Healthy Substitutes For Oil In Baking (2024)

FAQs

Healthy Substitutes For Oil In Baking? ›

Unsweetened applesauce, mashed fruit, or pureed fruit such as bananas, pears, and prunes may be substituted for vegetable oil in baked goods. You can substitute cup for cup. The texture of your foods may be altered slightly. For example, applesauce makes cookies moister and more cake-like.

Applesauce is great in cakes, muffins, and soft-baked cookies. The ratio is typically 1:1. So, if the recipe calls for ½ cup of oil, use ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce. Use applesauce for recipes that are moist and dense.

If you're searching for a lighter alternative, sunflower or safflower are both excellent choices. For those on a culinary adventure, I highly recommend trying avocado oil. With its mild flavor and high smoke point, it's also fantastic for frying, sautéing, and baking.

Unsweetened applesauce, mashed fruit, or pureed fruit such as bananas, pears, and prunes may be substituted for vegetable oil in baked goods. You can substitute cup for cup. The texture of your foods may be altered slightly. For example, applesauce makes cookies moister and more cake-like.

Melted butter is an excellent replacement for vegetable oil, and gives a delicious buttery richness to your brownies when you're finished. It does provide some added lift in your batter though, which will make your brownies a little more cakey and less fudgy than brownies made with other oils.

Although your overall diet is what's most important for your health, it's best to prioritize healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocado oil, and sesame oil, and limit less healthy cooking oils, such as soybean, corn, and canola oil.

While plant-based fats are considered more heart-healthy than animal fats, canola oil is generally believed to be a healthier option because it is lower in saturated fat than vegetable oil.

The oils which should be avoided for cooking are oils like soybean, corn, canola, sunflower, and safflower. These oils have unstable fats and will decimate the nutritional properties of your food. Oh, and they'll give you a big fat health risk in the meantime.

Is it better to use butter or oil in cake mix? ›

Why does oil give cake superior texture? Butter is 18% water, so when the batter is baked, some of its liquid evaporates. Replacing the water from the butter with oil means there's more fat left in the cakes to ensure tenderness.

Applesauce is a 1:1 replacement for oil, so if your recipe calls for half a cup of oil, use half a cup of applesauce instead. If you find yourself in the middle of a recipe and out of oil, use applesauce instead! This trick works in cakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, and any kind of sweet baked good.

Generally you can switch oil for melted butter in a waffle recipe. This gives a slightly richer waffle, erring towards a Belgian-style waffle.

Best Vegetable Oil Substitute for Baked Goods

You can swap the vegetable oil for an equal measure of safflower or canola oil with zero difference in flavor. But baked items don't require fats with a high smoke point, so feel free to try a more flavorful oil like olive or coconut.

Canola oil is the most common choice used in most baked goods recipes, and this can be replaced one-for-one with a cup of applesauce. We love applesauce because it maintains a similar flavor to the original recipe, although it may have a more naturally sweet flavor to it!

Nutritionally, olive oil — especially extra virgin — is healthier than canola. People who regularly use olive oil have reduced heart disease risk factors, improved blood sugar levels, and a lower risk of death ( 17 , 18 , 19 ).

The most common way to replace oil in baked goods is by using applesauce or mashed banana. Other fruit purees work too, but most of them add more flavor – apple and banana are neutral enough to not overpower other flavors.

It couldn't be easier to substitute butter for oil using a 1:1 ratio. This should work with olive, canola, vegetable, and coconut oils. Simply melt and cool the butter to room temperature, then continue with your recipe. (If the recipe calls for ½ cup oil, use ½ cup melted and cooled butter.)

Most cake mixes call for oil, but butter will bring in amazing flavor. To substitute butter for oil in baking just melt the butter, measure it, let it cool, and add it as you would the oil. Compared to oil, butter will create a cake with a firmer, cakeier texture.