• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Greedygirlgourmet
  • Recipes
  • SEO for Food Blogs
  • Authentic South East Asian Recipes
  • Privacy policy
  • Subscribe
  • Accessibility

Greedy Girl Gourmet

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Christmas
  • Winter
  • Recipes
  • Blogging
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Christmas
    • Winter
    • Recipes
    • Blogging
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Vegetables » Edible garden recipes

    Published: Dec 15, 2022 by Zen · This post may contain affiliate links.

    8 Best Calamansi Fruit Substitutes

    Sharing food makes everyone happy! :)

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Email
    • Yummly
    • Flipboard

    The 8 Best Calamansi Fruit Substitutes for making juices, desserts and in savoury recipes!

    A plate of cooling jelly with sea coconut and longan inside.
    Calamansi jelly is very refreshing in summer!
    Jump to:
    • 🍊 What is Calamansi?
    • 🍹 How to Use
    • 🍋 Substitutes
    • 💬 Comments

    🍊 What is Calamansi?

    Calamansi is a citrus hybrid, also called kalamansi, calamondin, Philippine lime or Philippine lemon. The calamansi tree grows readily in the tropics and bears small green fruits. (The seeds can be kept to grow new plants, albeit rather slowly! Remember not to overwater and to put it in the sunniest spot possible.)

    A common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisines such as Indonesian, Filipino, Singaporean and Malaysian food, this small fruit is actually a mix of a kumquat plant and another citrus, most likely mandarin oranges.

    What does it taste like?

    Obviously, calamansi is tangy!

    However, besides being tart, the flavor is more varied as it is also sweet and floral, which is why key lime is its best replacement. It tastes like a lemon meets lime meets grapefruit and basically brightens up the dish that you add it to! (It's a great way to lift up the flavor of rich dishes.)

    Where to Buy

    It can be difficult to find outside of Asia- your best bet would be Asian grocery stores or to grow your own! (There are dwarf Calamondin trees that you can grow in pots.)

    Storage

    This golden lime can be kept at room temperature for a few days. To keep it for a longer period of time, store it in the vegetable compartment of the fridge.

    Tip: it tastes great when used to make lime curd!

    🍹 How to Use

    Close up of Singaporean Hokkien Mee Seafood Noodles.
    Can you spot the halved calamansi limes hiding at the bottom of the plate? They make an already delicious dish even tastier! These noodles are so good I actually dreamt about them when I lived in London (couldn't get it there and it's a bit of a palaver to cook as you need to render lard etc.)

    It is often squeezed onto Singaporean dishes, such as Hokkien Mee Noodles, Sambal Stingray, mee siam or the famous Chicken Rice Chilli, to add a hint of acidity as well as to desserts such as sea coconut jelly. (Many Singaporeans have this citrus tree in their backyards.)

    Calamansi also tastes great in homemade condiments such as sambal mayonnaise or squeezed into Calamansi Juice!

    A bowl of garlic and chilli mixed with calamansi lime and soy sauce .
    Toyomansi, a Filipino dipping sauce that is tangy, salty and slightly spicy.

    In Filipino Cuisine, the fresh juice is used to make Toyomansi, a calamansi soy sauce, that goes well with with Sio mai. Filipinos also use this zesty fruit to marinade pork and fish, in Pancit, a noodle dish and in Lugaw, a type of rice porridge.

    If you're looking for something summery and full of Vitamin C, use calamansi to make lemonade or in your cocktails and mocktails!. It doesn't just have a sour taste. The flavor is more complex, with an almost floral bouquet : fruitier than the usual Meyer lemon.

    This citrus fruit is also delicious in pies, tarts and other calamansi desserts!

    🍋 Substitutes

    Key Lime

    As mentioned above, the floral bouquet of this citrus fruit makes it the closest substitute for calamansi. If using bottled key lime juice, remember to make sure it's pure and not laden with sugar or other ingredients.

    Lime Juice

    If you can't get such a specific type of lime juice- in Asia, for example, key lime is not widely available- the juice of any lime will do in a pinch. It won't hurt to add some lime zest as well!

    P.S. Similarly, you can also use calamansi lime to replace other types of citrus fruits.

    Lemon Juice

    A cup of Japanese umeshu ready to be made into a cocktail.

    And whilst pure lemon juice can be used instead of calamansi juice, a mix of lemon and lime juices actually makes for a better substitute!

    Kumquat

    As mentioned earlier, calamansi is actually a kumquat hybrid, so it makes sense that kumquats would be a good substitute for calamansi. Unfortunately, they're pretty small so quite hard to juice- you could wash them well and blend them, skin and all, to make a puree though!

    Yuzu

    Yuzu is a less common citrus that's very popular in Japan, Korea and China- it's actually a great replacement for calamansi but I've only included it so far down on this list of substitutes as it's quite hard to get outside of a Japanese supermarket.

    Note: I like using my yuzu to make refreshing konnyaku jelly!

    Tangerine

    A bowl of sliced Korean green tangerines used to make cheong

    Whilst tangerine can be used instead of calamansi, they're much sweeter so you may want to add some lemon juice- or even a touch of dry white wine- to increase the acidity.

    Note: extra tangerines can be preserved as Korean tangerine syrup. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese people do something similar with calamansi or kumquats, preserving it in honey or rock sugar to make a sore throat mixture. My family used to do this, and I'll share the recipe soon.

    Orange Juice

    Other types of oranges would work too!

    Vinegar

    Now vinegar- think apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, white wine vinegar etc- would be a bad idea if you're trying to replace calamansi in a juice or some kind of beverage, but it could work in savoury dishes, such as marinades.

    P.S. I've seen people include fish sauce as a substitute but personally I don't really see the link! Calamansi and fish sauce are a terrific combination but I'm not so sure they can replace each other!

    Let me know if I've missed out on anything in this list of best calamansi substitutes!

    I have other recipes you may like here! :)

    • 3 bowls of vegan pumpkin curry and white rice.
      37 Easy Asian Lemongrass Recipes
    • A close-up of a spoonful of dried turmeric powder with fresh turmeric in the background.
      Turmeric vs Saffron
    • Homemade Korean scallion pancake next to a scissors.
      Korean Green Onion Pancake (Pajeon)
    • A close-up of dried red chillies.
      25 Best Red Chili Pepper Substitutes

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ivory says

      June 14, 2022 at 12:48 am

      Always used lemon in place of calamansi as I can’t get the latter in uk, but must try with yuzu next time! (There’s a good Japanese supermarket here) lemon somehow tastes a lot flatter thanks for the idea!

      Reply
      • Zen says

        March 21, 2023 at 2:37 pm

        Let me know if you like the yuzu substitute 🙂 (Yuzu is so ex though!)

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Greedygirlgourmet eating 2 sandwiches in Scotland

    Hi I'm Zhen also known as GGG! I couldn't boil water till I was 18! However, I love creating community and nurturing people, so when I lived abroad (in St. Andrews then London) for 11 years, I started hosting regular parties for friends and that's how I started cooking. (Couldn't cook before that!) I even organised a supper club for charity, which strangers came to! Learning to cook late, I make sure my recipes go into enough detail for those new to Asian cuisine or who love a test kitchen approach to cooking!

    More about GGG ->

    Christmas

    • Close-up of a glass jar of Eggnog Curd, wrapped as a Christmas gift.
      39 Homemade Christmas Food Gifts 2023
    • 3 Bao Buns next to a bamboo basket with 3 steamed buns.
      35 Asian & Chinese Christmas Recipes
    • Mug of spiced Masala Chocolate Chai with a cinnamon stick and whipped cream topping.
      Chocolate Chai Latte
    • 2 salmon fillets drizzled with teriyaki sauce on a white plate.
      Pan Fried Teriyaki Salmon (Under 10 min)

    Winter

    • A Dutch oven full of chicken sambal curry, adorned with chili, coriander and kale.
      Chicken Sambal (One Pot, with Coconut)
    • 3 chicken thighs baked in teriyaki sauce with sesame seeds and green onions.
      Easy Baked Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
    • Close-up of a pork rib with fingerlicking sticky sauce and caramelised bits.
      12345 Chinese Spare Ribs (5-ingredients)
    • A roasted whole chicken with a spicy charred glaze on the skin.
      Korean Gochujang Chicken

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Greedygirlgourmet
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • All Recipes

    Newsletter

    • Sign up here!

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Buy Me a Coffee 🙂

    As an Amazon Associate, at no cost to you, I earn from qualifying purchases 🙂

    Copyright © 2023 GreedyGirlGourmet

    2 shares