Cooking Oil: can you swap out without compromising taste?
koalathebear
Posts: 236 Member
in Recipes
Long post sorry at this topic is dear to my heart.
On the topic of food swaps, I love baking (moreso than cooking) and I love food so have worked hard over the last few years to figure out the right balance for me. Things I've learned for me are:
- skim milk, low fat cream cheese, low fat cream and low fat condensed milk work in most recipes so I'm happy to swap those in in most cases. Sometimes when only full fat will do, I will use full fat and just make sure I eat less / exercise more.
- flours: I've found that pretty much all the flours have the same calorie cost to them so do not try to do swaps and still just put in whatever the requisite amount of plain (all purpose) / self-raising flour is dictated by the recipe
- sugar: I cannot stand the taste of artificial sweeteners / stevia etc so I never use any of those. I generally just reduce the sugar in the recipe. 1 cup of sugar becomes 1/4. If it's a brownie / blondie recipe that requires high sugar for the texture, then again I just make sure I eat less.
- butter: I bake with full fat butter and don't try to reduce the amount but when I eat it with bread, I use a low cholesterol spread instead.
- bread: I love bread so don't try to compromise / swap. I just count the calories and either eat less or offset through exercise
- rice / pasta: I also love but I either eat less or swap in zoodles, cauliflower/broccoli rice, vegetables.
My question is, what's a good cooking oil substitute for lightly frying beef etc that isn't hideously expensive calorie-wise but doesn't wreck the taste. I was making beef bourguignon the other day, ingredients below:
500g topside or chuck steak, trimmed, diced into 2.5cm pieces (783 calories) (262g rib eye 663 calories)
2 tbsp olive oil (325 calories)
50g plain flour (179 calories)
1 onion, diced (48 calories)
3 cloves garlic, diced (12 calories)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (88 calories)
1 tub tomato paste (128 calories)
1 cup red wine (170 calories)
1 cup beef stock (21 calories)
2 bay leaves
Leaves from 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
200g mushrooms, whole (66 calories)
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
The one that really jumped out at me was the olive oil. At 163 calories a tablespoon it's very expensive calorie-wise. A quick scan and it seems like all the cooking oils (peanut, canola, vegetable, sesame) are pretty high in calories. Any suggestions for substitutes to fry the beef and onions that won't taste bad?
It also then made me think - how given that two TB of olive oil is 325 calories, what on earth are companies like dineamic using as their cooking oil if they can make a pretty yummy tasting pasta bolognese dish like this: https://www.dineamic.com.au/collections/ready-meals/products/beef-bolognese-with-broccoli-pasta-tray for only 313 calories...
On the topic of food swaps, I love baking (moreso than cooking) and I love food so have worked hard over the last few years to figure out the right balance for me. Things I've learned for me are:
- skim milk, low fat cream cheese, low fat cream and low fat condensed milk work in most recipes so I'm happy to swap those in in most cases. Sometimes when only full fat will do, I will use full fat and just make sure I eat less / exercise more.
- flours: I've found that pretty much all the flours have the same calorie cost to them so do not try to do swaps and still just put in whatever the requisite amount of plain (all purpose) / self-raising flour is dictated by the recipe
- sugar: I cannot stand the taste of artificial sweeteners / stevia etc so I never use any of those. I generally just reduce the sugar in the recipe. 1 cup of sugar becomes 1/4. If it's a brownie / blondie recipe that requires high sugar for the texture, then again I just make sure I eat less.
- butter: I bake with full fat butter and don't try to reduce the amount but when I eat it with bread, I use a low cholesterol spread instead.
- bread: I love bread so don't try to compromise / swap. I just count the calories and either eat less or offset through exercise
- rice / pasta: I also love but I either eat less or swap in zoodles, cauliflower/broccoli rice, vegetables.
My question is, what's a good cooking oil substitute for lightly frying beef etc that isn't hideously expensive calorie-wise but doesn't wreck the taste. I was making beef bourguignon the other day, ingredients below:
500g topside or chuck steak, trimmed, diced into 2.5cm pieces (783 calories) (262g rib eye 663 calories)
2 tbsp olive oil (325 calories)
50g plain flour (179 calories)
1 onion, diced (48 calories)
3 cloves garlic, diced (12 calories)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (88 calories)
1 tub tomato paste (128 calories)
1 cup red wine (170 calories)
1 cup beef stock (21 calories)
2 bay leaves
Leaves from 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
200g mushrooms, whole (66 calories)
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
The one that really jumped out at me was the olive oil. At 163 calories a tablespoon it's very expensive calorie-wise. A quick scan and it seems like all the cooking oils (peanut, canola, vegetable, sesame) are pretty high in calories. Any suggestions for substitutes to fry the beef and onions that won't taste bad?
It also then made me think - how given that two TB of olive oil is 325 calories, what on earth are companies like dineamic using as their cooking oil if they can make a pretty yummy tasting pasta bolognese dish like this: https://www.dineamic.com.au/collections/ready-meals/products/beef-bolognese-with-broccoli-pasta-tray for only 313 calories...
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Replies
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The ingredients say they're using olive oil. If it's lower calorie, they just aren't using much.
One thing I discovered is that I don't NEED to use as much cooking oil as I thought I did. I frequently saute vegetables in just a teaspoon or two of oil. If I'm adding enough other flavors, I'll skip the oil completely and just cook the vegetables directly in the broth.
There's a difference in flavor sometimes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
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Well, this may not be exactly what you're looking for, but if I need to add fat to fry meat, I often just use...that animal's fat. And anything that's being served with it that needs oil gets cooked in it too. I started doing this to save money but IMO it often tastes better and prevents waste.
Like @janejellyroll, although I'm using meat and I know she doesn't, I often need very little additional fat. For the entire recipe it may only add a few calories per typical serving. To me that's worth using it.
My preference is to use "the real thing" but only as much as is needed (so as you said, many dessert recipes can have sugar reduced and it's fine) and moderate portions.3 -
I find I can cut down oil to a minimum (a teaspoon or so) with a good non stick pan. It's hard to caramelize meat with no oil at all.
I like the new generation of stone coated or ceramic coated non stick pans which unlike the older teflon ones do not emit noxious fumes when overheated. I can fry eggs and pancakes in my stone coated pan without any oil at all.1 -
I really don’t cook with oil, when I cook for myself (or any fat at all) - makes zero difference to the flavour - but then I do use a lot of spices, herbs and other aromatics.
It’s perfectly possible to stir fry vegetables etc in a splash of stock or even water. I don’t eat meat but when I cook it for my husband I’ll use a spray bottle filled with oil, and lightly oil the meat rather than cook it in oil or fat.
If using oil for things like making pesto, houmus, dressings then Aquafaba makes a great substitute.0 -
I find I can get away with sauteeing veggies and meat in just a teaspoon or two of olive oil in a good nonstick pan.
Depending on the fat content of the protein, it may need more (especially for tofu since it absorbs the oil) so I add any form of liquid that may seem fitting: even if it's just a little bit of water to avoid it sticking to the pan, or a mix of water and soy sauce, or lemon juice, pureed tomato, wine, broth...and also add flavor with spices.0 -
Generally just use less. You can buy spray bottles that work well with oil (although not extra virgin olive oil, as that is a bit more viscous than most) making it easier to lightly cover pan with less or spread/wipe the oil around the pan with paper towel. When searing beef for stew just for myself rather than company, I'll often skip lightly flouring it and using oil.. and just sear the beef as it is alone (beef generally has enough fat in it that it will sear and not stick to a seasoned or non-stick pan.0
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I've never seen olive oil at 163 calories...it's always around 120 calories per TBSP, same with all oils.
I cook a lot and have a lot of recipes that call for excessive amounts of oil...especially for sauces. I make them with less oil and frankly haven't noticed a difference in taste really. When I make eggs or am just sautéing some vegetables or pan frying something I usually just use avocado oil spray.
There really isn't any substitute...any oil is going to be around 120 calories per Tbsp.1 -
I have never used oil to cook and everything I make turns out great. Just use a spray if you worry about pan sticking.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »I've never seen olive oil at 163 calories...it's always around 120 calories per TBSP, same with all oils.
are you in the US? I think an Australian tablespoon might be different to a US tablespoon - or maybe our oils are higher in calories?? In any case, all oils here seem to be between 143 - 163 calories: https://www.calorieking.com/au/en/foods/f/calories-in-oils-olive/nQ9uRRc5T-29gN1asimTTQ
ETA: I think calorieking might be wrong b/c it says an AUD tablespoon is 20 ml when it's actually 15 ml .. Strange.0 -
I find I can cut down oil to a minimum (a teaspoon or so) with a good non stick pan. It's hard to caramelize meat with no oil at all.
I like the new generation of stone coated or ceramic coated non stick pans which unlike the older teflon ones do not emit noxious fumes when overheated. I can fry eggs and pancakes in my stone coated pan without any oil at all.
Yes, I agree that the oil is really needed to properly cook meat. But I totally agree that the new stone coated / ceramic pans are better so I think I'll see how I go swapping tablespoons to teaspoons OR using a spray oil rather than pouring it in. Thanks so much for all the ideas - lots of food for thought - no pun intended :P0 -
koalathebear wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I've never seen olive oil at 163 calories...it's always around 120 calories per TBSP, same with all oils.
are you in the US? I think an Australian tablespoon might be different to a US tablespoon - or maybe our oils are higher in calories?? In any case, all oils here seem to be between 143 - 163 calories: https://www.calorieking.com/au/en/foods/f/calories-in-oils-olive/nQ9uRRc5T-29gN1asimTTQ
ETA: I think calorieking might be wrong b/c it says an AUD tablespoon is 20 ml when it's actually 15 ml .. Strange.
Australia is actually 20ml and USA 15ml which is why the calories are more with Aussie measurements. Calorieking is correct.0 -
Australia is actually 20ml and USA 15ml which is why the calories are more with Aussie measurements. Calorieking is correct.
You are right! I was googling metric tablespoon in ml (15 ml) rather than Australian tablespoon (20ml). I wish it was the same.
In any case, this probably means that it's totally fine to reduce the olive oil component whether to 15 ml or just a spray
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Options: pasture raised lard, 100% grassfed tallow, true olive oil, virgin coconut oil, true avocado oil, grassfed butter/ghee.0
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I fry eggs and steaks and burgers in a dry, hot cast iron pan and it works fine, the eggs don't stick and the meat browns nicely and doesn't stick. Or more accurately, the meat initially sticks but once it starts to brown it comes loose, so needs a little patience and trust before trying to move it around. I haven't tried this with diced beef but I don't see why it wouldn't work. For onions and similar I put the diced veg in a tupperware container, put it on the scale, pour in olive oil to the number of grams I've decided fits my plans, seal up the tupperware container and shake it up good, and then pour the oiled veg into the pan.1
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BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »None of those are a solution that will give a lower calorie count which is what the question was about. 🤷♀️
Ha, thanks for noting this. In many ways, I think this is what makes weight loss a bit complex sometimes, the calories vs nutritional value. People will often assume whole meal rice / whole meal bread / whole meal flour/ olive oil / avocados eg are good swaps / better for you and then I have to explain the difference that yes they might be healthier / good oils etc - but they're actually very high in calories eg a lot of nuts are a terrible snack for me if I'm being stingy with my calories because they're so high in calories so I tend to eat dried fruits instead.
I try not to cut anything out of my diet completely because I think complete denial doesn't really work with me / help me - but for me it's about trying to spend my pennies wisely given that my daily budget even boosted with exercise calories is kind of puny given that I'm only five feet tall :P0
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