Recipe makeovers: 5 ways to create healthy recipes

Use these techniques to reduce the fat, calories and sodium in your favorite recipes.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Can you count your grandmother's beloved bread pudding as a healthy recipe? Scrumptious as it may be with 4 cups of whole milk, 1 stick of butter and 4 eggs, you probably wouldn't find it on a list of healthy recipes. But you don't have to remove it from your recipe box. Just modify that bread pudding with a few simple change-ups, and you've got another healthy recipe for your collection — not a fat and calorie disaster.

In fact, your ingredient substitution talents can help transform many unhealthy recipes into healthy recipes — and without diminishing the taste or texture of the foods you enjoy.

Here are five techniques you can use to help create healthy recipes. Remember, these are just some examples. Use your imagination and experiment to find other ways to create healthy recipes — you may even make your grandmother proud.

1. Reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt

You often can reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt without sacrificing flavor in healthy recipes. Use these general guidelines:

  • Fat. For baked goods, use half the butter, shortening or oil and replace the other half with unsweetened applesauce, mashed banana or prune puree. You can also use commercially prepared fruit-based fat replacers found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores.
  • Sugar. Reduce the amount of sugar by one-third to one-half. Instead, add spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg, or flavorings such as vanilla extract or almond flavoring to boost sweetness.
  • Salt. Reduce salt by one-half in baked goods that don't require yeast. (For foods that require yeast, don't reduce the amount of salt, which is necessary for leavening. Without salt, such foods may become dense and flat.) For most main dishes, salads, soups and other foods, you can reduce the salt by one-half or eliminate it completely.

2. Make a healthy substitution

Healthy substitutions not only reduce the amount of fat, calories and salt in your recipes, but also can boost the nutritional content.

  • Pasta. Use whole-wheat pasta instead of enriched pasta. You'll triple the fiber and reduce the number of calories.
  • Milk. Prepare a dessert with fat-free milk instead of whole milk to save 66 calories and almost 8 grams of fat per cup.
  • Meat. When making casseroles, scale back on meat, poultry or fish and increase the amount of vegetables. You'll save on calories and fat while gaining more vitamins, minerals and fiber.

3. Cut back some ingredients

In some recipes, you can eliminate an ingredient altogether or scale back the amount you use.

  • Toppings. Eliminate items you generally add out of habit or for appearance, such as frosting, coconut or whipped cream toppings, which are all high in fat and calories.
  • Condiments. Cut condiments, such as pickles, olives, butter, mayonnaise, syrup, jelly and mustard, which can have large amounts of salt, sugar, fat and calories. Use less soy sauce than a recipe calls for to decrease the amount of salt.
  • Cheese. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, use 1/2 cup instead.
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References
  1. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22. U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search. Accessed Oct. 4, 2010.
  2. Duyff RL. American Dietetic Association: Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons; 2006:306.
  3. Encyclopedia of Foods: A Guide to Healthy Nutrition. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press; 2002:126.
  4. Nelson JK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 13, 2010.
  5. Zeratksy KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 13, 2010.
NU00584 Nov. 19, 2010

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