How to Make Any Recipe Lighter

By Sara Butler

Making good choices when it comes to food is a part of any plan to eat right, but cooking them in a healthy way can be a struggle all its own. One of the first steps to cooking healthy is to determine if you can take some healthy shortcuts with a recipe. After all, a recipe is merely a guide; you can eliminate any excess sugar, butter, cheese, and oils from a recipe to make it healthier. Here are a few simple ways you can make any recipe lighter and healthier.

Sauté

Sautéing can go off the rails fast. That’s because if you use oil to sauté your favorite foods, then it’s all downhill in the health department from there. If a recipe calls for you to sauté, then use vegetable broth instead of butter or oil. This will add a delicious flavor to your dish and save you some calories.

Skin It

When you’re cooking chicken, take off the skin. A serving of chicken breast with skin has an extra 100 calories than a breast without skin. You can cook with the skin to keep the moisture in, but remove it before you eat. Unfortunately, the skin is where most of the unhealthy saturated fats are. If you want to add flavor to your chicken without a lot of sodium or calories, then throw some citrus or fresh herbs on it before you bake.

Use Citrus

Speaking of citrus, it’s an important to staple to have in your kitchen if you want to cook healthier. It can be used to flavor everything from vegetables to meet. Use it in place of butter or instead of sugar over a fruit salad. You can add the zest of a lemon, lime, or orange to meat and seafood before cooking too.

Get Choosy with Cheese

Cheese is delicious, but too much of it can certainly add more than you want to a recipe. To get more bang for your cheesy buck, choose a cheese with more flavor so you don’t have to use as much of it. Milk cheeses such as Monterey Jack require more cheese to add flavor. If you choose a cheese with a stronger flavor, then you need less of it. So, opt for sharp cheddar or feta next time you need to add some cheese.

It’s easy to cut calories in any recipe if you just know where to start!