Easy ingredient substitutions
Whether you want to make a recipe lighter, healthier or simply because you’ve forgotten to buy a particular ingredient, knowing how to replace ingredients in a recipe is priceless. We decided to do some investigating to help you avoid a culinary disaster and make sure you have alternatives for your recipes to save you from going back to the shop!
Flour
Flour shortages have been an issue recently. We’ve all been there: you’re in the mood for baking, so you open the cupboard, convinced that it’s there, but alas, there’s not a trace of flour to be seen and just like that, your baking plans evaporate into thin air. But don't panic, there are alternatives.
Do you have any oats? If so, perfect! Blend them into a powder and they are a perfect substitute for flour.
You can also use cornflour or ground almonds. As ground almonds are richer in protein, we recommend using slightly less than the amount of traditional flour (3/4 cup of ground almonds = 1 cup of flour).
Eggs
If you run out of eggs, you can easily find a substitute. The key is to understand what function the egg has in your recipe.
To replace eggs in a cake, you can use mashed banana (½ banana for 1 egg) or apple sauce (50g for 1 egg).
Tofu is also popular among vegetarians. This flavourless ingredient works well in all recipes.
And again, cornflour works wonders, as it acts as a binder (1 egg = 2 tablespoons).
Sugar
Sugar is really easy to replace. Honey is a wonderful substitute, as is a simple apple sauce or banana compote. The good thing is that these new ingredients will make your recipe that little bit more healthy.
Butter
This is another ingredient that is used extensively, both in baking and in savoury dishes.
For any type of pastry, oil will do to replace butter (80 gr for 100 gr of butter).
Less well-known as a replacement, but just as good, is avocado. Whether in sweet or savoury dishes, its fatty texture will do the job. You can use the same amount of avocado puree as the butter recommended in your recipe.
Making good homemade butter is also an option and is quick and easy to do. All you need is some single cream and a small empty water bottle. Read the full recipe !
Breadcrumbs
If like us, you love a shepherd's pie, but realise you don't have any breadcrumbs at hand, don't worry, there are solutions. It would be a shame to deprive yourself...
Simply crumble some crackers, crispbreads or dry or toasted bread.
Would you like to discover a new and an unusual recipe ? Read our recipe for chocolate cookies where we replaced the flour with oatmeal and the eggs with mashed banana. The result is both stunning and delicious!
There are more miracle substitutes that will perfectly replace other ingredients in your dishes. Lemon, seaweed, capers or soy sauce can be used to replace salt.
Apple juice or chicken stock for white wine. Beef stock for red wine.
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