What Is a Substitute for Unflavored Gelatin?

Photography by Jeremy Villasis. Philippines./Moment/Getty Images

Powdered unflavored gelatin can be substituted using four leaves of sheet gelatin or 2 teaspoons of agar. These substitutions can be used for one envelope of the unflavored gelatin or for 1 tablespoon of granules.

In baking, it is sometimes necessary to make substitutions because the other ingredients may not be available in certain areas, may not be easy to obtain or may not work with the way that the baker’s kitchen works. It is important for people who enjoy baking to understand what can be substituted and what cannot be substituted to avoid making a mistake and ruining an entire baking project. Bakers should always use the recommended amount of a substitution to ensure that their baking project turns out according to the directions.

There are many things that are found in an average kitchen that can be used to substitute certain ingredients in recipes. For example, a person may be more likely to have agar in their kitchen than they would be to have sheets of unflavored gelatin. Instead of excluding the gelatin in the mixture which would be sure to ruin the recipe, the person could simply use an agar substitution. The recipe will often turn out similarly with the same results as what would be obtained with gelatin.