Sauce substitutes

silviaaimeefit
silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello!
The most amount of calories in my meals are usually from sauce.
I can't seem to find "light" versions of sauce I would usually use, I was wondering if anyone knew any brands or recipes to cancel out this problem. I like spice and flavour. This is also a problem with gravy and curry which I'm not sure what to substitute with, any advice?
Thank you

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    "sauce" is pretty broad.
  • avlucia
    avlucia Posts: 66 Member
    I LOVE honey mustard(sweet baby Ray's is my life) so if anyone has a suggestion for an alternative or recipe (preferably tested) please let me know!
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    What kind of sauce do you like to use? If we know what you like, we can suggest similar alternatives.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    what types of sauces?
    I've heard of Walden Farms making low calorie sauces but I've never tried them.
  • Florida_Superstar
    Florida_Superstar Posts: 194 Member
    Not sure what flavors you're going for as others said. But check this out:

    http://www.hungry-girl.com/go-to-guides/show/fifteen-condiment-with-fifteen-calories-or-less

    I just googled "low calorie sauces."
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    Cassandraw3 wrote: »
    That is a very generic question. Do you have any examples of foods in which you would like a sauce substitution?

    My favorites for adding flavor are cooking with lots of garlic, using hot sauce, and most marinara sauces tend to be pretty low calorie as well.

    Thank you this is helpful, sorry I know I havent been very descriptive as I wanted a broad range of answers, usually for salads and wraps that sort of thing as I don't enjoy salad without a lot of flavour, thanks
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    Ldenzel wrote: »
    I love Bolthouse Farms dressings. The creamy dressings are yogurt based - they're lower calorie and taste so much better than "light" dressings. The ranch is only 45 calories for 2T. The oil based dressings have even fewer calories - the Italian is 25 calories for 2T. I've loved the flavor of every one that I've tried so far.

    Thanks so much, you are very helpful
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    What kind of sauce do you like to use? If we know what you like, we can suggest similar alternatives.

    Usually garlic/chilli and also gravy and curry, sorry for not enclosing this but thank you for your interest
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks everyone for you help
    xtrain321 wrote: »
    Not sure what flavors you're going for as others said. But check this out:

    http://www.hungry-girl.com/go-to-guides/show/fifteen-condiment-with-fifteen-calories-or-less

    I just googled "low calorie sauces."

    Thank you!
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks everyone, great help
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    silviaaimeefit wrote: »
    Hello!
    The most amount of calories in my meals are usually from sauce.
    I can't seem to find "light" versions of sauce I would usually use, I was wondering if anyone knew any brands or recipes to cancel out this problem. I like spice and flavour. This is also a problem with gravy and curry which I'm not sure what to substitute with, any advice?
    Thank you

    A lot of the calories in curries come from the coconut milk. "Light" coconut milk is just coconut milk plus water, so I buy full fat and add home-made chicken stock. My masaman curry recipe calls for 600 ml - I use 400 ml coconut milk and 200 ml stock and it still tastes exactly like the restaurant. I use even less coconut milk in Tom Ka Gai and for this it no longer tastes exactly like at a restaurant but it is still very good.
  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    silviaaimeefit wrote: »
    Hello!
    The most amount of calories in my meals are usually from sauce.
    I can't seem to find "light" versions of sauce I would usually use, I was wondering if anyone knew any brands or recipes to cancel out this problem. I like spice and flavour. This is also a problem with gravy and curry which I'm not sure what to substitute with, any advice?
    Thank you

    A lot of the calories in curries come from the coconut milk. "Light" coconut milk is just coconut milk plus water, so I buy full fat and add home-made chicken stock. My masaman curry recipe calls for 600 ml - I use 400 ml coconut milk and 200 ml stock and it still tastes exactly like the restaurant. I use even less coconut milk in Tom Ka Gai and for this it no longer tastes exactly like at a restaurant but it is still very good.

    Wow this is very helpful, I'm sure a lot of people will use this including myself! Many thanks!
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited April 2019
    Some of my favorites (besides the standard dijon mustard, hot sauce, wasabi, other typical stuff)
    (Note: excluding Waldon Farms stuff because of how godawful most of them are):
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    0blqj8j85a5s.png

    lowest kcal/fat Alfredo sauce I've come across so far:
    hneruy3ohdwa.png



  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    Wow looks good, thanks so much
  • echmain3
    echmain3 Posts: 231 Member
    Use spices instead of sauces.

  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
    I am an absolute condiment queen. I gotta fave them.

    For ketchup I mix Walden farms 0 cal ketchup with Heinz reduced sugar ketchup

    For BBQ sauce with my chicken I use waldenfarns 0 cal bbq sauce and mix with with the GHughes sugar free bbq sauce someone posted above it’s really good for 10 calories. Or I mix in la Victoria red taco sauce or trappys red hot sauce.

    For fish I made a low cal tartar sauce it was tummy I found recipe online.

  • silviaaimeefit
    silviaaimeefit Posts: 19 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Don't eat salad it you don't like it. If I make curries that do have a creamy sauce (proper curries are actually mostly water-based) I use skyr instead of double cream as it has a lot less fat but still tastes creamy and fresh. If I make a something that requires coconut milk I either use low fat (very meh!) or again skyr and add some dessicated coconut. My curries tend to consist of about 100gr meat, a huge pile of veggies, 70-80gr rice, and a fairly small amount of sauce as this is enough to get the proper taste. You can do many mayonnaise based dressings with a mix of mayo and yoghurt. Why use a huge pile of pesto if just tossing your pasta in a smaller amount is likely enough.

    I think it might be a bit of a mindset issue: Indian restaurants all over the world teach us that lots of meat and hardly any veggies swim in a huge bowl of sauce. Nobody in India would likely eat like that. Scale down on sauces in general, still get the taste but enjoy what you put into it instead of drowning it.

    Thank you so much, this sounds like such a good idea
  • texasredreb
    texasredreb Posts: 541 Member
    The only sauce I ever use is piccata and I make my own. Most recipes call for butter, heavy cream, olive oil, and flour. I never use the flour. I sub milk for heavy cream, and use either olive oil or butter--never both. If make it from the pan drippings of pork, sea food, or chicken, I skip the added fat entirely. I have to reduce it down longer because I don't use a starch to thicken, but I usually get it to nappe consistence in about 5 minutes. I think the flavor comes from the chicken stock, fresh lemon juice, and capers. I also zest the lemon. The fats and starch just help the sauce reach nappe consistency easier.
  • HereToLose50
    HereToLose50 Posts: 154 Member
    Keto_Vampire wrote: »
    lowest kcal/fat Alfredo sauce I've come across so far:
    hneruy3ohdwa.png



    I did not know this existed. I can make the cauliflower type of substitute but this would be so much faster. Thanks!
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    For pasta I use homemade marinara or Arrabbiata which is relatively low calorie. I dont even bother with Alfredo because i dont like it. I sometimes make a garlic, lemon, white wine sauce with a bit of olive oil.

    For salad I use either a balsamic vinaigrette or other vinaigrette. I don't care for creamy dressings but there are low calorie versions available. Regarding salad, I find iceberg salads tasteless. Baby greens are delicious and don't need as much dressing, but this is a matter of taste.

    Hot sauce is good and low calorie as is mustard, and herbs and spices and broth based sauces.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    For a sauce to go with salad, wraps or inside sandwiches, instead of mayo I use 0% Greek yoghurt. It adds just enough moisture.
    For a sauce to go with fish, I combine low fat mayo with lemon juice & rind, salt & pepper.
    To go with steak etc I use chicken stock cube, onions, mushrooms, thicken with cornflour & add a smidge of 0% Greek at the end once off the heat so it doesn’t curdle.
    For pasta, low fat pesto is an option or homemade tomato based sauces of course. Or a carbonara made the traditional way with raw egg rather than cream.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Most spicy/hot sauces are pretty low cal. You can also just add peppers or chilis to get heat. Check out the various of pepper-based sauces and also check out sriracha, among many others.

    For salad, a couple of ideas: As a vinaigrette fan, I usually just use less oil and more vinegar in my homemade vinaigrettes. Still tastes good. You can also go without oil, although I think using even a little olive oil is better than none. One good pairing is a spicy mustard plus red wine vinegar. Very few cals. A dressing I do with Asian salads is sriracha plus lime juice plus soy sauce (sometimes a tiny bit of fish sauce too). Delicious. And adding herbs to salads adds flavor -- dill or mint or basil, etc.

    Marinara sauces and arrabbiata sauces can be low cal. I make them at home and just control the added fat, but I'd imagine there are good options for purchase.

    I do a delicious stir fry with Japanese 7 spice -- see if you can find that, it's delicious (I do add some soy sauce also), and play around with spices in general. There are pre-mixed ones that you can try if you don't know what goes into the flavors you want.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    Honestly, I prefer to use a good, healthy fat on my salads, so I usually make my own Balsamic Vinaigrette. I will load my salads up with veggies and I want to make sure that I can absorb the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K, so I add a fatty dressing. I generally only use 1-2T so it's really not a huge dietary hit.

    For other things, I really like the G Hughes sugar-free line. For meats I like using different spice blends to add flavor. Salsa is a great add on for many dishes and is pretty low calorie.

    I personally do not like the Walden Farms stuff.

    I think that if there are specific sauces that you really enjoy, I would just google alternatives. If you love bbq sauce, then google "low calorie bbq sauce recipes" and if you like something like Butter Chicken, just google "low calorie/low fat butter chicken" etc.

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