Modifying Recipes for Healthier Eating

To modify recipes to reduce the fat content of dishes that you already cook, you can do three things:

1.  Substitute high fat, high calorie ingredients with low fat, low calorie ingredients

2.  Reduce the quantities of higher fat ingredients in your recipes

3.  Eliminate any high fat ingredients entirely

1. Substitute

Substitute high fat, high calorie ingredients with low fat, low calorie ingredients. In the table are listed some common ingredients that you can substitute with:

The following low fat and low energy ingredients have long shelf lives, so you can keep them in your pantry or fridge to substitute at short notice:

2. Reduce

If a high fat or high energy ingredient cannot be substituted, try using a little less of it. For example, in baked products you should be able to reduce the amount of fat by a quarter to a third without changing the final product too drastically. Remember that if you remove moisture, you need to replace it. For example, to make up for less oil, you may be able to add a little more water or low fat milk.

3. Eliminate

If a high fat or high energy ingredient is not strictly necessary (i.e. it is used for presentation or flavour), you can remove it. For example, you can omit nuts, avocado or olives from salads and bacon from pasta sauce.

Experiment

To lower the fat content of your recipes requires some experimenting.  This can also add variety to your recipes.   Here are some ideas:

• Fat helps to add flavour to food, so reducing fat may reduce the flavour in some recipes.  Remember, fat is just one flavour.  So add herbs and spices, sauces such as chilli, oyster, fish, include a small amount of wine or stock to incorporate new flavours.
• In baking, fat can add texture, flavour and moisture.  Start out by choosing low fat milk, use egg whites and use soft cheeses such as ricotta.  If you are reducing the amount of oil in baking, it is important to try and keep the amount of liquid the same, so top up with low fat milk or fruit juice.
• Fat being used as a thickener can be replaced by adding a small amount of cornflour dissolved in cold water to sauces, pie fillings and casseroles.  Gelatine is also a great way to add texture to desserts and it doesn’t require cooking. 

Low fat cooking methods can include baking, braising, grilling, steaming, dry roasting, stir frying and microwaving.  Microwaving is a great way of cooking without fat, as moisture is easily retained. It also prevents pre meal snacking by reducing cooking time, aromas and the opportunity to sample the food. Tips for microwave cooking include:

• Use a slightly vented lid or pierced plastic wrap to maximise heat and moisture retention.
• Do not allow any plastic wrap to touch your food during cooking.
• If you want to retain more moisture, place a dampened paper towel on top of your food.
• To retain heat but reduce moisture, place waxed paper on top of your food.
• If cooking meats, use a double layered pan so that the fat drips to the pan below.

Additional tips for low fat cooking methods include:

• When baking foods, use a rack or rotisserie; or wrap the food in foil.
• Sauté or brown foods such as onions in a non stick pan with juice, stock or water.
• Instead of frying, use a non stick frying pan, or use stock or a cooking spray.
• With casseroles and stews, trim fat before cooking and cool once cooked and skim any additional fat off the surface.
• When cooking vegetables, try steaming, microwaving, dry roasting, stir frying.

The following items are also handy tools to have in your kitchen to assist with low fat cooking. 

• Non stick cookware and baking pans
• Grillet pan or griller
• Food processor or blender
• Steamer
• Storage containers suitable for both the freezer and the microwave
• Garlic press
• A good set of sharp knives.