Cornstarch substitutes by use

For a sauce or gravy, 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour can replace 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Arrowroot or potato starch can replace it in equal amounts as a starting point. The right choice depends on what you're making: thickening gravy and changing a cookie dough are different jobs.

For sauces and gravy

These ratios follow Argo's thickener guidance. Match the cooking method to the substitute; equal thickening power doesn't mean identical texture or cooking time. Flour produces a cloudier sauce than cornstarch, so it fits an opaque gravy better than a clear glaze.

For fruit pie filling

Use a fruit-specific quantity rather than automatically doubling the flour. Apples, berries, and frozen fruit release different amounts of juice.

King Arthur's pie thickener chart gives amounts per cup of each fruit. For apples, it lists 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch or 1 3/4 teaspoons flour per cup of fruit. That alone shows why a sauce ratio isn't a universal pie ratio.

Quick-cooking tapioca is another option, but follow the pie recipe's resting instructions before baking. Granules and tapioca flour aren't the same form. In King Arthur's pie-filling trials, thickener choice changed the filling's appearance and texture, too.

For cookies and cakes

Cornstarch may be there to soften the crumb rather than thicken a liquid. Don't apply the two-to-one flour rule to a dough or flour blend. Use the recipe author's suggested replacement, or choose a recipe that doesn't require cornstarch.

There's one specific baking swap we can give you an exact amount for: in our baking powder substitute, tapioca starch replaces cornstarch one for one.

Changing more than one ingredient? Check the egg substitute guide before adjusting the eggs as well. Each swap changes the result, so keep the rest of the recipe as written where possible.