I am not sure where the name “Yuca Queen” came from, how exactly it was bestowed on me, or why I deserve such a crown, but….
It’s no lie that I LOVE yuca! I love its versatility, I love that it is ultimately easy to digest by the majority, and that it is suitable for many autoimmune patients as well, when so many other foods may be off limits.
When I first discovered that yuca can be transformed from an ugly a$$ root into a delicious dough, I was really blown away. And then Otto’s introduced their cassava flour and continued to change the paleo game. I love yuca dough and cassava flour equally, for different reasons, but “rooted” from the same place. Get it?! Ba dum ching!
Awhile back a reader talked to me about how to make your own cassava flour and I thought, well why would anyone want to do THAT!? I mean Otto’s is available in so many countries now via mail delivery and they’ve perfected it.
But then I started getting more and more messages about people who showed a real curiosity in doing it at home. And I figured, why not?! I do love a challenge and it might be an interesting process to figure out. You know like making your own fruit rollups and jerky and stuff.
So here it is – if for whatever reason you can’t get your hands on Otto’s or you have an undying dream to create your own cassava flour at home, here lies my attempt at making homemade cassava flour. Enjoy y’all!
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds frozen or fresh yuca, peeled (or more)
- Preheat your oven on the lowest setting or 170F which worked perfectly ideal
- Boil the yuca for 15-20 minutes or until slightly fork tender but do not allow to overcook or it will not grate properly
- Drain hot water from stockpot and fill with cold water to allow the yuca to chill (around 5 more minutes)
- Grate the yuca and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet (use additional baking sheets as necessary). I do not recommend using a food processor to grate your yuca or you will end up with my yuca dough – also fantastic but not this recipe!
- You could also use a dehydrator, I don’t have one so I used my oven
- Bake for up to 8 hours or until all of the water is gone (I baked from 11-4 and mine was completely dehydrated, it will depend on the size of your shreds)
- Use a food processor, blender or Nutribullet to grind the dried shreds. They need to be completely free of moisture or you will not get flour.
- I blended for a solid minute or more in my Nutribullet in order to get the bigger pieces incorporated. The result is a fine silt-like flour, very pale in color
Note: Like most vegetables and fruits, the yuca root is comprised of lots of water. You’ll notice that it will initially look like you’ll have a ton of tubers but the yield may seem small. Depending on how often you use cassava flour, or if you have limited access to it, this may be of value to you.
So how much flour did the 3 lbs yield for you? I’m so excited about this, btw. I can’t find otto’s in Canada, and it’s so expensive to ship to here.
It was around a cup but there was a lot of peel that was discarded too.
Hayley, you can order from flourconfections.com in Ontario. One bag is just over 30.00 with shipping so yup, still pretty pricey. i would rather make my own, too. Thanks Jennifer!
Hey can I use a dehydrator instead of the oven
I would say probably but I haven’t personally tried myself.
Can I completely substitute yuca flour for a grain. I want to make a completely grain free cake for my baby for her 1st bday
Yes but I would follow a recipe for a cassava flour based cake. It’s not always a 1 for 1 sub.
thank you so much for your great site! I love to read here and try the delicious recipes.
I was very successful using frozen grated cassava instead of fresh roots. It is available in many asian stores. I use the vitamix dry container for grinding. I live in Germany and unfortunately Otto´s is not (yet) available anywhere so this is a good alternative. But still I hope that Otto´s will be available soon.
Oh that’s great! I’m so glad you have been able to find it. If you do make the flour make sure you cook it or research how to get rid of the cyanogenic compounds to play it safe!
I made the flour, thank you for the helpful recipe! Is there anything else needed to process out the cyanogenic stuff before making pasta or anything else? Just want to be sure!!
Nope that’s it!! SHould be good to go!
I have made cassava flour successfully too since I live in Guatemla and can’t buy Ottos here. I did it a bit differently, I used raw but peeled cassava. I grated it, and then soaked and rinsed it in water to get rid of the starch. Then I dehydrated it for the day and ground it in the food processor. When I did 20 lbs of raw cassava I got 6 lbs of flour. The bonus was that I saved the starch that came out of the grated cassava and dehydrated that too and got about 3 cups of tapioca starch. I love being able to make all these recipes now.
Wow that’s so awesome! Just make sure to get rid of those cyanogenic compounds so there is no risk of toxicity. That’s impressive what you’ve been able to do!
How do you do that?
How long did you soak the grated cassava? How did you make the tapioca starch? I have lots of cassava available in my yard (in Belize) and am excited to make my own flour!
Please can you tell me how to use apple juice in making cassava flour.
I buy Otto’s flour and yet I found your recipe very educational and very valuable. Being “sensitive” to all night shades, I frequently replace potatoes with Yucca. I have used the flour for various recipes and am going to try your flour recipe. Thank you for sharing this~
Oh good, you’ll have to let me know what you think!
This seems like a good recipe, my dad recently brought over a big bag of cassava flour that my aunt made for me from back home. Traditionally they leave it out to dry in the sun for a few days but I’m sure this works well and is maybe good for people who can’t tolerate the fermentation/natural drying process. The flour was very. very close to all the recipes made using Otto’s flour with only slight adjustments. Unfortunately I finished mine it was so yummy but luckily I’ve got African food shops all around me so was able to buy some more at a reasonable price.
So glad to hear! Hopefully it will come in handy for those who cannot find it locally or who do not have access to Otto’s!
So I am wondering – I just went to a store that carries the cassava flour – is there really a huge difference between it and Otto’s, or it and making my own? Thanks 🙂
I have not used other brands besides Otto’s so I cannot say for sure. The homemade texture seemed to do the trick and so I think it will be a good standby!
Are you saying that yucca is cassava? Is that a different name for it? I don’t know much about this plant or whatever it is. Thanks!
Yes, yuca is the same thing as cassava. It is a starchy tuber which is similar to a potato but is not a nightshade.
It’s “yuca” with one c. Yucca is a different plant altogether
Should the flour have a gritty texture. I bought some from a local supplier and made pancakes with it. While chewing had a slightly rough texture like fine sand. Is that normal?
Lower quality cassava flours can be gritty. I definitely recommend Otto’s which you can find here: bit.ly/cassavaflour
I have tried several brands of cassava flour (Otto’s, Bob’s Red Mill, Anthony’s, and a few unbranded or ethnic brands) and all of them, including Otto’s, was gritty except one that I used to get from Amazon. It was called Ladang Lima (https://ladanglima.com/) and it was amazing. It is from Indonesia and I don’t believe it is available in the US at all now. That’s why I want to make my own – to avoid the grit.
Thats so awesome, thank you for this recipe.
Is Ottos cassava flour from cooked cassava too? Does it stick together like wheat flour? Could you make pasta out of it without eggs?
I would presume the cassava is cooked (for safety) but I am not sure of their process entirely. I do not think pasta would work without eggs unless you use another binder.
I recently moved to Bolivia and we’re gluten free. I hadn’t heard of using cassava flour as a thickener before… i’m excited to try it! And really excited to be able to grow and make my own flour! Thank you!
I am wondering though, what is the shelf life of this flour if you make it yourself?
I am unsure of the shelf life to be honest. I typically just use Otto’s! bit.ly/cassavaflour
Shelf life could be up to 6 months
I wanted to be able to make my own flour for a long long time but did not know how to do it. Really thankful to God for your help.
Grounded flaxseed can be used as a binder. It is best though that you ground it yourself.
Place the flaxseed in a dry blender and blend. Store and use within 3 days.
I wonder would this be cheaper? I am on the AIP diet but can afford very very few things organic
It could be but it yields less so it may not be a huge savings.
I found cassava flour for very cheap in my Asian Market. $2 dollars a pound. Would that be sufficient in your recipes? Or do I need only Ottos?
Well it MAY work and it may not. The issue is that the consistency of Otto’s is really reliable every time and the less expensive brands occasionally have little clumps or even twigs in them. So it’s worth a try, it just may not be ideal.
Actually it was $2 for 28 ounces
Is there a difference between the flour and the starch?
Cassava flour is the full flour of the cassava/yuca root. Tapioca starch is just the starch. It’s sort of like comparing potato flour to potato starch if that makes sense.
Hello,
I wanted to know if I can use the same process to make taro flour?
Thanks
I’m not sure, I’ve actually not experimented with it myself!
Thank you for this recipe! The main reason I’d make my own is that Otto’s is almost $30 a bag here in Toronto. This is very helpful, thank you!
Like making your own fruit rollups beef jerkey and stuff. Lmao
I have yucca plants in my garden. Can I use them for my flour? Any special way different than what you said
Yucca is different than yuca. Make sure it is the same plant first