Favorite Healthier Recipe Hacks

bigbandjohn

Hey all. Figured we should share how we like to change recipes to make them better for our diet. To start:

1) I use lowfat/nonfat yoghurt and/or sour cream to replace some or all mayonnaise in chicken and tuna salad recipes.

What do you like to do?

lporter229

This is a timely post because I was just coming here to start a thread to share a Hack I learned from Bobby Flay's "Fit" cookbook that I have used twice now and find amazing. In the book he has a recipe for eggplant parm that uses one and a half cups of panko breadcrumbs mixed with 2 Tbsp. of parmasean cheese, 2 Tbsp of olive oil and lemon zest as a topping. The eggplant is topped with the breadcrumb mixture and baked rather than coated and deep fried. It was delicious. Last night I used the left over bread crumbs on chicken breast (previously cooked sous vide). I browned it in the toaster oven then topped with sauce and cheese and finished warming. It was super delicious and easy. You need very little of the breadcrumb topping to make this taste good. The amount of flavor that the lemon zest adds is amazing. You would not miss the deep frying. Here is a link to the original eggplant recipe from the book. Oh, and the sauce recipe is stellar too.

https://blog.williams-sonoma.com/january-cookbook-club-bobby-flay-fit/

puffbrat

I generally find that I can use 1/2 to 2/3 of the olive oil a recipe calls for.

funjen1972

I just discovered unsweetened almond milk. It has 30 calories per cup compared to about 90 for fat free milk. I just started using it for creamy sauces, soups and desserts. It's a game changer for me!

acpgee

For any recipe calling for minced meat you can replace about a third with vegetarian quorn mince and not notice any difference in taste or texture. Some people might not consider this healthy because quorn is highly processed. But quorn is about 100 kcal per 100g compared 322 kcal for beef mince.

Audj246

Any time a recipe calls for a roux (fat, usually butter, and flour that gets cooked out before adding a liquid to make thick sauce), you can just mix the flour in the cold liquid and omit the fat (or greatly reduce it if you want to keep some) This trick combined with the the unsweetened almond milk funjen mentioned can greatly reduce the calories in a mac 'n cheese sauce.

I also like to saute using a bit of water to keep things going in the pan without adding too much oil.

mariluny

Apple sauce can replace 90% of the oil called for in muffin and quick bread recipes and you can’t taste it at all.

Plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream is also a great switch!

skinnytacular

I just came here to ask about a couple of hacks. Here are three I haven't tried--

Eric Greenspan's oven caramelized whole onions: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2209177889322324 Honestly, though, now I want to try this in a slow cooker because I've had a lot of luck piercing potatoes, wrapping them in foil, and roasting them in the slow cooker just as you might bake a potato in the oven. Anyone tried it either way--slow cooker or oven--for caramelizing onions whole?

Roasted onion cream--alternative to adding cream to soups, etc. https://food52.com/recipes/35625-chefsteps-genius-roasted-onion-cream Anyone tried this?

Aquafaba vegan substitute for whipped eggs: https://minimalistbaker.com/a-guide-to-aquafaba/

And several I have tried with great success:

(tip #5) whipped nonfat cottage cheese and powdered nonfat milk as a substitute for whipping cream. https://healthmad.com/substitutes-for-heavy-cream/

And, obviously, everyone's familiar with subbing (or mixing) riced or pureed cauliflower for rice or mashed potatoes and using lettuce leaves as wraps instead of tortillas and using spiralized sweet potatoes, zucchini, or squash in addition to or instead of flour or rice-based noodles. Sliced zucchini as a noodle sub in lasagna.

One ingredient ice cream https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-creamy-ice-cream-with-just-one-ingredient-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-93414

One ingredient (and gluten free) whole grain crackers: https://books.google.com/books?id=aJZoBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT100&lpg=PT100&dq=food52+genius+recipes+one-ingredient+whole+grain+crackers&source=bl&ots=076_3SN4Li&sig=oyZyRJSyp2Wwx7ideHPPy93i4tM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwA2oVChMIzdPb8IXLyAIVzziICh27owoV#v=onepage&q=food52 genius recipes one-ingredient whole grain crackers&f=false

Food processed mushrooms to bulk up ground beef in many recipes (burgers, meatballs, sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce... etc.) : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-blend-red-meat-mushrooms_n_5b436985e4b05127ccf47258?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALqQy3gjJKEEdMhY9--MMixC7r1QDWl7F05zDjTKGIe7yn4x0Uv7Ukp3m1-yeaar_aacKGpuvP2QKrPvjoUS_YOXGviiWNlJQnDG3vyMmhRrEJPmQ_dF1h2y5yC2A1ugwoktk0Uqvk7GRSX1q3ANFGXPMqoVe_1ObBVhsVzhbeNw

Phyllo dough and won ton wrappers can often substitute for pie and other crusts and can be baked instead of deep fried.

acpgee

Some snacks sold for deep frying at home crisp and puff up in the microwave. Pappadums (about 1 minute) and asian tapioca prawn crackers (about 30 seconds) fall in this category. Also the dried rice sheets sold for making Vietnamese deep fried spring rolls, but you will need to brush with some teriaki sauce on them as they are unsalted.