Butter substitute

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wantmountains14
wantmountains14 Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm trying to find a butter substitute, that tastes close to the real thing, that I can use with cooking. Any suggestions?

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  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    substitute as in... higher smoke point? lower calorie? What type of cooking?

    I'll use butter-flavor oil spray (the stuff in the aerosol cans) if cooking in a pan (and don't need a particularly higher smoke point) or for flavoring popcorn after cooking it, occasionally spray it on vegetables. (Oil, so 9 calories per gram, but you can get much better coverage for much lower quantity... 2g often suffices where other delivery vehicles would be much higher).

    For adding onto cooked vegetables, baked potatoes,..., I'll use the tubs of light country crock.

    I don't bake, so can't help you there.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Ghee maybe?
  • Kristi26
    Kristi26 Posts: 184 Member
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    I can’t eat butter thanks to a dairy intolerance. Assuming this is your issue as well, OP, I like Earth Balance which is a vegan butter spread that tastes a lot like real butter and behaves similarly when cooking/baking with it as well. In baked goods, I typically sub unsweetened applesauce. I also like cooking with olive oil cooking spray.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,806 Member
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    Bluebonnet margarine. 70 calories a tablespoon, pretty satisfying, cheap, great on popcorn.

    An olive oil sprayer. Load the thing up with olive oil, use a spritz or two in lieu of a tablespoon of oil. I usually log at at .2 servings. I also like that using the real thing doesn’t gunk up pots and pans with that nasty stuff you get with spray oils.
  • thelastnightingale
    thelastnightingale Posts: 725 Member
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    I just don't use it.

    For cooking, I use an oil spray - 1 calorie per spray.

    For baking, it really depends on the rest of your ingredients, but you can for example sometimes replace butter with mashed banana.

    For bread - I just eat it as it comes.

    If I felt like I needed butter in something, I would use it in moderation, but I've managed to successfully not miss it during the last three months. If you give a more specific example of what you use the butter in (i.e. so we understand the purpose of the butter to the recipe), we might be able to give you better advice. :)
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Ghee maybe?

    2nd this if you are looking for something [1] in solid form (can be easier to knife out a small portion sometimes) and [2] high smoke point.
  • wantmountains14
    wantmountains14 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi, I was trying to lower the calories when frying eggs or such. It's the butter that ends up the highest calories in my breakfast. Thanks everyone!
  • thelastnightingale
    thelastnightingale Posts: 725 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    wantmountains14 wrote: »
    Hi, I was trying to lower the calories when frying eggs or such. It's the butter that ends up the highest calories in my breakfast. Thanks everyone!

    Oh, well that's an easy fix. Use a tiny amount of butter. I use one or two GRAMS of butter when I fry eggs. Two grams of butter is plenty and it's 14 calories. The real thing always tastes the best to me!

    Of course, bacon grease - even better (same calories.)

    I would just use a couple of spays of one-cal sunflower oil spray. Easy. Or better yet, poach the egg in water.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    wantmountains14 wrote: »
    Hi, I was trying to lower the calories when frying eggs or such. It's the butter that ends up the highest calories in my breakfast. Thanks everyone!

    In that case, maybe just buy a better pan and use less or no butter/oil. (Unless you are going for that crispy fried egg effect, in which case, I've got nothing for you.. that comes from what is essentially deep-oil-frying the bottom/edges of the egg).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    Learn to love poached eggs?
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    An oil spray and a good non stick gets you a fried egg with minimal collateral calories. I used to baste with the oil to get a set white and runny yolk, these days I use a pan with a lid and once the bottom is set, put the lid on and I guess steam it to where I want it.
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,734 Member
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    Avocado oil has the highest smoke point for cooking and is a great option. Coconut oil is next. Depending on the reason for you looking at alternatives there are multiple ways to go. Some recipes can be cooked with just water.

    There are many new plant based options available. Flax, olive and hemp oil are wonderful in moderation but not for the cooking process due to oxidation. They can be used after on salads and vegetables.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
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    I use coconut oil for cooking and grilled sandwiches and such but if you can eat butter, the calories are the same. For one serving, just half a teaspoon of coconut oil is more than enough for cooking and so maybe just cutting back on the butter would also work for you. Experiment to see how much you really need.

    Nutiva has an interesting butter flavored coconut oil that I like on pasta and mashed potatoes and sometimes on rice/veg. But again, calories are going to be the same for any fat or oil.

    I've seen good reviews of Kroger's Simple Truth Organics vegan buttery spread. I think it's based on pea protein. Haven't tried it yet but am planning to do so.

    Olive oil is traditionally drizzled on bread in Italy, I am told. Just make sure it's the really good stuff. Olive oil works very well in commercial potato chips and popcorn, so I assume it should work well generally in cooking. I like it for roasting veg.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
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    Butter is slightly lower in calories per tbs than olive oil because it is a (delicious) emulsion of butterfat and butter solids. My god, it's the best thing ever!

    If you are a butter lover like me, you buy top-of-the line butter at the supermarket and leave some always at the ready in a covered butter dish at room-temperature. It can go more than a day without going bad. A level TSP of butter is about 33kcal and a TBSP is 102kcals. You can scoop what you want quite accurately from a softened stick-- ambrosia!

    To my taste: Even using a small amount on a non-stick pan really improves a fried egg. A tiny amount on vegetables is also incredible. (I particularly love it on steamed carrots, for some reason.) I can't eat a baked russet potato without about 2tbs of butter, so I save that for special occasions!

    When I'm cutting, I still include butter, but I am more careful with measuring and log every scrap.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,701 Member
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    wantmountains14 wrote: »
    Hi, I was trying to lower the calories when frying eggs or such. It's the butter that ends up the highest calories in my breakfast. Thanks everyone!

    Buy one of the new generation non stick pans coated with ceramic or stone (not tefal or teflon). You don't need any oil to fry eggs or pancakes or steaks. You can add a scant amount of butter for flavour. Be warned that the new generation pans can't be put in the dishwasher as the detergents are too harsh and damage the non stick surface.
  • donidaily
    donidaily Posts: 825 Member
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    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    Butter is slightly lower in calories per tbs than olive oil because it is a (delicious) emulsion of butterfat and butter solids. My god, it's the best thing ever!

    If you are a butter lover like me, you buy top-of-the line butter at the supermarket and leave some always at the ready in a covered butter dish at room-temperature. It can go more than a day without going bad. A level TSP of butter is about 33kcal and a TBSP is 102kcals. You can scoop what you want quite accurately from a softened stick-- ambrosia!

    To my taste: Even using a small amount on a non-stick pan really improves a fried egg. A tiny amount on vegetables is also incredible. (I particularly love it on steamed carrots, for some reason.) I can't eat a baked russet potato without about 2tbs of butter, so I save that for special occasions!

    When I'm cutting, I still include butter, but I am more careful with measuring and log every scrap.
    This ode to butter really moved me. I’m with you @Jthanmyfitnesspal

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