Coconut oil seems to receive a lot of mixed reviews these days. People who have tried it often gush over its health benefits. However, there are some recent studies that claim it's not as healthy as many think.
Regardless of health assertions, coconut oil is great for cooking, especially for frying and sauting, because of how well it holds up to the heat. You can also use it as a spread on toast or muffinsand use it as a replacement for butter in baking. If you don't want the coconut flavor, make sure you get the oil that has the flavor distilled out of it.
Coconut Butter
Coconut butter offers many of the same benefits as coconut oil, except that it is a more solid form. This makes it much more suited to use as a spread and offers a great coconut flavor to whatever food you put it on.
Ghee
Ghee has been a very popular substitute for butter lately. Ghee is the liquid part of butter once all the milk solids have been removed and all the water has evaporated.
It's often called clarified butter and ranks about the same as regular butter as far as health and nutrition go. However, it can be more expensive and is thought to contain higher levels of oxidized cholesterol than butter.
Olive Oil
Olive oil is excellent as a flavorful dip with bread, and you can use it to saut just about everything in lieu of butter. You can also use it in baking, although the flavor is strong and may not do well with sweeter baked goods. Use it instead for baking bread or biscuits, and only use about three-quarters of a cup for every cup of butter that is called for.
Mashed Avocado
You can mash up the avocado as a delicious and healthy spread for toast that is full of fiber and lots of phytonutrients. Its also great to use blended into smoothies and can be a replacement for butter while baking, using a 1:1 ratio.
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter is used in the making of chocolate and is another healthy fat loaded with antioxidants and polyphenols. Cocoa butter may help to improve your body's immune system and lower inflammation levels. You can use it when baking to replace regular butter.
Shea Butter
Bet you didn't know that shea butter is edible! It's very healthy in fact, filled with essential fatty acids as well as antioxidants and vitamin E. You can use it instead of cocoa butter or regular butter, you just may need to use it in slightly smaller amounts. However, shea butter can go rancid very easily, so only buy it in small portions that you plan on using quickly.
Mashed Banana
If you want to up your nutritional value and decrease your calories and fat, you can bake using mashed banana instead of butter (like with this amazing banana bread). When you add bananas, you will want to do it slowly to reach your desired consistency.
Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt can be a good substitution for butter when baking things like cakes where you want to increase the protein. You can even use Greek yogurt in your mashed potatoes to help give your potatoes a creamy texture that everyone will love.
Dairy-Free Yogurt
Dairy-free yogurts include those like almond or coconut yogurt. It makes for a good butter substitute and is great for those who have a milk allergy or are lactose intolerant. However, some dairy-free yogurt brands can have a lot of added sugar, so you need to make sure you're reading your labels carefully.
Applesauce
Applesauce makes for an excellent butter replacement when baking. You can also use it to flavor things like oatmeal, and it can help make your baked goods nice and moist. Applesauce also happens to be full of vitamin C as well as fiber. Note it does have a bit of sweetness to it because it does contain some sugar.
Typically, you will want to use about half the amount of applesauce as butter when using it as a replacement. You may need to experiment a bit with those ratios when baking different things, but the results are well worth it.
Pumpkin Pure
Pumpkin pure can be used as a butter replacement, and like olive oil should be used in a ratio of three-quarters of a cup for every cup of butter. Pumpkin pure is also an excellent source of fiber and is loaded with other nutrients like potassium and vitamin K.
Nut Butters
Nut butters can be used on toast as a spread, as well as substituted in baking goods for butter. When used with baking goods, it will lend the recipe a nutty flavor and create a dense texture.
Bone Broth and Veggie or Chicken Stock
If you want a whole lot of flavor while sauting your veggies, use bone broth or chicken stock instead of butter. You can use it to saut meat as well and keep the meat both tender and juicy.
As you can see, there is a whole host of ingredients you can use as a substitute to replace butter, whether you are using it to bake with, saut veggies, grill meat, or to spread on bread and muffins.
Some of these substitutes (depending on what you're using them for) may work better than others, and obviously, they will all offer different flavors. Replacing butter with a substitute, regardless of the purpose, can be a bit of an experiment to find the best fit for your needs.
All in all, it will be a fun experiment with lots of goodies to taste test!
