How to Make Healthy Ingredient Substitutions

• by Liz Casler

Introduction

• Finding healthful foods that are also flavorful can prove a difficult task. Many people must work consciously to reduce the salt content in their diet, partly because the processed food we eat deliver us more than our share of salt even before we take out the shakers.¹ Others struggle with calorie intake in general, and so strive to reduce the amount of table sugar, honey and other sweeteners that they add to recipes prepared at home. However, it's not necessary to make flavor a sacrifice on the altar of physical health. By learning a little about how different ingredients contribute to the taste and texture of a dish, you can learn to make healthy changes to a recipe that won't destroy its appeal.

Step 1: Understand an Ingredient's Purpose

• Sometimes the purpose of an ingredient is obvious. Meats often take center stage in recipes, providing the diner with protein. Other ingredients serve to bring out its flavor. Vegetables supply nutrients and flavor as well. However, other ingredients contribute properties that aren't as readily discernible. Below, you'll find a list of ingredients with some of their cooking uses. Think about the dish that you're preparing and try to determine which of the purposes an ingredient serves in your recipe. For instance, if you're making a custard, the eggs contribute flavor, thickness and color.

Salt

• The human body needs salt to survive. However, too much salt intake may also lead to high blood pressure, osteoporosis, asthma or other health problems.²

1. Seasons food²
2. Preserves food²
3. Brings out other flavors³
4. Strengthens gluten network in bread³

Sugar

• Sugar serves many purposes in many different recipes. However, too much sugar in one's diet may also lead to health problems like diabetes and obesity.⁴

1. Sweetens⁴
2. Preserves foods⁴
3. Tenderizes custards, batters and doughs⁵
4. Aerates a mixture when creamed with other ingredients⁵
5. Preserves moisture in baked goods⁵
6. Provides bulk and structure⁶
7. Contributes to browning⁶

Eggs

• Eggs are incredible. You can scramble them, make them into omelets, whip their whites into mousses, use them to leaven bread and thicken custards. Unfortunately, there is some concern that the fat and cholesterol in eggs may cause cardiovascular problems.⁷

1. Add flavor⁷
2. Contribute color⁸
3. Provide protein⁷
4. Trap air bubbles for foams and mousses, aerating baked goods⁷
5. Thicken sauces and custards⁸
6. Bind ingredients together⁷
7. Leaven doughs and batters⁷
8. Slow crystallization of sugars⁸
9. Provide moisture
10. Whites clarify liquids⁹
11. Yolks act as emulsifiers⁸

Oil

• Oils and fats serve useful, essential purposes in the human body, but consuming too much of certain types of fats and oils can cause health problems.^{10 11}

1. Provides moisture
2. Impedes sticking¹²
3. Smooths dough¹²
4. Some types add flavor¹²
5. Tenderizes baked goods¹³
6. Thickens as part of an emulsion in sauces¹⁴

Butter

• Butter has a delightful flavor and color. Sadly, it consists largely of fat, and so raises some of the same health concerns as oils.¹⁵

1. Provides unique flavor¹⁵
2. Acts as vehicle to make other flavors spreadable¹⁶
3. Acts as emulsifier in sauces¹⁵
4. Cold butter thickens sauces¹⁵
5. Helps brown foods when sauteed and fried¹⁵
6. When creamed with sugar traps air bubbles to aerate baked goods¹⁵
7. Adds moisture¹⁵
8. Creates flakiness in pastries¹⁵

Milk & Cream

• Many recipes call for milk and cream to serve several purposes, but the fat in these products is often what makes them so useful.

1. Provide flavor, depending on fat content¹⁷
2. When heated, helps "set" and thicken recipes¹⁷
3. Contribute to browning¹⁷
4. Provide moisture
5. Give "creamy" consistency
6. Add richness¹⁸
7. Thicken sauces¹⁹
8. Cream with high fat content traps air to make foam (whipped cream)¹⁷

Sour Cream

• Sour cream serves many of the same purposes as milk and cream, and also contains fat.

1. Adds moisture
2. Contributes flavor¹⁷
3. Makes flour doughs and batters more tender¹⁷

Step 2: Substitute a Similar Healthy Ingredient

• Try to find a healthier ingredient that can perform the same function as the original ingredient in your recipe. The more purposes a specific ingredient serves in a recipe, the more difficult it is to replace that ingredient with a healthier alternative.

Salt

1. Season your dishes with herbs and spices rather than salt.²⁰
2. Eliminating salt from bread recipes is not usually a good idea.²¹

Sugar

1. Sugar used simply to sweeten drinks or other items can be replaced with artificial sweeteners.²²
2. When large amounts of sugar provide bulk as well as sweetness, replace no more than half the sugar with artificial or other sweeteners. About.com has a great chart describing how to use specific sweeteners as substitutes for sugar.²³
3. Use baking soda to provide the air bubbles that would otherwise be formed by creaming sugar with butter in baked goods.²²
4. If you can't achieve the results you desire by making substitutions, consider finding a similar recipe intended to be sugarless.

Eggs

1. If you just need yellow coloring, use food coloring.²⁴
2. Rather than whole eggs, use egg whites or egg substitutes.²⁰
3. Use two egg whites to replace one yolk.⁹ In baking, you may also need to add a small amount of oil for tenderness.²⁴
4. To bind ingredients, use ground flaxseed, gelatin, soft tofu or pureed fruit.²⁴
5. To leaven, or help a recipe to rise, use some egg replacers or baking powder.²⁴
6. Use cornstarch to thicken puddings and similar dishes.²⁵
7. Baking911.com provides a recipe for a vegan egg substitute for baking.²⁴
8. When eggs form the focus of a dish, such as in quiches and salads, try making a tofu alternative.²⁶
9. The yolk contains most of the fat and cholesterol in an egg, so if that's all you're worried about, you can still use the whites for mousse.²⁷

Oil

1. Substitute fruit puree for oil to provide moisture in baking.²⁰
2. If you don't mind the taste, olive oil is a healthier alternative to vegetable oils.¹²
3. Use canola oil rather than vegetable oil.²⁸
4. Use cooking spray to grease pans—it makes a thinner coating of fat.²⁹

Butter

1. Use cooking spray to grease pans.
2. Applesauce can replace some of the butter fat.¹³
3. Experiment with simply reducing the amount of butter to see whether it really affects the recipe.¹³
4. Search for transfat-free alternative spreads.¹⁵
5. Dip bread in salted olive oil rather than spreading it with butter.

Milk and Cream

1. Use skim milk in bready recipes instead of whole milk or cream.³⁰
2. In baked goods, Baking911.com recommends using milk no lower in fat than 2%.¹⁷
3. Top desserts with nonfat whipped topping or frozen yogurt rather than whipped cream or ice cream.³⁰
4. Make mousses with beaten egg whites rather than whipped cream.³⁰

Sour Cream

1. Replace sour cream with plain yogurt for flavor and moisture.³⁰
2. Buttermilk has a similar tangy flavor.¹³

Other Substitutions

1. Replace bacon with Canadian bacon, lean prosciutto, turkey bacon or ham.²⁰
2. Use ground poultry rather than ground beef.²⁰
3. Use whole wheat flour whenever possible.²⁰
4. Include brown rice rather than white.²⁰

Step 3: Make Adjustments

• Once you've done your best to approximate an ingredient with replacements in your recipe, you'll have to try it out to see how well you've done. Keep in mind the different uses for the ingredients you've replaced, and try to figure out what you've lost in the process. Then, adjust some of your ingredients to compensate. You may need to add more leavening, moisture, flavor or thickeners.

1. If you've added an acidic fruit puree to compensate for the loss of oil, add a small amount of baking soda to improve the final flavor.¹³
2. If you remove fat from baked goods and they lose tenderness, try using cake flour instead of all-purpose.¹³
3. When you reduce fat or salt content, increase flavorings.¹³
4. Add other dark ingredients, like cocoa, to add brown coloring when you reduce sugar content.²²
5. Fruit purees or water can replace moisture lost by replacing eggs with a drier substance.²⁶

Conclusion

• Don't give up the first time you try out your adjusted recipe. Making healthy ingredient substitutions can be a bit tricky, but it's well worth the effort. Keeping to a diet becomes much easier once you know how to make tasty treats that are also good for you. Your family and friends will appreciate the time and effort you've put in when they taste the fruit of your labors. You can also explore Mahalo's links for fat free and sugar free recipes.

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References for How to Make Healthy Ingredient Substitutions

1. ↑ CNN.com: FDA to Consider Salt Content of Processed Foods (November 19, 2007)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Wikipedia: Salt
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Salt Institute: Salt in Food
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Wikipedia: Sugar
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Baking911.com: Cake Ingredients
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Pastry Wiz: Sugar Substitution
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Wikipedia: Egg (Food)
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} Baking911.com: The Pantry — Eggs
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Wikipedia: Egg White
10. ↑ Wikipedia: Fat
11. ↑ Harvard School of Public Health: The Nutrition Source — Fats and Cholesterol
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3} Baking911.com: The Pantry — Fats
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6} Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
14. ↑ How to Cook: Thickening Agents
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8} Wikipedia: Butter
16. ↑ Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board: Tips for Flavoring Butter
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6} Baking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
18. ↑ The Cook's Thesaurus: Milk & Cream
19. ↑ Martha Stewart: Different Uses for Cream
20. ↑ ^{20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6} MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
21. ↑ Baking911.com: The Pantry — Herbs & Spices
22. ↑ ^{22.0 22.1 22.2} Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Sweeteners
23. ↑ About.com: Cooking with Sugar Substitutes
24. ↑ ^{24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4} Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
25. ↑ Wikipedia: Cornstarch
26. ↑ ^{26.0 26.1} About.com: What Can I Use to Substitute for Eggs in a Recipe
27. ↑ Wikipedia: Egg Yolk
28. ↑ The Cook's Thesaurus: Oils & Cooking Sprays
29. ↑ Wikipedia: Cooking Spray
30. ↑ ^{30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3} Global Gourmet: Lighter — Healthy Substitutions for Baking

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