Ingredient swaps

Use These Easy Ingredient Swaps for Your Recipes

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You’ve set your taste buds for this new recipe, only to discover you’re missing an ingredient, or it has an ingredient you would rather not use. UGH!

Don’t despair.

You can easily swap that missing ingredient with another one, that you probably have in your pantry, or, and this is my favorite recipe hack, swap an unhealthy ingredient for a healthier one. Especially when you’re using an older recipe that is calling for ingredients that you’ve eliminated from your pantry for good.

Whether you need a missing ingredient, looking for a healthier ingredient or avoiding an ingredient that causes an allergic reaction, here’s some of my favorite ingredient swaps for you to try.

Butter

Have you ditched butter from your grocery list, but still love to bake those yummy cakes and cookies? 

Coconut oil can easily be substituted for butter. Simple to remember, it’s a 1:1 ratio of either soft or solid coconut oil to replace the butter in your recipes.

Eggs

Eggs are probably the easiest ingredient to swap out. 

Applesauce is the most common egg substitute, just make sure it is plain unsweetened applesauce – no sugar or flavors added. Use one-fourth cup of unsweetened applesauce to replace one egg. 

Flaxseed meal is another egg substitute. For one egg, use 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal combined with 3 tablespoons of water, mix and allow to sit for five minutes so that it can turn into a paste. It’s ready to be added to your recipe.

Fish Sauce

Fish sauce has a unique flavor and is called for in many of your Asian recipes. If you struggle with fish allergies or follow a vegan diet, you’ll want to avoid using fish sauce in your cooking. 

Choose organic soy sauce or tamari in your recipes that call for fish sauce. Your dish won’t have the same flavor, but it will still be tasty, and you’ll hardly notice the difference.

Milk

Milk is rarely in my refrigerator, so I’ve discovered that you can swap nut milk for dairy milk in your baking recipes. This too is a 1:1 ratio for your baking recipes. 

I make my own nut milk, due to the added ingredients in commercial nut milk. Here’s a simple nut milk recipe for you to use: 2 Tablespoons of nut butter to 8 ounces of water. Blend well and strain through a cheese cloth. Healthy chemical free nut milk ready to use.

Grated Parmesan

If you’re avoiding dairy, then you’re probably avoiding cheese. Now, there’s plenty of substitutes for different cheeses, but the easiest swap for grated parmesan cheese is to use nutritional yeast.

Whipped Cream

Looking for a healthier non-dairy whipped topping for your fruit or desserts? 

Swap the dairy whipped topping for fresh whipped cream using coconut cream. Keep a can of coconut milk in your fridge and when you need some whipped topping, open up the can of coconut milk, scoop out the solid cream, whip with your mixer for a healthy alternative to commercial whipped cream. Add a little vanilla extract and honey for added flavor.

Going Gluten-Free

Have you gone gluten-free? 

We went gluten-free a few years ago and I struggled when it came to my favorite recipes. Today it’s much easier to find gluten-free flour. You will need to add xanthan gum to your flour, if it is not already included. Add a half-teaspoon to one cup of gluten free flour and you’re all set for a gluten-free recipe.

 

These are just of few of my quick ingredient swaps. I’ve discovered that I can usually substitute any unhealthy ingredient with a healthier one without changing the outcome of the recipe.

What are your favorite ingredient swaps? Click over to our member’s Facebook Group – Healthy Living for Life and share your swaps with our group.

Photo Credit:  Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash