Swapping out crappy ingredients for healthy food substitutions can be better for your body AND for your tastebuds! With quick recipe videos on the rise, we’re seeing yummy dishes thrown at us everywhere we look! From Tasty recipes popping up on Facebook, to #foodie on Instagram, the recipes are getting more and more tempting to make! They’re great for chefs and newbie cooks all the like, but they’re not always the healthiest thing for people trying to lose weight (or gain muscle). Luckily for us there’s hope! I have some healthy food substitutions that will turn many of those mouth-watering recipes into waist-shrinking ones!
Healthy Food Substitutions
Cheese
By all means I am NOT trying to tell you to get rid of cheese! What exactly would life’s purpose be if it was cheese-less? I don’t want to think about it. But, some cheeses are healthier than others. While cream cheese is one of my all time favs for making recipes, its pretty high in fat. When I want to feel less guilty about nom-ing on cheesy recipes, I opt for feta, parmesan, and mozzarella (bonus points for fat-free)!
Example:
For this Creamy Spinach-Stuffed Mushrooms recipe from Buzzfeed, I would skip the cream cheese and use a mozzarella parmesan blend! To get the creaminess of this recipe, you may want to add a bit of coconut milk or skim milk!
Butter
While this creamy goodness is pretty much one of the best ingredients God gave to man kind, it simply is snot healthy. Since none of us want clogged arteries when we get older, I have some good alternatives for butter! Here are some substitutes and examples!
Olive Oil:
This Chicken Piccata recipe is pretty healthy but it does call for a bit of butter. Instead of that, I would use olive oil! It adds great flavor for Italian dishes especially! (Also, I would probably use whole wheat flour for this one as well.)
Applesauce:
Applesauce is a great healthy food substitutions for butter when baking! This Dulce De Leche Swirled Banana Bread sounds incredible. Switch out the butter for apple sauce, and its a little healthier too! Personally, I would skip the sugar and just use some extra banana as well, but that’s just me! Again, you could even change the flour to whole wheat flour for a winning slice of healthier bread!
Heavy Cream
It seems like a BUNCH of recipes on Tasty call for heavy cream. Luckily, this one is an easy and tasty fix. Coconut milk. Its creamy like heavy cream, and honestly works to do the same things as heavy cream in recipes too! Plus, it has way less fat!
Examples:
This Creamy Chicken Penne is a quick and delicious recipe! In addition to swapping the heavy cream for coconut milk, I would use whole wheat penne! I love that they’re already using parmesan for this recipe!
This Avocado Ice Cream recipe can be tweaked into the most perfect healthier choice for when you have a sweet tooth! I’d skip the cream and the condensed milk and double up on the coconut milk. Not only will it cut calories but it will add extra flavor to this already yummy recipe. As a bonus, you could totally top it with coconut chips.
Those are some of the more popular ingredients that I would switch out when making Tasty recipes. In addition to that, here are a few random substitutions I would make.
- Black beans for flour – This is greatwhen baking your favorite brownies. They are gluten-free and they have a good amount of protein!
- Bananas for flour – Use bananas instead of flour for pancakes and waffles! It adds more nutrients and flavor!
- Brown rice for white rice – It has a way better nutritional value and typically its less processed.
- Unsweetened applesauce for sugar – is a great way to sweeten many recipes instead of using sugar. It has less calories and its typically more natural.
- Spaghetti squash for spaghetti noodles – Cook it al dente in the microwave and you can hardly tell the difference!
- Bonus: You can also get a spiralizer and twist out your favorite vegetables like zucchini and carrots!
- Avocados for mayonnaise – Instead of using mayonnaise for dressing, try using avocados. They have the healthy fats that your body needs!
- Chia seeds for eggs – Swap out chia seeds for eggs when baking. If you soak them in water they can get pretty thick like egg whites!
- Kale for iceberg lettuce – Instead of using boring iceberg lettuce, try some darker greens like kale or spinach! They have far more nutrients.
- Cauliflower for side dishes – Cauliflower is a good replacement for both rice and mashed potatoes because it has less carbs!
- Healthier Tacos – Making tacos? Switch out the tortilla for lettuce!
- Bonus: If you like your tacos crunchy, use cabbage instead!
- Extra Bonus: Instead of topping your tacos with sour cream, try using greek yogurt. I know it sounds crazy but you can hardly tell the difference!
Man!! That felt like a power session there at the end! I know its a ton of info that I don’t expect anyone to remember. If you’d like to save these tips to reference back to, pin the image below! You can even share it on Facebook to spread the word to all your loved ones. I would love that!
Do you have any substitutions that you suggest? Or are any of these just too big of a stretch for you to make the switch? Let me know in the comments below!
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