Black Mustard Seed Substitutes, Matched to What the Seed Is Doing

Out of black mustard seed? Brown mustard seed is the swap, one for one in a tadka, and the jar you’ve got may already be brown seed. Black mustard’s pods shatter as they ripen, so it can’t be machine harvested, and brown mustard has mostly replaced it as a crop.¹ In a tadka, the heat gap between black and brown should mostly drop out: once mustard seeds hit hot oil, they stop being pungent and turn nutty and smoky.² For raw heat, use ground brown seed or mustard powder; for a sauce, Dijon.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

If the seeds are popped in hot oil

This is black mustard’s best-known job. Frying whole mustard seeds in fat is a typical South Indian technique, and black mustard goes into Tamil vegetable curries with curry leaves and into panch phoron, the Bengali five-seed blend. Mustard seeds used this way are always fried in fat or dry-toasted first.

That matters for the swap. Fried or toasted mustard seeds “are no longer pungent,” Katzer writes. They turn nutty and smoky instead, and heat also destroys any of the sharp compounds that have already formed.² So in a tadka, the heat difference between black and brown seed mostly drops out. That’s our read of Katzer; we found no test of it.

1. Brown mustard seeds

Brown mustard is the seed that replaced black mustard in the fields. Katzer calls black and brown mustard botanically different but equally useful in the kitchen, with black mustard’s pungency “slightly stronger.” Both get their heat the same way. Brown seeds are a little bigger, up to about 2 mm, and somewhat lighter in color, and Indian brown mustard is probably the type most often sold in the West.²

Ratio (Method): Start one for one. If the dish depends on raw mustard heat, not fried seeds, add a bit more brown seed to taste.

2. Yellow (white) mustard seeds

Yellow mustard is a different plant, and its seeds are less intensely flavored than brown mustard’s.³ Its heat comes from a different compound, too, one that’s pungent but non-volatile.⁴ You get a bite on the tongue, not the rising heat of black or brown mustard. Whole yellow seeds don’t smell of anything until you chew them.

Ratio (Method): Start one for one, then add more if you want more mustard flavor. Expect a milder, different result.

If the seeds give raw, sharp heat

In pickles, raw pastes and dressings, black mustard is there for heat. That heat only forms when ground seed meets water. Popular Science notes that water that’s too hot shuts the reaction down completely, and that vinegar slows it, which is why acid sets a mustard’s strength.⁵

1. Ground brown seed or mustard powder

Grind brown seed yourself if you have it. Ready-ground mustard is usually yellow seed. Popular Science says you’ll have a hard time finding any other kind of mustard powder.⁵ McCormick says dried mustard and ground mustard are the same thing.

Ratio (Computed, volume only): McCormick gives 1 teaspoon mustard seeds = 1½ teaspoons ground mustard.⁶ That’s about bulk: ground powder takes up more room in the spoon than the seeds it came from. It says nothing about strength. McCormick also says mustard seeds “tend to be more potent than ground mustard.”⁷ So start at 1½ teaspoons of powder per teaspoon of seed and taste before adding more.

Mix the powder with cool water and let it stand before it meets acid or heat. Popular Science reports that cold-water mustard needs resting time to develop.⁵

2. Dijon mustard

Dijon is made from the same seeds. Saveur reports that the rules for Dijon mustard allow only black and/or brown mustard seed.⁸ It also brings acid and liquid, so use it where those are welcome: dressings, marinades, sauces. It can’t stand in for whole seeds in oil.

Ratio (Attributed, chained): McCormick’s swap for ground mustard is 1 tablespoon of Dijon per teaspoon of ground mustard.⁷ Put that together with McCormick’s seed-to-ground conversion above,⁶ and by our math it’s about 1½ tablespoons of Dijon per teaspoon of seed. McCormick didn’t do that last step. Start lower if the dish is already sharp or salty.

If you were going to use mustard oil

Mustard oil isn’t a seed substitute, but it’s the other way black-mustard flavor reaches the table in eastern India, with West Bengal and Bangladesh at the center of its use. Heat destroys the sharp compounds that have already formed,² so expect less bite from oil cooked hot. The European Union caps erucic acid, a fatty acid found in mustard, at 50 g/kg in mustard oil (with an exemption for some local production) and 35 g/kg in mustard as a condiment.⁹ We didn’t check mustard oil’s status in the United States.

Ratio (Method): Use the oil as the cooking fat for a dish that calls for both, not as a replacement for the seeds.

Allergy note

The UK counts mustard among the 14 allergens food businesses have to declare.¹⁰ The US list of nine major food allergens doesn’t include it.¹¹ Every substitute here, Dijon and mustard powder included, is still mustard.

What isn’t known

• We found no measurement of how much heat survives when seeds are fried for a tadka. Katzer’s statement that fried seeds are no longer pungent is the best guide there is.²
• You’ll see it claimed that brown seeds need 1½ times the black-seed amount and yellow seeds twice. We found no source for either number.
• Popular Science’s rule of thumb is that the darker the seed, the spicier.⁵ That tells you the direction, not a ratio.

Related

• Black mustard seeds, brown mustard seeds and yellow mustard seeds
• Yellow vs. black mustard seeds and mustard powder vs. mustard seed
• Mustard powder, mustard powder substitutes and mustard powder vs. prepared mustard
• Mustard seed uses and mustard powder uses
• Curry leaves and garam masala