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Found a recipe you love, but worried about the fat, salt or cholesterol content? How to Make Healthy Ingredient Substitutions shows you how to replace ingredients in the recipe with healthier alternatives. Go ahead and make that chocolate cake—guilt free!
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Ingredient Substitution Tips
- Learn the cooking properties of your ingredients.
- Ingredients that serve several purpose in a dish can be difficult to replace.
- Replace up to half the sugar in a recipe with artificial sweeteners.
- Use cornstarch instead of eggs to thicken puddings.
- Fruit purees can add moisture to lower fat recipes.
- Top desserts with nonfat whipped topping or frozen yogurt.
- Use buttermilk instead of sour cream.
- Test out your recipe and make adjustments—don't give up the first time.
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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.CNN.com: FDA to Consider Salt Content of Processed Foods (November 19, 2007) 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.Wikipedia: Salt
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.Wikipedia: Sugar
- SweetensWikipedia: Sugar
- Preserves foodsWikipedia: Sugar
- Tenderizes custards, batters and doughsBaking911.com: Cake Ingredients
- Aerates a mixture when creamed with other ingredientsBaking911.com: Cake Ingredients
- Preserves moisture in baked goodsBaking911.com: Cake Ingredients
- Provides bulk and structurePastry Wiz: Sugar Substitution
- Contributes to browningPastry Wiz: Sugar Substitution
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.Wikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Add flavorWikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Contribute colorBaking911.com: The Pantry — Eggs
- Provide proteinWikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Trap air bubbles for foams and mousses, aerating baked goodsWikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Thicken sauces and custardsBaking911.com: The Pantry — Eggs
- Bind ingredients togetherWikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Leaven doughs and battersWikipedia: Egg (Food)
- Slow crystallization of sugarsBaking911.com: The Pantry — Eggs
- Provide moisture
- Whites clarify liquidsWikipedia: Egg White
- Yolks act as emulsifiersBaking911.com: The Pantry — Eggs
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.Wikipedia: Fat Harvard School of Public Health: The Nutrition Source — Fats and Cholesterol
- Provides moisture
- Impedes stickingBaking911.com: The Pantry — Fats
- Smooths doughBaking911.com: The Pantry — Fats
- Some types add flavorBaking911.com: The Pantry — Fats
- Tenderizes baked goodsBaking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- Thickens as part of an emulsion in saucesHow to Cook: Thickening Agents
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.Wikipedia: Butter
- Provides unique flavorWikipedia: Butter
- Acts as vehicle to make other flavors spreadableWisconsin Milk Marketing Board: Tips for Flavoring Butter
- Acts as emulsifier in saucesWikipedia: Butter
- Cold butter thickens saucesWikipedia: Butter
- Helps brown foods when sauteed and friedWikipedia: Butter
- When creamed with sugar traps air bubbles to aerate baked goodsWikipedia: Butter
- Adds moistureWikipedia: Butter
- Creates flakiness in pastriesWikipedia: Butter
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.
- Provide flavor, depending on fat contentBaking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
- When heated, helps "set" and thicken recipesBaking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
- Contribute to browningBaking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
- Provide moisture
- Give "creamy" consistency
- Add richnessThe Cook's Thesaurus: Milk & Cream
- Thicken saucesMartha Stewart: Different Uses for Cream
- Cream with high fat content traps air to make foam (whipped cream)Baking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
Sour Cream
- Sour cream serves many of the same purposes as milk and cream, and also contains fat.
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.
Sugar
- Sugar used simply to sweeten drinks or other items can be replaced with artificial sweeteners.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Sweeteners
- 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.About.com: Cooking with Sugar Substitutes
- Use baking soda to provide the air bubbles that would otherwise be formed by creaming sugar with butter in baked goods.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Sweeteners
- If you can't achieve the results you desire by making substitutions, consider finding a similar recipe intended to be sugarless.
Eggs
- If you just need yellow coloring, use food coloring.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
- Rather than whole eggs, use egg whites or egg substitutes.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
- Use two egg whites to replace one yolk.Wikipedia: Egg White In baking, you may also need to add a small amount of oil for tenderness.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
- To bind ingredients, use ground flaxseed, gelatin, soft tofu or pureed fruit.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
- To leaven, or help a recipe to rise, use some egg replacers or baking powder.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
- Use cornstarch to thicken puddings and similar dishes.Wikipedia: Cornstarch
- Baking911.com provides a recipe for a vegan egg substitute for baking.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Eggs
- When eggs form the focus of a dish, such as in quiches and salads, try making a tofu alternative.About.com: What Can I Use to Substitute for Eggs in a Recipe
- 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.Wikipedia: Egg Yolk
Oil
- Substitute fruit puree for oil to provide moisture in baking.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
- If you don't mind the taste, olive oil is a healthier alternative to vegetable oils.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Fats
- Use canola oil rather than vegetable oil.The Cook's Thesaurus: Oils & Cooking Sprays
- Use cooking spray to grease pans—it makes a thinner coating of fat.Wikipedia: Cooking Spray
Butter
- Use cooking spray to grease pans.
- Applesauce can replace some of the butter fat.Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- Experiment with simply reducing the amount of butter to see whether it really affects the recipe.Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- Search for transfat-free alternative spreads.Wikipedia: Butter
- Dip bread in salted olive oil rather than spreading it with butter.
Milk and Cream
- Use skim milk in bready recipes instead of whole milk or cream.Global Gourmet: Lighter — Healthy Substitutions for Baking
- In baked goods, href="http://www.baking911.com/pantry... recommends using milk no lower in fat than 2%.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Dairy Products
- Top desserts with nonfat whipped topping or frozen yogurt rather than whipped cream or ice cream.Global Gourmet: Lighter — Healthy Substitutions for Baking
- Make mousses with beaten egg whites rather than whipped cream.Global Gourmet: Lighter — Healthy Substitutions for Baking
Other Substitutions
- Replace bacon with Canadian bacon, lean prosciutto, turkey bacon or ham.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
- Use ground poultry rather than ground beef.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
- Use whole wheat flour whenever possible.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
- Include brown rice rather than white.MayoClinic.com: Ingredient Substitutions — Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes (June 18, 2008)
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.
- 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.Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- If you remove fat from baked goods and they lose tenderness, try using cake flour instead of all-purpose.Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- When you reduce fat or salt content, increase flavorings.Baking911.com: Introduction to Healthy Baking
- Add other dark ingredients, like cocoa, to add brown coloring when you reduce sugar content.Baking911.com: The Pantry — Substitutes — Sweeteners
- Fruit purees or water can replace moisture lost by replacing eggs with a drier substance.About.com: What Can I Use to Substitute for Eggs in a Recipe
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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