Heart experts suggest keeping daily saturated fat intake under 13 grams for cholesterol control. Two tablespoons of butter will exceed that recommendation. While it may mean a change in routine and an adjustment to your palate, there are many delicious alternatives to butter.
Substitutes For Butter In Baking
When reducing your butter intake, you don’t have to give up on rich, hearty flavor. Health authority Briana Steinhilber with EverydayHealth.com suggests several options for replacing butter in baked goods.
Greek yogurt will add protein and a velvety texture to your baked goods. Use 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt for every cup of butter in the recipe.
If moisture is key, replace butter with equal parts applesauce to create low-fat, flavorful quick breads.
Pumpkin puree is another delicious and aromatic alternative to butter. Replace each cup of butter with 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree. Pumpkin puree can also replace oil in recipes for loads of low-fat flavor.
Substitutes For Butter In Cookies
Creaming butter and sugar together when making cookies is a form of mechanical leavening. You’re adding air to the mixture, and your leavening agent (baking powder or baking soda) has more to work with.
Per cookie expert Stella Parks, properly aerated cookie dough results in soft, chewy cookies and a bigger batch, or bonus cookies!
Butter is a high-fat animal product. If either of those factors are a concern for you, take heart.
Replacing butter with oil in baking can lead to a loss of firmness in baked goods. Cookies can spread out into molten lakes of goo. They may still be tasty, but the presentation is lacking.
Bake cookies on parchment paper to help them keep their round shape.
Substitutes For Butter On Toast
For those of us who developed a taste for butter on fresh bread, or toast, the idea of giving it up is pretty daunting.
However, there are many terrific options other than butter that are not only delicious, they’re lower in fat and can help you cut back on your intake of animal products.
For savory toast, The Food Network offers several non-butter options. Oven toast is treated with olive oil before it’s baked at 350 Fahrenheit / 177 Celsius for fifteen minutes, or until lightly crisped.
After that, the skies the limit. Consider avocado, hummus, or sliced tomatoes as a way to dress up ho-hum toast.
The combination of butter and jam is one that many of us have learned to love. It’s a great blend of sweet and salty, creamy and acidic, and warm bread vs. cool jam.
While peanut butter may approximate the same flavor characteristics, other nut butters can keep things interesting.
Food experts at Bon Appetit provide butter and jam fans some great alternatives. Walnut butter, sunflower seed butter, and pumpkin seed butter provide unique alternatives to butter that you can easily make at home.
Related | Difference Between Cheese And Butter
Butter Vs. Margarine
The health benefits of butter over margarine are unclear. While saturated fats are bad for you, trans fats are worse. Per health experts at Harvard Health Publications, the healthier option is to replace butter with monounsaturated fats such as olive oil.
Butter is a staple and thus a habit for many of us. If you have concerns about cholesterol, fat intake, or use of animal products, consider how often you add butter out of habit. Make a concerted effort to expand your tastes by trying cuisines that don’t rely on butter.
