5 Ingredient Substitutes to Make Your Recipes Healthier
5 Ingredient Substitutes to Make Your Recipes Healthier
Now more than ever, people are conscious of what goes into their food. Many of us want to take better care of our bodies and be aware of the proper nutrition we’re serving on a daily basis. You can use natural ingredients to help make your meals healthier and even tastier. The good news is that you can substitute wholesome ingredients into a recipe to eliminate the bad stuff or empty calories. Here are some of our favorite ingredient substitutes to buy for your cupboard.
Skipping The Oil
We all enjoy our baked goods, right?
The only problem is the oil that’s necessary to keep cakes and brownies nice and moist and fluffy in texture. Unfortunately, the oil contains lots of fat and calories.
The easy solution is to swap out half of the oil in the recipe with applesauce. Yes, applesauce is a wonderful equalizer that won’t affect the flavor or texture. Best of all, nutritionists say it will save you a whopping 900 calories and 110 grams of fat for every 1/2 cup of applesauce you use to substitute for oil.
Staying Sweet And Natural
Another excellent and healthy substitute to use in recipes comes straight from the beehive, and this isn’t just any delicious nectar.
Did you know that cotton honey is a superb swap in recipes? It delivers a wonderful taste that you can’t resist, and bees produce it from the flower of a cotton plant. It’s a rich-tasting and unique variety of honey.
All kinds of fattening sugars, including granulated and brown and calorie-laden syrups can be replaced with cotton honey in your favorite recipes.
Saying No To Mayo
Mayonnaise overload is something many households are guilty of. We seem to plop it down on every sandwich imaginable. Next time, make the swap with hummus.
The savory and creamy, Middle East dip spread is super nutritious made from a blending of mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Hummus is also packed with protein and very good for you. The spread contains 20.47 grams of a plant-based protein in a half-cup serving.
Try a little hummus spread on your tuna sandwich.
Trying A New Spaghetti
Who doesn’t enjoy a heaping bowl of pasta? A lot of nutritionists would like you to try this instead of your usual choice one evening. It’s called spaghetti squash and doesn’t come from a box at the grocer’s aisle.
Spaghetti squash is a string-like veggie when cut open. It can be found year-round in many supermarkets right near acorn and butternut varieties. It resembles a pale yellow (or off white) oblong-sized squash and can be substituted in your pasta recipes.
It’s packed with good stuff like fiber, vitamin C, manganese, and vitamin B6. Celebrities like Julianne Hough are big fans of spaghetti squash.
Modern Breadcrumb Swapping
Let’s face it. We seem to add breadcrumbs quite often to help things stick together as in meatloaf, for example.
There’s a healthier new breadcrumb in town, and it’s not what you’d expect.
Chia seeds are a terrific swap in recipes that ask for breadcrumbs. First of all, the seeds are full of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, fiber, iron, calcium, and protein.
The seeds are awesome because they can absorb up to 27 times their weight in water! Use them as breading, either whole or ground.
You don’t have to freak out when you want to tweak recipes to make them healthier and delicious. Try our tips here, and save yourself some major calories. Here’s to happy, healthier eating!
