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    Cooking Ingredients Substitutions

    March 26, 2020 by G. Stephen Jones 3 Comments

    Cooking Ingredient Substitutions

    A Collection of Baking & Cooking Ingredient Substitutions

    I'm one of those cooks who enjoy food shopping but not all the time. If I'm trying out a new recipe from my local newspaper and it calls for sour cream and I don't have any, I would much rather substitute some plain Greek yogurt than run out to the supermarket.

    There are all sorts of great substitutions you can make when it comes for cooking ingredients and that's what I want to share with you in this post. Many of these will be familiar to you but there will be some that surprise you.

    Why Substitute Ingredients?

    The most obvious reason is the one above. You don't have a particular ingredient and you don't feel like running out to the store to get it.

    Another may be food allergies. You might be allergic to an ingredient in a recipe and need to find something to replace it with. For example, if you are allergic to milk, you could try substituting coconut milk. Instead of peanuts, how about almonds or cashews?

    Then their are dietary restrictions. I am trying to cut down on foods high in cholesterol after my heart surgery so I sometimes substitute egg whites for whole eggs in my morning omelets. Or I substitute fat free milk for whole milk or cream in my coffee.

    Then there's taste. So many of my favorite Italian recipes call for prosciutto or pancetta to make the dish taste better. Yes, it does taste better but I don't often have prosciutto or pancetta in my refrigerator but I usually have some bacon.

    So not only are there a lots of great food ingredient substitutions, there are also many reasons for trying them.

    Baking Ingredient Substitutes

    Ingredient Substitute Formula
    Baking Powder Baking Soda & Cream of Tartar ¼ teaspoon baking soda + ½ teaspoon cream of tartar for 1 teaspoon baking powder
    Brown Sugar Sugar & Molasses
    Chocolate - semisweet Unsweetened Chocolate & Sugar 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate + 4 tea sugar
    Chocolate - unsweetened Unsweetened Cocoa & Shortening 3 tbl unsweetened cocoa + 1 tbl shortening
    Cream of Tartar Lemon Juice & White Vinegar
    Fats for Baking Applesauce or Fruit Puree
    Mayonnaise Yogurt or Sour Cream
    Oil Applesauce
    Pastry Flour Cake Flour & All Purpose Flour
    Pastry Flour All Purpose Flour & Cornstarch Combine 1 tbl cornstarch + 1 cup flour

    Cooking Ingredient Substitutes

    Ingredient Substitue Formula
    Anise Fennel Seeds or Anise Extract
    Bread Crumbs Crushed Crackers
    Butter Vegetable Shortening
    Butter Milk Lemon Juice & Milk
    Butter Milk White Vinegar & Milk
    Chicken Broth Bouillon Cube
    Chili Paste Sriracha Chili Sauce
    Cinnamon Nutmeg or All Spice equal amounts
    Cream Cheese Cottage Cheese 1 cup pureed cottage cheese
    Garlic Don't Know Any Ideas?
    Ginger Allspice, Cinnamon, Mace, Nutmeg equal amounts
    Crème Fraiche Heavy Cream & Plain Yogurt 1 cup heavy cream + 1 tbl plain yogurt
    Green Onion Onion, Leek or Shallot equal amounts
    Half and Half Milk & Butter 1 tbl butter + ⅞ cup milk
    Heavy Cream Milk & Butter ¾ cup milk + ⅓ cup butter
    Heavy Cream Evaporated Milk & Butter 1 cup evaporated milk + ⅓ cup butter
    Kale Spinach, Collard Greens equal amounts
    Lemon Grass Lemon Zest 1 lemon = 2 stalks lemon grass
    Mascarpone Cheese Cream Cheese & Whipping Cream 8 oz softened cream cheese + ¼ cup whipping cream
    Milk Dairy-Free Milk equal amounts
    Molasses Dark Corn Syrup & Brown Sugar ¾ cup brown sugar + 1 cup dark corn syrup yields 1 cup molasses
    Onion Shallot, Leek, Green Onion equal amounts
    Panko Bread Crumbs
    Parmesan Cheese Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano
    Pepitas Sunflower Seeds shells removed
    Raisins Dried Currents or Dried Cranberries equal amounts
    Saffron Turmeric equal amounts
    Salami Pepperoni equal amounts
    Shallot Onion, Leek, Green Onion equal amounts
    Spinach Kale, Collard Greens equal amounts
    Sour Cream Yogurt equal amounts
    Soy Sauce Worcestershire Sauce & Water ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce + tbl water
    Sugar Agave Nectar, Honey, Maple Syrup
    Tomato Paste Tomato Puree 1 tbl paste to 3 tbl puree
    Tomato Sauce Tomato Paste & Water equal parts tomato paste & water
    Tomato Sauce Red Peppers and Eggplant Spread Zergut Mild Ajvar
    Ricotta Cheese Dry Cottage Cheese equal amounts
    Vinegar Lemon Juice both acidic

     

    Other Important Ingredient Conversions

    BEAN CONVERSIONS INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS
    HERB CONVERSIONS MUSHROOM CONVERSIONS
    GRAIN CONVERSIONS PASTA/RICE CONVERSIONS
    INGREDIENT CONVERSIONS TOMATO CONVERSIONS

     

     

    « Fresh Pappardelle With Spinach and Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe
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    I'm a work-at-home dad who enjoys cooking, learning everything I can about the culinary world and sharing it with you. To learn more about me... Read More…

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Deena Caunt

      June 07, 2020 at 11:14 am

      Hi, there is a Indian spiritual diet, called Satvik, the followers are not allowed to eat any onions, garlic, leeks or chives. Their recipes use asafoetida, also called hing, as substitutes for all those things. My sister has gerd and can't eat them so I use it. It's a very good swap. Thanks for the fantastic charts

      Reply
      • G. Stephen Jones

        June 07, 2020 at 11:34 am

        Hi Deena, thanks for this information. Very interesting and I would like to try asafoetida sometime.

        Reply
    2. Sage

      April 14, 2022 at 12:48 pm

      Thank you so much for all your conversion charts!! These will be enormously helpful for a busy working mom & farmer. I never have enough time in the day to do everything, so your time spent researching is incredibly meaningful to me. Thank you again!!

      Reply

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