There are various butter substitutes depending on needs, such as oils for dairy-free baking, margarine for reducing saturated and trans fats, and cooking spray for reducing fat when cooking. Look for unsaturated fats in margarine and lactose-free options for vegan substitutes.
The best butter substitutes vary depending on your needs. For example, if you want a completely dairy-free option for baking, certain oils may make ideal butter substitutes. To reduce saturated and trans fats in your diet, you may find that certain types of margarine are the best options. To reduce fat when cooking on the stove, cooking spray can be an ideal substitute. If you’re on a vegan diet and want a substitute for spreading on toast or baking, you need to make sure your margarine or oil doesn’t contain any hidden dairy products.
You have a number of butter substitutes to use when baking foods like cookies or cakes. In some cases, using vegetable like canola or soybean oil is a great option. The oils don’t contain the saturated fat that butter has and are neutral in flavor so they don’t overwhelm the taste of baked goods. If using oil instead of solid butter, reduce the amount used so that the cooked product does not fall apart.
If you’re using butter substitutes to lower your cholesterol and saturated fat in general, you have a number of options and need to be careful when choosing a substitute. Some butter substitutes, such as stick margarine, contain trans fat, which is generally considered unhealthy, as it can reduce the amount of good cholesterol, or HDL, in your body. Any margarine containing partially hydrogenated oils contains some amount of trans fat, even if the label states that the product is trans fat-free.
Look into the amount of mono- and polyunsaturated fats in margarine to help you choose the best for your health. Ideally, 70% or more of the fat content in margarine comes from mono and poly unsaturated fats. Oils high in unsaturated fats include olive, canola and palm oils.
Look for a margarine that is lactose-free and doesn’t contain whey if you need a vegan butter substitute to use as a cream or spread. Some of the vegan margarine will be labeled vegan or dairy-free so you don’t have to scan the ingredients list. Olive oil is another all-vegan butter substitute that you can use on toast or bread.
When cooking on the stove, look for non-butter cooking spray. You can also use cooking spray to grease your baking pans instead of the traditional butter and flour. If you don’t want to use cooking spray, a thin layer of neutral-flavored vegetable oil will also work.
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