From healthy butter substitutes to gluten free alternatives we're sharing some of our favorite ingredient swaps that can add a healthy twist to most of your favorite recipes. Whether you are looking for gluten free or vegan substitutions, these healthy food substitutions listed below can help you get started. Have any other ingredient swaps to add? Share your favorites in the comments below!
Healthy Food & Ingredient Alternatives
Whether eating healthy is your New Year’s resolution, or you’re just looking to make small improvements to your health, there are several ingredient swaps that can be easily incorporated into your everyday life. When selecting your healthy food replacements, try to choose the foods that are as natural and unprocessed as possible. Limiting ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour can save you calories and may also help improve your overall health!
Below is a list of our most favorite ingredient swaps. Next time you're in the kitchen, test a few of our suggestions and see just how easy it is to live a healthier life!
Vegetable Noodles for Pasta Noodles
This easy swap takes away those added carbs and replaces them with nutrient-rich vegetables. You can purchase a vegetable spiralizer or even just use a vegetable peeler to create long ribbons of carrots, zucchini, or even yellow squash. Another vegetable-centric idea is swapping traditional noodles with spaghetti squash. Pair your spaghetti squash with an organic or homemade pasta sauce and voila, you’ve just created a fresh and satisfying dinner.
Applesauce for White Sugar
For the moments when you just need to satisfy your sweet tooth craving, try swapping organic applesauce with any refined sugar in all your favorite baked good recipes. When it comes to healthy sugar replacements, applesauce does the trick because applesauce is naturally sweet, working as a perfect switch for any artificial sweetener or refined sugar.
Lettuce Leaves for Tortillas
Not willing to give up your weekly taco Tuesday night? Don’t worry; you can still have your Mexican fiesta without ruining your healthy eating efforts! To cut back on added carbs, use fresh lettuce leaves as a taco shell or wrap.
Corn Tortillas for Flour Tortillas
If there's no way you are giving up your tortillas, at least make it a healthier alternative. Corn tortillas have half the calories and fat compared to standard flour tortillas.
Ground Turkey for Ground Beef
Do you have a favorite homemade burger or lasagna recipe? Try switching out the ground beef for ground turkey or ground chicken. These two alternatives have less fat and still pack in all the flavor and protein.
Greek Yogurt for Sour Cream
This creamy swap has the tangy punch you get from sour cream but is a whole lot healthier. Create sauces and spreads with Greek yogurt for a lighter alternative to sour cream.
Whole Wheat Flour for White Flour
Finding healthy flour substitutes can transform large portions of your diet. Any recipe that calls for white flour can be easily switched with its healthier counterpart. Whole wheat flour is rich in fiber and less processed, making it a smarter food choice.
Honey for Sugar
Eliminating sugar completely is nearly impossible. For a smarter alternative, use honey or organic maple syrup as a more natural and raw form of sweetener. Honey supports anti-inflammatory functions in your body and also contains many beneficial vitamins and nutrients.
Mashed Bananas for Oil
Mashed bananas can be swapped for many different ingredients in the kitchen. They provide the perfect replacement for sugar, butter, and oil. This ingredient swap is great for baked goods like muffins and cookies.
Avocado for Butter
Butter seems to be one of the hardest ingredients to give up. If you are looking for a swap that adds all the richness that butter provides, try trading it in for avocado. As far as healthy butter alternatives go, this ingredient switch works especially well with baked goods!
Rolled Oats for Instant Oats
Before reaching for that processed individual brown bag of artificially sweetened oatmeal, try making it from scratch. Not only can you customize these oats with whatever flavor you desire, but you also dodge all that added sugar and preservatives that come in instant oats. Rolled oats are a great source of fiber that will keep you satisfied throughout the day.
Black Beans for Flour
Okay, now this one seems a little far-fetched, but hear me out. Many healthy bakers will swap one can of drained and rinsed black beans for 1 cup of flour when baking brownies. This substitution will get rid of refined carbs and replace them with a healthy dose of protein.
There you have it, implementing a healthier diet doesn’t have to be as difficult as it might seem. If revamping your entire food intake seems like a daunting challenge, try slowly incorporating these healthier ingredient swaps. These simple alternatives will get you one step closer to living a long and happy life! Check out the infographic below for a few more healthy ingredient swaps.
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Heavy full fat cream is also a healthy fat.
For the people at Bob's Red Mill, thank you so much for your time in creating this, it will come in handy. Love your products!
This is a list worthy of research.
However, no measurement for all the other exchanges. At least let us know if they are equal amount exchanges. We can't just assume they are equal amounts.