Substituting Ingredients
By learning to substitute ingredients, you can take existing recipes and make them healthier, or learn to make up for the ingredients you're missing! Remember, when substituting ingredients, you may change the flavor, consistency, aroma and the life (how long it remains edible) of your meal item. Be sure to experiment and try the meal item with the substituted ingredients before letting others taste it.
| INGREDIENT |
AMOUNT |
SUBSTITUTIONS |
| Butter |
1 cup |
7/8 cup vegetable oil (canola, olive, corn, peanut) plus 1/2 tsp. Salt |
| Catsup |
1 cup |
1 cup Low Salt/Low Sodium tomato sauce plus 1/2 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. vinegar (for use in cooking) |
| Coconut milk |
1 cup |
1 cup milk |
| Cornstarch (for thickening) |
1 Tbsp. |
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour |
| Cream: coffee (20% fat) |
1 cup |
3 Tbsp. butter plus 7/8 cup milk |
| Heavy (36-40% fat) |
1 cup |
1/3 cup butter plus 3/4 cup milk (for baking only, will not whip) |
| Cream cheese |
1 package |
1 container cottage cheese beaten until smooth |
| Honey |
1 cup |
1 1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup liquid (use liquid called for in recipe) |
| Italian Seasoning |
1 tsp. |
1/4 tsp. basil, 2/3 tsp. dried parsley, pinch oregano |
| Mayonnaise (for use in salads and salad dressings) |
1 cup |
1 cup yogurt, sour cream or cottage cheese pureed in blender (use for all or part of mayonnaise called for in recipe) |
| Milk: buttermilk |
1 cup |
1 cup plain yogurt OR 1 cup milk plus 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice (let stand for 5 minutes) |
| sweetened condensed |
1 cup |
Combine 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. dry milk with 1/2 cup warm water and 3/4 cup sugar, mix well; may set in pan in bowl of hot water to dissolve sugar. |
| Salt |
|
Use herbs, spices or flavored vinegar |
| Sour cream |
1 cup |
1 cup plain yogurt |
| Sugar, granulated |
1 cup |
1 cup corn syrup, reduce other liquid by 1/4 cup (never replace more than 1/2 of sugar called for in recipe with corn syrup) |
| Tomatoes, canned |
1 cup |
1 1/3 cups diced tomatoes simmered 10 minutes |
|
