Who says you can't have your gluten-free cake and eat it, too?
Even if you don't have a food sensitivity or allergy, knowing what to substitute for a certain ingredient will let you share meals with your loved ones who do have such conditions.
For example, you can replace butter with coconut oil, or you can use soy sauce or tamari instead of fish sauce. Soy or tamari adds a similar saltiness and can be a good alternative, especially if you're not fond of using fish sauce. (Related: Curb your carb cravings with these healthy keto bread recipes.)
The alternatives detailed below are from the cookbook "Food You Want," written by Nealy Fischer, the founder of The Flexible Chef. Whether you're baking or cooking, using these ingredients can satisfy everyone's dietary needs.
Baking swaps
Listed below are 1:1 swaps for common baking ingredients:
- Almond flour = slivered almonds ground into very fine crumbs
- Applesauce = mashed banana = cooked carrot puree, pumpkin or sweet potato
- Arrowroot = cornstarch
- Butter = coconut oil (Coconut oil can be measured while soft or solid.) = margarine
- One 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips = 2 cups = one 12-ounce chocolate bar, chopped
- Dairy milk = almond milk = other dairy-free milk of your choice
- 1 egg = 3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal combined with six tablespoons of water (Mix to form a paste.)
- Grated zucchini = grated carrot
- Heavy cream = coconut cream (Use well-chilled coconut cream if you need whipped heavy cream. Chill it overnight and use only the solids.)
- 1 cup of regular flour = 1 cup of gluten-free flour + 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum (If the gluten-free flour already contains xanthan, omit it in the recipe.)
- Spaghetti squash = spiralized raw sweet potato noodles = spiralized raw zucchini noodles
- Sugar = brown sugar = date sugar
- Tapioca starch = potato starch
Unless the recipe states otherwise, you can simply omit chia, flax or hemp seeds from a dish.
Cooking swaps
- Almonds = pecans = walnuts
- Basil = cilantro = parsley (When making pesto, seasoning eggs, or as a garnish.)
- Black cod = Chilean sea bass = other kinds of fatty fish
- Capers = chopped pitted green olives
- Chickpea flour = any kind of rice flour
- Chives = the green part of a scallion
- A drizzle of chili oil = a pinch of red pepper flakes
- Fish sauce = soy sauce or tamari
- Fresh garlic = garlic powder, 2:1 ratio (Use homemade garlic powder if you don't have fresh garlic on hand.)
- Glass noodles = thin rice noodles
- Goldenberries = cranberries = dried cherries = raisins
- Halibut = flounder = haddock = other kinds of flaky white fish
- Hoisin sauce = BBQ sauce
- Kale = romaine lettuce = chicory (Or cabbage or spinach, depending on your recipe.)
- Mango chutney = apricot or peach jam = citrus marmalade
- Minced beef = minced chicken = minced turkey
- Nutritional yeast = grated Parmesan
- Olive oil = melted coconut oil
- Pine nuts = cashews = chopped macadamia nuts = peanuts = pili nuts
- Pumpkin = acorn squash = butternut squash
- Sake = mirin (Mirin is a type of rice wine, but with lower alcohol and higher sugar content than sake.)
- Soy sauce = tamari (Tamari, also called tamari shoyu, is a Japanese sauce made from fermented soybeans. Tamari has a thicker consistency and a more balanced flavor than Chinese soy sauce. Often used as a dipping sauce, tamari is vegan and gluten-free.)
- A specific vinegar = any kind of vinegar (Except for balsamic vinegar, which is unique.)
- Yellow onions = red onions = pearl onions
Use these ingredient swaps to make healthier dishes that loved ones with food sensitivities or allergies can also enjoy!
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