Easy, sneaky ways to make recipes healthier

This topic is by request, and one of my favorites (thanks, Laurie!). 

Question: I often try to substitute lower fat/calorie ingredients, but inevitably my family notices and scoffs. Any tricks to hiding healthier ingredients would be appreciated!

Answer: I'm going to expand the question a little bit and talk about how to make recipes healthier in general. Note that these apply more to cooking than baking, as you have to be more precise when baking. I hope these tips help!

1. Choose the right substitute for the recipe. I typically rely more on reduced fat ingredients than fat free, especially if they are a major ingredient in the recipe. For example, reduced fat sour cream and reduced fat cream cheese taste pretty much the same as the regular ingredients so you should be able to substitute these without anyone noticing. I have found that fat free ingredients do work in some cases; you can get away with them in recipes with very flavorful ingredients, such as sausage or buffalo sauce, or when they are a minor part of the recipe, such as creamy mashed potatoes.

2. Use less of the rich/fatty/caloric ingredients. Start by reducing the ingredient by ¼, and see how it tastes; you may be able to cut back even more next time! For example, a few casserole recipes I have call for 16 oz. of cheese on top for a 9x13 pan; I have been able to successfully top them with 8 oz. instead and they still taste very cheesy. Butter is a place that I nearly always cut back, and the recipe will still taste similar.

3. Use more of the healthy ingredients, especially veggies! This is the flip side of the last hint, and using extra healthy ingredients when you take out some less healthy ones will keep the total recipe size the same, or even make it larger. Instead of ½ of a pepper, use a whole pepper, for example. Vegetables (and fruit!) really stretch out meat and starch, and you’ll still get some of the heavier ingredients in each bite.

4. Add extra healthy ingredients to the recipe. My favorites are additional types of vegetables and canned beans. The key to no one noticing is to keep the new ingredients aligned with the cuisine (for example, tomatoes in an Italian dish, beans to Mexican, mushrooms and onions go with most anything…). I’ve added beans to all kinds of casseroles and salads and they really add a lot of nutrition and stretch out the meal a little bit.

5. Season well, and at the end. Don’t cut back on herbs or garlic; I usually tend to use even more as these ingredients add a lot of flavor for barely any calories and no fat. If you’re trying to cut back on salt, you might be able to use less by saving some for the end. I don’t use a lot of salt in general, but I try to use only about half the amount called for in the beginning, and then taste later. If and when you need to add more, sprinkle it on the top and you can probably use a little less than usual because it will be more pronounced.