Healthy Food Recipes: A Guide to Substitute Ingredients
Use this guide to learn how you can make simple food ingredient substitutions to boost the benefits of healthy recipes.
Preparing healthy recipes can be easier than you think. You can create simple substitutes for ingredients to create healthy recipes that don't waste the taste and enjoy the food.
To prepare healthy food recipes, first look at what you have on hand in your pantry. You may have more health-friendly ingredients and not even realize it. And if you don't have ingredients on hand to make healthy recipes, have a shopping list ready the next time you go to the store.
Use this guide to food substitutions to help reduce the amount of fat, salt, sugar, and calories when preparing healthy recipes.
Your guide to food ingredient substitutions for healthy recipes | |
|---|---|
| If a recipe requires this nutrient: | Try the alternative: |
| pork | Beef, smoked turkey, or lean bacon (Italian smoked meat) |
| bread, white | Whole grain bread |
| Breadcrumbs, dry | Crushed oats or bran cereals |
| Butter, margarine, shortening, or oil in baked goods/oven grills | Apple juice or prune puree with half the amount of butter, shortening or oil as required, or an amount of butter or shortening specially prepared for the baking process and not containing trans fats Note: To avoid making baked goods that are too dense, too moist, or flat, don't substitute oil for butter or shortening. Also, don't replace whipped, moderately concentrated, or reduced-fat margarine with regular vegetable shortening. |
| Butter, margarine, shortening, or oil to prevent food from sticking | Non-stick food spray or non-stick cookware |
| cream | Balanced fat-free, skimmed evaporated milk |
| Cream cheese, full fat | Add fat-free or reduced-fat cream cheese, Neufchatel, or low-fat cottage cheese, mashed until completely blended. |
| eggs | Two egg whites or 1/4 cup of eggs in place of each whole egg |
| Flour suitable for many uses (regular) | Flour made from whole wheat for half the amount of all-purpose flour on-demand in baked goods Note: Whole-wheat baking flour is less dense and goes well with softer products, such as cakes and pancakes. |
| Canned fruits packed in syrup | Canned fruits in their own juices or in water or fresh fruits |
| ground beef | The extra lean or lean kind of ground beef, or ground beef or turkey breast (make sure you don't add poultry skin to the product) |
| captcha lettuce | Watercress, chicory, cabbage, dandelion leaves, kale, Indian mustard, spinach, or watercress |
| mayonnaise | Low-calorie mayonnaise salad dressing, or low-calorie, low-fat mayonnaise |
| Meat as the main ingredient in food | Three times more vegetables than meat on pizza or in casseroles, soups, and stews |
| milk, evaporator | Skimmed evaporated milk |
| Milk, full fat | Low-fat or fat-free milk |
| Oil-based seasonings | Balsamic vinegar, fruit juice, or fat-free broth |
| Rich Pasta (White) | Whole wheat pasta |
| White Rice | Brown rice, wild rice, bulgur, or granulated barley |
| power seasoning | Fat-free or low-calorie dressing or flavored vinegar |
| Seasoning salts, such as garlic salt, celery salt, or onion salt | Only herbal seasonings, such as garlic powder, celery seeds, onion flakes, herbs, finely chopped garlic, celery, or onions |
| Skim soup | Skimmed milk-based soups, mashed potato chips, mashed carrots, potatoes, or tofu for thicker ones |
| Soups, sauces, dressings, crackers, canned meat, fish, or vegetables | Low-sodium species |
| Sour cream, full fat | Fat-free or low-fat sour cream, or plain yogurt (without any flavors), fat-free or low-fat |
| soy sauce | Sweet and sour sauce or hot sauce from Indian mustard or low sodium soy sauce |
| Sugar | In most baked goods, you can cut the amount of sugar in half and increase the sweetness by adding vanilla, nutmeg, or cinnamon. |
| juices | Pureed fruits, such as apples, or low-calorie, sugar-free juices |
| salt | Herbs, spices, citrus fruit juices (lime, lime, or orange), rice vinegar, salt-free seasoning blends, or herbal blends |
| Fruit flavored yogurt | Low-fat plain yogurt with fresh fruit slices |