Healthy Substitutions
If you’re trying to make your food more healthy, try these healthy substitutions. In each case, you can use the substitution in place of the original when cooking.
| Instead Of | Use |
| Bacon | Smoke flavoring, ham, Canadian bacon or bacon bits |
| Bread crumbs | French bread, dried and crushed Butter, margarine or shortening in baking |
| Butter, margarine or shortening in baking | Applesauce |
| Cream cheese | Neufchatel or low fat cream cheese |
| Canned Condensed Soup | White sauce made with skim milk |
| Cream of Chicken Soup | 1 ¼ cups white sauce + 1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon |
| Cream of Mushroom Soup | 1 cup white sauce + 1 can drained mushrooms |
| Egg (one) | 2 egg whites |
| Ground beef | Ground turkey |
| Heavy cream, for whipping | Evaporated milk, freeze 30 minutes, add ½ tsp. vanilla, whip |
| Heavy cream, in sauces and soups | Evaporated milk |
| Ricotta cheese | low-fat cottage cheese, pureed |
| Sour cream | Yogurt |
| Whole milk | Skim milk |
| White flour | ½ white and ½ wheat or all wheat |
| White flour, for thickening | 2 Tbsp. cornstarch |
| White rice | Brown rice |
Here are a few more healthy eating tips:
- Cook chicken breasts with skin and remove skin just before eating. This helps the chicken stay juicy.
- Steam vegetables instead of sauteing.
- Low fat gravy: let meat broth stand in refrigerator overnight or put ice cubes in broth to collect fat. Skim off fat. Use 1 Tbsp. cornstarch to thicken 1 cup.
You may also want to check out our substitutions and equivalents page!
Photo By: Wyscan
If I were to substitue applesauce for butter, margarine or shortening, would it be the same measurement–as in 1 cup applesauce instead of 1 cup butter?
Thanks, Diane
Yes!
Thank you for your answer. Can’t wait to try this and see if it makes a difference in the texture and taste of my cookies and cakes.
Diane
Light ricotta is almost as low in fat as light cottage cheese and has less salt.
I use applesauce in place of oil in boxed cake mixes, still the same great flavor but it does’nt work in brownies.