7 Simple & Healthy Recipe Substitutions

A new lifestyle change that involves giving up your favorite foods can be stressful, unenjoyable, and therefore unsuccessful! Who wants to feel deprived of their favorite flavors and textures? These 7 Simple & Healthy Recipe Substitutions include alternative ingredients that you can use in place of sugar, dairy, and flour in your favorite recipes.

7 Simple & Healthy Recipe Substitutions

Cinnamon- Instead of sugar try cinnamon in your recipes. For every 1 tablespoon of sugar try 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. This can be used in coffee and to add flavor to unsweetened applesauce. Cinnamon can also be used to reduce sugar used in baked goods. By adding cinnamon to the recipe, you will need less sugar. You will have to do some taste testing. Start by adding one teaspoon of sugar and half of the sugar called for in the recipe. Then slowly add more cinnamon and sugar until you reach your desired amount of cinnamony sweetness. Cinnamon also has the added benefit of being excellent in stabilizing blood sugar.

Avocado- This is a creamy and tasty alternative to mayonnaise. It gives your salads and sandwiches moisture, flavor, and creamy texture while adding a healthy fat. Simply remove from the skin, whip until light and fluffy, and add a bit of lemon juice to keep it from browning. You can also add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Cauliflower- Kick that unhealthy white rice to the curb by using grated cauliflower in it’s place. You can get pretty close to the same texture as rice by breaking fresh cauliflower into large florets, wash and drain, then pop them in a food processor and blend until until finely grated. You can then sauté in a pan with a little oil. If you would prefer, you can also spread the grated cauliflower on a large baking sheet, season to taste with salt and pepper, and bake for 15 minutes at 425°. Use in any recipe where you need a bed of rice.

Zucchini- Instead of pasta noodles use zucchini noodles as a tasty low carb option. A spiral vegetable cutter makes it easy to turn zucchini into noodles. If you want a substitute for lasagna simply slice the zucchini into long thin strips. Don’t forget that you can roast spaghetti squash for a delicious pasta substitute .

Greek Yogurt- In place of sour cream as a topping on chili, potatoes, or other dishes, you can stir it right into recipes. Avoid non fat Greek yogurt as these usually contain many other unhealthy additives to make up for the lack of fat. When cooking be sure to only add it at the end and over low heat to avoid curdling.

Almonds- Use almond meal instead of breadcrumbs to coat baked items like fish or chicken nuggets. Grab some finely ground almond flour and you can use in place of a portion of your all-purpose flour in your baking recipes. You can easily substitute 1/3 of the wheat flour with Almond Meal. Since the almond meal has more fat than all-purpose flour, reduce your oil by 1 tablespoon for each 1/4 cup of almond meal used. This is a great substitute for a gluten-free lifestyle. Here is how to make almond meal.

Coconut Milk- Instead of whipped cream, coconut milk is a rich, creamy, and satisfying substitution that is lower in fat. It is perfect for those who want to indulge but are on a non dairy diet as well. You make it much the way you do typical whipped cream. Refrigerate a can of coconut milk for several hours or overnight for best results. Then, open the can and remove all solids leaving the watery liquid at the bottom. Whip on high for 3-5 minutes until stiff peaks form. You can also use thickened coconut milk in place of heavy cream in recipes. You can also make whipped cream with almondmilk.