Best Galangal Substitutes and How Much to Use

Spice writer Gernot Katzer says no other spice can replace galangal.¹ He’s right that nothing tastes the same, but your dish can still work without it. In curry pastes, stir-fries and stews, where galangal is one aromatic among several, fresh ginger with a squeeze of lemon does the job. When galangal is the star, as in tom kha, look for it frozen, dried or jarred first. And for a Thai curry’s sharp, camphor-like edge, fingerroot is the pick, if you can find it.

Quick answer

What galangal is doing	Best substitute	Starting amount, per 1 part fresh galangal	Treatment
Lead aroma in a soup or broth (tom kha)	Frozen, dried or jarred galangal	Dried slices, soaked, about as many as the recipe asks for	Method
One aromatic among several (curry pastes, stir-fries, stews)	Fresh ginger, with a little lemon juice	3 to 4 parts ginger	Attributed
The sharp, camphor-like edge in a Thai curry	Fingerroot (krachai)	1/2 part, then add to taste	Method
Ground galangal in a spice mix or rub	Ground ginger plus a pinch of cinnamon or black pepper	1 part ground ginger, pinch of the other	Method

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

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.

Why ginger is close but not the same

Galangal and ginger are in the same plant family, but they don’t taste the same. Galangal is ginger-like, with citrus, pepper and pine notes, and it’s strong and pungent.

America’s Test Kitchen tried the swap both ways. In place of ginger in frozen yogurt and a soy-based dipping sauce, galangal’s sharp, astringent, almost piney flavor was too strong. ATK’s testers do use ginger in place of galangal in savory dishes, where galangal is usually one of several aromatics.² Chowhound’s Shriya Swaminathan comes at it from the other side: ginger is less intense, while galangal is sharper and more citrusy, with earthy undertones.³

So ginger gives you warmth and heat but less of galangal’s sharp, piney, citrusy lift. Expect a rounder, sweeter dish.

If galangal is the lead aroma

In some dishes galangal is the flavor you’d name. Kha is the Thai name for galangal, as in tom kha kai. A Northern Illinois University recipe for that soup simmers six thin slices of young galangal with coconut milk, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.⁴ Here, the best substitute is another form of galangal.

1. Frozen, dried or jarred galangal

Galangal is sold both fresh and dried. Katzer says fresh versus dried makes “a great difference in flavour,” and that dried slices come closer to fresh once soaked in warm water.¹ Asian groceries that don’t carry fresh galangal often stock it frozen, sliced in jars, or as dried slices. See can you freeze galangal? and dried vs. fresh galangal.

Ratio (Method): Soak the slices in warm water, use about as many slices as the recipe asks for, and taste the broth before adding more.

2. Fresh ginger, if nothing else is available

In a galangal-led soup, ginger will work, but the dish will taste different. See the ratio below.

If galangal is one aromatic among several

In curry pastes, stir-fries and stews, galangal shares the stage with garlic, shallots, chiles, lemongrass and lime leaves. This is where ginger stands in best.²

1. Fresh ginger, with a little lemon juice

Ratio (Attributed): Chowhound says to use three to four times more ginger than the galangal called for.³ It suggests adding lemon juice to echo galangal’s citrus notes, and turmeric or black pepper for an earthy edge. America’s Test Kitchen backs the swap in savory dishes but gives no amount.² Chowhound’s figure is a rule of thumb, not a measurement, so add the ginger in stages and taste as you go.

Use fresh ginger in place of fresh galangal. Galangal is much harder than ginger, so where a recipe slices galangal into coins, grated or finely chopped ginger may work better.

2. Ginger with a pinch of black pepper

PROSEA’s description of galangal as tasting like a mix of pepper and ginger⁵ points to this combination.

Ratio (Method): Start with ginger as above and add a small pinch of ground black pepper per tablespoon of ginger, then taste. The pepper adds bite. It won’t give you galangal’s piney, citrusy aroma.

If galangal gives a Thai curry its sharp, camphor-like edge

Fingerroot (krachai)

Fingerroot is another member of the ginger family. Its oil shares galangal’s main aroma compound and also contains camphor.⁶ Katzer calls its flavor strong and dominating, with a “medical” quality, stronger still when dried. He says it’s an important flavoring only in Thai cooking, where it often goes into curries, especially fish curries.⁷

Fingerroot isn’t a common pantry item either. Katzer says Thai food stores often have it,⁷ and Pailin Chongchitnant notes it’s also sold in brine in glass jars at Asian grocery stores.⁸ Watch out when shopping: cookbooks very often confuse it with Kaempferia galanga, which Katzer calls lesser galangale and which is sold as sand ginger or kencur.⁹ See fingerroot and sand ginger.

Ratio (Method): Both rhizomes have strong flavors, so start with about half as much fingerroot as galangal, then taste. Chongchitnant gives the reverse swap, saying a fish curry can be made without fingerroot or with more galangal instead,⁸ which suggests the two can share a role. That’s not a ratio, though.

If you need ground galangal

Katzer describes dried, powdered galangal as less fresh but spicier, “something in between of ginger and cinnamon.”¹ That makes ground ginger the base, with cinnamon as a possible accent.

Ratio (Method): Start with an equal amount of ground ginger, add a small pinch of ground cinnamon or black pepper, and taste. Use ground ginger only where the recipe calls for ground galangal; in a fresh paste, a ground spice doesn’t behave like a fresh rhizome.

What isn’t known

Mace and cinnamon sometimes get suggested as a blend to imitate galangal. We found no source supporting the idea that mace resembles galangal, so we don’t recommend it.
You’ll sometimes read that ginger and galangal share stomach-soothing properties. None of the sources we reviewed shows this for galangal.

Katzer, Greater Galangale, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Substitute Ginger for Galangal, but Not Vice Versa, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³
Swaminathan, Galangal Vs Ginger: Can You Substitute One For The Other?, Chowhound, 2025. chowhound.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Tomkha Kai, SEAsite, Northern Illinois University. seasite.niu.edu · Reference work ↩
Scheffer and Jansen, Alpinia galanga (PROSEA), Plant Resources of South-East Asia. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩
Ibrahim and Nugroho, Boesenbergia rotunda (PROSEA), Plant Resources of South-East Asia. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩
Katzer, Fingerroot, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Chongchitnant, Thai Rice Noodles with Fish Curry, Hot Thai Kitchen. hot-thai-kitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Katzer, Lesser galangale (Kaempferia galanga), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

Also drawn on

Galangal, by Jennifer Murtoff, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com

Galangal Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Galangal Is Doing