People are becoming more and more aware of what they choose to consume, and so, in this day and age, it’s more important than ever to be creating healthy dishes for your clients, even if it’s only one or two of the 20 options.
There are so many ways you can make a dish healthier; you can reduce or increase this ingredient here and there, or learn to make some great swaps along the way.
Here are our top ways to make your dishes healthier without sacrificing flavour.
Change the Ingredients
If a creamy sauce is your go-to, it may be time to re-think. We agree that they taste amazing, but they can also be some of the most fattening and calorific of all the sauces; loaded with things like butter, heavy cream and cheese.
Often, heavy and calorific creams can be substituted with low-fat milk or yoghurts and will taste just as good, you could even add a bit more seasoning for an even better taste.
Take a carbonara sauce for example, it’s commonly made using heavy cream and cheese; however, a healthier option is to find a recipe that replaces the cream with eggs. In fact, you may be aware of this already, but using egg is actually the traditional Italian way to make carbonara, so you can earn some points for traditional cooking here as well.
Think about what ingredients you’re including in your dishes and take the time to research how any of the slightly unhealthier ingredients could be swapped or removed. A little research could open you up to a whole new market of health-conscious diners.
Use Less/Low Cal Oil
Although oils are the backbone of many dishes and are great for our heart health, however less so for your cholesterol and they still pack a punch calorie-wise.
The trick to using less oil is to go for non-stick pans or to invest in some great low-calorie cooking spray like Fry Light.
It may not seem like it makes a difference, but in the long run, it really can lead to a healthier cooking mindset, and you can still create high-quality dishes.
Bake, Don’t Fry
Deep frying food adds considerable amounts of fat to dishes that simply don’t need it.
Baking or grilling your food is a fantastic way to eliminate any unnecessary nutrient sparse but dense calorie additions to your dishes.
Take bacon for example – frying it in oil not only makes it greasy but adds to the overall fat content, whereas grilling allows you to retain a stronger flavour and crisp your rashers up without adding any calories.
Reduce Fat, Sugar and Salt
These three ingredients taste great but are troublesome when it comes to healthy eating. There are some easy ways to reduce the need for them in your cooking:
- Fats: use half the oil or butter you intend to use in your recipe and replace the rest with some sort of fruit puree. Fruit-based fat replacers can be found in a lot of supermarkets too, so this is just the homemade equivalent.
- Sugar: try to use spices such as cloves and nutmegs in place of half of your sugar content, or flavourings like vanilla if you really need your food to be super sweet. Sometimes, an artificial sweetener can do the perfect job too, so don’t rule this out either.
- Salt: unfortunately, this one is mostly down to a taste change. Try and gradually reduce the amount of salt you include in your cooking if you feel like you use too much. In the case of some baked goods however, you can reduce salt by at least half or even totally get rid of the need for it as long as the baked produce doesn’t need yeast.
Add Grains and Veg to Bulk Out Your Dishes
If you’re making your own burgers, meatballs, meatloaf or dishes along these lines, reduce the amount of red meat used by adding grains or vegetables to your mixture to bulk it out. Common grains include bulgur wheat, lentils and veg like mushrooms can easily mimic both the flavour and texture of meat.
Not only will this bulk out your meals and add to the healthy choices list, but it can add a whole new depth of flavour to your meat too.
Extra Flavour Versions
You may love your cheddar, but there are cheeses with stronger flavours that you can use less of and therefore save calories. Think goat cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano – full of flavour but not so much full of fat.
Healthy Swaps
Most of these tips do come down to simply choosing and swapping to a healthier version or substitute for your ingredients. Some final healthy swaps for some common ingredients you might find yourself using include:
- Using whole wheat instead of white or processed/enriched pasta.
- Use fat-free or skimmed milk instead of full-fat milk.
- Use lean meat where you can – think turkey and chicken or trimming the fat from your red meat.
When it comes to catering for such a health-conscious society, it’s so important to be clued up and flexible in what you can create, so hopefully these tips will help you. For more cooking tips, take a look at this section of our blog. If you’re ready to bring your healthy recipes to the kitchen, browse our job search today.
