Simple substitutions to make your recipes lighter

You don’t need to change your recipes to eat differently: sometimes simply swapping one ingredient is enough. These substitutions work in most home-cooked dishes.

Less fat

• Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream, mayonnaise or crème fraîche in cold sauces. In hot sauces, add it at the end and off the heat so that it doesn’t curdle.
• Evaporated milk instead of cooking cream in creams and sauces.
• Ricotta instead of mascarpone in fillings and desserts.

Lactose-free

• Soya or almond milk instead of milk in béchamel sauce, pancakes or sponge cakes.
• Olive oil instead of butter for sautéing: use about three-quarters of the usual amount.

Meat-free

• Cooked lentils instead of minced meat in Bolognese, chilli or lasagne.
• Chickpeas or tofu instead of chicken in curries and stir-fries.
• Vegetable stock instead of chicken or beef stock.

Cheaper

• Turmeric instead of saffron when you’re looking for colour.
• Sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts in salads and pestos.

On Cocinoa

Below each ingredient, you’ll see the Alternatives button when we have substitutes for it. If you have an intolerance, we’ll only show you alternatives that don’t contain it according to our data, and we’ll let you know when we can’t verify this.

Remember that changing an ingredient also changes the result: try it first in a recipe you know well.