Healthy Baking Products and Swaps
Reduced-Fat Swap for Margarine
Baking product: Unsweetened applesauce
Baking tip: Cut fat and boost vitamin C in baked goods by using unsweetened applesauce to replace half or more of the margarine, shortening, or oil.
Recipe that makes the swap:
Antioxidant-Rich Swap for Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
Baking product: Naturally unsweetened cocoa powder
Baking tip: Use 3 tablespoons of natural, unsweetened cocoa plus 1 tablespoon of canola oil to replace 1 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate.
Recipes that make the swap:
Cholesterol-Lowering Swap for Flour
Baking product: Oat bran
Baking tip: Add cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber to your recipes by replacing a few tablespoons of flour with oat bran. It keeps baked goods moist, too.
Recipe that makes the swap:
Reduced-Fat Swap for Cooking Oil
Baking product: Bananas
Baking tip: Mashed ripe bananas work as a healthy and flavorful fat substitute. Mashed bananas infuse baked goods with their flavor, so only make this swap in recipes that have strong enough flavors to mask the banana or that you want tasting like banana. Start by replacing half the amount of oil for banana and adjust as needed.
Recipe that makes the swap:
Healthier Swaps for White Flour
Baking products: Whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour
Baking tip: Higher in fiber and antioxidants than all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour can replace up to half the refined flour in recipes. White whole wheat flour bakes like traditional whole wheat flour but is light in color because it's from white wheat.
Recipes that make the swap:
Good Fat Swap for Regular Canola Oil
Baking product: Spectrum organic canola oil
Baking tip: This all-purpose canola oil is obtained by a mechanical (expeller-pressing) rather than chemical method. It's high in good monounsaturated fat.
Lower-Sodium Swap for Baking Powder
Baking product: Sodium-free or reduced-sodium baking powder
Baking tip: Replace your baking powder with a sodium-free version, such as Hain Featherweight Baking Powder or Rumfod Reduced-Sodium Baking Powder, to save up to 480 mg of sodium per teaspoon.
Reduced-Calorie Substitutes for Sugar
Baking product: Sugar substitutes such as Splenda, Sweet'N Low, Truvia, and Nevella
Baking tip: Save calories by substituting traditional cane or brown sugar with a sugar substitute. Follow the substitute package directions to use an equivalent product amount.
Healthier Fat Swap for Butter
Baking product: 60% to 70% vegetable oil spread or olive oil spread
Baking tip: Many vegetable oil spreads are trans-fat-free and have heart-healthy EPA and DHA omega-3 fats. They also have less saturated fat than butter.
Bonus! Add Antioxidant-Rich Walnuts
Baking product: Chopped walnuts
Baking tip: Add chopped walnuts to your baking recipes to boost your intake of heart-healthy antioxidants and omega-3 fats.
Recipes that include walnuts: