When cooking, you can often substitute ingredients or change the amount called for in order to create a more healthy meal, or to reduce the calorie count of your dish (if this is important to you) without any noticeable degradation in taste. Some substitutions are based on common sense (less oil in your vinaigrette, or grilling meat instead of pan-frying), but it’s not always that easy. The trick is knowing when to substitute, and when to leave well enough alone.
If you are following an eating plan that reduces total fat in your diet, keep in mind that humans need some amount of fat to stay healthy. Seeking out foods that are naturally lower in fat is a great way to eat in general, but don’t go overboard in avoiding fat. You need it for your health – particularly the unsaturated variety – and it provides much of the flavor and texture (crispness, moistness, creaminess, smoothness) of foods. All things in moderation!
Here are some helpful tips for successful ingredient substitution.
Ground beef
Ground beef goes by several different names, including sirloin, chuck, and round, which all differ in fat content. Most ground beef packaging lists the fat percentage prominently on the label. “Sirloin” is generally the healthiest at 10 percent fat or less. “Round” and “chuck” contain 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively, and packages labeled simply “ground beef” with no percentage may contain up to 30 percent fat. For a 4-ounce serving of meat, that’s more than 30 grams of fat, 12 of which are saturated — and that’s 60% of the daily allowance of saturated fat that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends. Source: usda.gov
If you currently buy ground chuck or round, consider gradually switching to sirloin. Fat helps keep the meat tender and provides some of the flavor, but as long as your beef contains 7 to 10 percent fat, you still end up with a flavorful dish. Make the change gradually by mixing equal parts sirloin and your regular beef together (combine them in a bowl with a spoon or with clean hands). Next time, use more sirloin and less regular beef, until after a few shopping trips you are buying only the sirloin.
If you are cooking beef crumbled in a pan, reduce the greasiness of the dish by draining the excess fat from the skillet after cooking but before adding any other ingredients. You can drain by scooping the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and placing it on paper towels to drain, or simply tip the pan, holding the beef back with a slotted spoon, and pour off the fat into an empty metal can or a grease recycling bottle, if your community supplies those.
Cheese and cream cheese
I don’t recommend using fat-free cheese or cream cheese. They feel rubbery and plasticky, and taste terrible. Usually, lowfat cheeses (such as cheddar made with skim milk, or Neufchâtel cheese) are a decent substitute for the real thing. Cheeses labeled “sharp” or “aged” have a stronger flavor, so you can use less and still achieve excellent flavor in your dish.
Sour cream
Avoid fat-free sour cream. It tastes gritty and chalky, and has a long ingredient list of thickeners and flavoring agents. Lowfat sour cream is fine for most uses, although the consistency is thinner than regular sour cream. If you’re cooking with it, reduce the other liquids in the recipe a little. The best-tasting sour cream that I’ve found is Daisy brand. The lowfat variety contains only three ingredients: cream, skim milk, and vitamin A (to replace the nutrients lost by removal of milkfat).
Yogurt
Fat-free or lowfat plain yogurt is almost always a fine substitute for regular. A great choice is Greek yogurt, which can be found at most supermarkets. My favorite is Fage brand 2% Greek yogurt; the taste is unparalleled and it is very thick and creamy even though it’s lowfat.
Flavored yogurt often contains a ridiculous amount of sugar, so I recommend buying plain yogurt and adding fresh fruit and a sprinkle of cinnamon, granola, and an optional drizzle of honey. Stay away from artificially sweetened yogurt — it generally tastes awful.
Margarine vs. butter
Butter and margarine can both be healthy choices. Butter contains cholesterol and saturated fat, but it also tastes delightfully rich and fresh and usually has no added preservatives. Butter contains only cream, and sometimes a little salt. Used in moderation, it can fit in with a healthy eating plan.
Margarine is made from vegetable oil that gets processed in ways that make it spreadable. In general, margarine sold in tubs has less saturated fat than stick margarine. Look for brands that contain no trans fats; research has shown that trans fats are linked to increased incidence of coronary heart disease. If you practice a vegan diet or are cutting back on cholesterol, or if you don’t eat butter for any reason, then try to find one of these margarines.
I have chosen to use butter in many of the recipes in this book, but in most cases you can substitute margarine if you like. Margarine contains more water than butter, so using it can affect the final texture of whatever you are cooking.
Milk (from cows and plants)
If you drink a lot of cow’s milk, then you probably already have a preferred favorite type. If you want to switch from whole milk to one that is lower in fat, do it gradually. Go from whole to 2% to 1%. I find that 1% milk has an ideal balance of flavor and healthiness. It’s generally OK to use lowfat milk in cooking where regular milk is called for, though the final result may be somewhat less rich.
Plant milk, such as almond, cashew, coconut, oat, or soy milk, is nearly always a fine substitute in recipes, with some exceptions. When a recipe depends on the chemical or physical properties of dairy milk (such as forming into cheese, thickening in puddings, whipping into whipped cream, or caramelization), plant milk will not work as a substitute.
Ice cream
Lowfat ice cream is often an acceptable substitute for regular, although, like most other dairy products, the taste is not quite the same. Frozen yogurt is also quite delicious and can be lower in fat and calories than ice cream, but beware the sugary toppings that tantalize you from behind the counter at the yogurt shop. Sorbet and sherbet, which are naturally lower in fat and cholesterol, are other tasty alternatives to ice cream when you are having a frozen-dessert craving.
Refried beans
Canned refried beans never taste quite like what Mexican restaurants serve, usually because the freshly made variety is cooked with a generous helping of lard or vegetable oil. Canned beans can be dressed up with spices like cumin, oregano, chili powder, or chipotle chiles to improve the taste, and the fat-free type can be used interchangeably with regular or vegetarian types with little difference in taste.
Macaroni and cheese
Many of us still love this old standby in the blue box well into our adulthoods. In fact, it is one of my go-to comfort foods. Most boxed macaroni and cheese dinners have instructions for a lower-calorie version printed on the box. Making it the regular way uses an entire half stick of butter. And that box is supposed to serve four, but let’s not kid ourselves — most of us can stretch that to maybe two servings, no more. That’s a whole lot of calories per person. Follow the lowfat instructions instead, which call for a mere 2 tablespoons of butter. Mix in a teaspoon or so of Tabasco sauce or spicy brown mustard to add a tangy kick. You can gradually reduce the amount of butter in your mac ’n’ cheese if you’re used to using the half-stick. Use less each time and you might be surprised at how little you notice the difference.
Vinaigrette dressing
Many vinaigrette recipes call for four times more oil than vinegar. You can get away with a lot less oil — the vinegar and spices are what give the dressing its flavor, while the oil mainly serves to spread the dressing around and coat the salad evenly. Just decrease the amount of oil to be equal to the amount of vinegar, and you’ll do fine. And because the flavor is stronger, you’ll use less dressing.
Tomato-based pasta sauce
Alfredo sauce, deliciously creamy and cheesy and well worth the occasional indulgence, is high in fat and calories. But did you know that tomato-based pasta sauces may not be as low-calorie as you think? Check the nutrition label on bottled sauces if you buy these — some can contain up to 50 percent of their calories from fat, and most contain added sugar. Keep in mind, though, that a little olive oil with your tomatoes is a good idea, as it helps your body absorb the tomatoes’ nutrients. Of course, homemade sauces taste best (such as Garlic Mushroom Red Sauce, which can easily be frozen in single-serving sizes for later use), but realistically it’s a good idea to keep a jar of sauce on hand for those nights that you just don’t have the energy to cook from scratch.
Reducing the amount of butter you use as a spread
If you have a habit of using too much of butter on toast, bagels, muffins, or rolls, try this easy trick: Eat them dry for a few weeks. Really! Eat dry toast, get used to the taste… and then spread on just a smidge of butter. It will taste like heaven, your mouth will thank you for bringing back that wonderful creamy taste and texture… and you’ll use a lot less than you did before.