Tips That Make Any Recipe Healthier
By Sara Butler
If eating healthy is at the top of your to-do list, then chances are you're constantly on the hunt for a good recipe. You may think that in order to eat better that you have to leave behind the old recipes you love, but that's not the case at all! In fact, utilizing just a few of these tips can help to make any recipe a little bit healthier. Here are a few simple changes you can make that will help any recipe be just a little bit better for you.
Add Salt Last
One of the keys to healthy cooking is to add as little salt as possible to the recipe. You can accomplish this by waiting until the end of the recipe to add a little salt to taste. Take it a step further by experimenting with different herbs and spices in recipes that can help to add flavor without adding extra salt.
Cut the Sugar
It's in your best interest to cut out sugar whenever and wherever you can in recipes. If you slowly add less and less, then chances are you'll find that you don't even really need as much to make the dish taste good to you. Start by cutting 25 percent of the sugar in a recipe, then cut a little bit more the next time you make it. You can also substitute other things for sugar, such as unsweetened applesauce.
Trim Some Fat
The only recipes that need added fat to turn out right are baked goods -- the rest of your recipes can cut out the fat without sacrificing taste. So, the next time you're making something and it calls for more oil or butter, then try to cut it where you can. Do you really need to finish the recipe with butter or add a drizzle of oil at the end?
If you can't cut the fat from a recipe, then try out a healthier swap such as Greek yogurt for mayonnaise or sour cream. It won't make much of a difference when it comes to the final taste and it cuts the fat and calories from a dish.
Go for Zoodles
Noodles are great, but have you experimented with zoodles? Vegetables, such as zucchini, make a great replacement for noodles if they're spiralized. Just saute zoodles until they're tender and top with your favorite pasta toppings. You'll save calories and carbohydrates! If you don't have a spiralizer, then spaghetti squash is always a good replacement.
Almost any recipe can be made a little healthier. All you have to do is use a little imagination!
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