top of a bread, the seeds toast as it bakes.

Sesame seed colors range from white and gray to brown and black, depending on the cultivar.³ Black sesame gets its color from a dark pigment in the seed coat that researchers found similar to melanin,⁵ so it gives the dark look of poppy seed. We found no sensory study comparing the flavor of black and white sesame.

Ratio (Computed, weight only): USDA gives 8.8 g for a tablespoon of poppy seeds⁶ and 9 g for a tablespoon of whole dried sesame seeds.⁷ So a 1:1 swap by volume uses almost the same weight of seed. This says nothing about flavor strength.

2. Nigella seeds

Nigella seeds are small and black, and Katzer notes they are sometimes confused with black sesame.⁸ They are a classic bread seed: Katzer says Turkish bread frequently shows them.⁸ Their flavor is nothing like poppy’s. Katzer says they have little odor whole but develop a vaguely oregano-like scent when ground or chewed, and describes their taste as aromatic and slightly bitter.⁸ Use them where that suits the bread, as on a savory flatbread, not on a sweet roll.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Because nigella is much more assertive, start with about half the poppy seed amount.

Nigella comes from the buttercup family, not the poppy family.⁸

If poppy seeds are in a batter or dressing

In lemon poppy seed muffins, seed cakes and poppy seed dressing, the seeds add speckle and a light crunch. The flavor contribution is small; that judgment is ours.

1. Sesame seeds

White sesame disappears visually in a pale batter, so use black sesame if you want the speckle. Toast the seeds first in a dry pan if they go into a dressing that won’t be cooked; that is common practice, and it develops the nutty flavor described above.⁴

Ratio (Method): Start 1:1 by volume. USDA’s weights above show this keeps the seed quantity about the same.⁶⁷

2. Chia seeds

Chia seeds are small and often dark, like poppy seeds, but they behave differently in liquid. A study of chia seed structure found mucilage in the outer layers of the seed coat, and on full hydration it formed a transparent “capsule” attached to the seed.⁹ USDA lists 34.4 g of dietary fiber per 100 g of dried chia.¹⁰ In practice, that means chia goes soft and gel-coated in a wet batter or a dressing that sits, rather than staying crisp. In our judgment, it works best in a muffin batter baked right away, or sprinkled on top.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with 1:1 by volume in batters baked promptly, and expect a softer texture.

3. Hemp hearts or flaxseed

Shelled hemp seeds are pale and larger than poppy seeds, and flaxseed is brown and much larger. Neither gives poppy seed’s look. If you use flax, note that Mayo Clinic says whole flaxseed may pass through the intestine undigested,¹¹ which matters if you are using it for nutrition rather than texture.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. Start with half the poppy seed amount and taste for flavor.

If poppy seeds are ground into a filling

Ground poppy seed is the base of sweet fillings known across Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria it fills strudel, and Germknödel, steamed yeast dumplings, are served with powdered sugar, ground poppy seed and melted butter.² In Mughal-style cooking of northern India, ground poppy seed is a common thickener.²

No seed we found reproduces a poppy seed filling, and no source we checked compares one with poppy seed. A nut filling makes a different pastry rather than a substitute. If poppy is unavailable, choose a recipe built around the filling you have.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio exists for any filling substitute.

Allergies

Sesame is one of the nine major food allergens in the US, and peanuts and tree nuts are on the same list.¹² Before swapping sesame for poppy seed in food for others, check that no one at the table is allergic.

What isn’t known

• No published ratio for any poppy seed substitute was found. Every amount above is a starting point.
• No sensory study compares poppy seeds with sesame, chia, nigella, hemp or flax.
• Poppy seeds come in gray and white types,² but no source we checked compares their flavor, so we can’t say whether white sesame is a closer match for white poppy seed.
• It is sometimes said that nigella tastes like a mix of onion and poppy seed. No source reviewed here supports that.

Related

• Poppy seeds
• Sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and black vs white sesame seeds
• Sesame seed substitutes and hulled vs unhulled sesame seeds
• Nigella seeds and nigella seed substitutes

Footnotes

1. Opium poppy, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩

2. Poppy, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. Weiss and de la Cruz, Sesamum orientale, PROSEA. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩²

4. Sesame, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²

5. Dossou et al., The Dark Pigment in the Sesame Seed Coat, Frontiers in Nutrition, 2022. frontiersin.org · Peer-reviewed ↩

6. Spices, poppy seed (FDC ID 171330), USDA FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

7. Seeds, sesame seeds, whole, dried (FDC ID 170150), USDA FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

8. Nigella, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. Muñoz et al., Chia seeds: Microstructure, mucilage extraction and hydration, Journal of Food Engineering, 2012. pure.ucentral.cl · Peer-reviewed ↩

10. Seeds, chia seeds, dried (FDC ID 170554), USDA FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov · Regulator ↩

11. Mayo Clinic Staff, Does ground flaxseed have more health benefits than whole flaxseed?, Mayo Clinic, 2023. mayoclinic.org · Publication ↩

12. Food Allergies, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩