Healthy Substitutes for Butter in Baking

With the holiday season in full swing, chances are you’re making a list of cookies, cakes, and quick breads to enjoy at home or give as gifts. For many of us, these baked goods are the highlight of the season; however, eating sweets doesn’t always align with our health goals. As you’ve probably picked up on by now, we are advocates that a healthy life is all about moderation and NOT restriction, and there are ways to enjoy our favorite treats without as much guilt, like swapping out the butter for one of these tasty substitutes!

What is Butter? (besides delicious)

Before we get into healthier butter substitutes, let’s quickly review what butter is and what it does for our baked goods.

When the cream is churned, you end up separating out the solid butter fats from the liquid. These solids are what we call butter (the liquid is buttermilk). In the US, most butter is made from cow’s milk; however, butter can be made from any animal milk. The key is that it must be at least 80% fat, which is what most US butter is made of, but many European kinds of butter are closer to 82-84% fat – maybe that’s why Europeans have such amazing pastries. And while we need fat in our diets (check out why in this previous post), butter does contain 7 grams of saturated fat and about 100 calories per tablespoon – both of which, when consumed in excess, can negatively affect our heart health and weight.

Role of Butter in Baking

Okay, so we shouldn’t eat too much butter, but why does it seem to make everything better? Besides adding a delicious flavor, butter is a key component to the texture of baked goods. The primary roles of butter in baking:

• Provides that buttery flavor that we crave, especially in pastries, biscuits, and chocolate chip cookies.
• Adds moisture, especially to cakes and breads.
• Coats proteins and starches resulting in the delicate crumbs. One of the best ways to explain this is to think of a baguette vs brioche bread. Baguette dough doesn’t contain any fat, resulting in bread that is crusty and chewy, perfect for dipping in soup. In contrast, brioche dough is made using butter, resulting in a softer, more tender loaf.
• Keeps baked goods puffy and not flat. When you cream together warm butter with sugar, the sugar creates little air pockets in the butter, which helps to leaven the baked good as it cooks.
• Creates steam and helps leaven baked goods. So remember how butter is only 80% fat? It’s also ~16% water, which is super important! When cold butter is put in a hot oven (think puff pastry), that water evaporates and creates steam inside the dough causing it to rise.

When Not to Substitute the Butter:

It’s best not to substitute butter whenever butter is the star ingredient such as croissants, puff pastries, and some pie doughs. If you want it to taste “buttery,” you’ll want to keep the butter and just practice portion control. You also won’t want to totally nix the butter if you’re making a cake that’s supposed to be very tender and light.

Substitutes and When to Use Them

As noted above, you won’t want to use these substitutions for every baked good. Most of these healthier substitutions keep your baked goods nice and moist, but they’ll also add some weight, making them best for denser foods. Also note that just because we’re cutting down on the fat and calories (and sometimes adding a little more nutrition), it’s still important to pay attention to portion size.

Okay, so let’s get baking! Here are the most common healthier substitutes for butter:

• Greek Yogurt
  • How to substitute: for every 1 cup of butter, substitute ½ cup of plain Greek yogurt
  • Benefits: reduces calories and fat while also adding protein and calcium; will keep your baked goods nice and moist.
  • Works best for cakes, muffins, quick breads, biscuits.
  • Tips: while non-fat yogurt will reduce the calories and fat the most, 2% or whole milk Greek yogurt will result in the best texture.
• Avocado – don’t fear the green!
  • How to substitute: for every 1 cup of butter, use 1 cup of mashed avocado
  • Benefits: reduces calories and overall fat, while adding a dose of healthy fats.
  • Works best for any chocolate baked good including breads, muffins, brownies, cookies.
  • Tips: for cakes, reduce oven temp by 25% and increase baking time for best results. If you’ve never used avocado before in baking, a good place to start is by just substituting half the butter with avocado (for example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, use ½ cup butter and ½ cup avocado).
• Pumpkin – this one is perfect for Fall baking!
  • How to substitute: for every cup of butter, use ¾ cup of pureed pumpkin (canned or fresh). Pumpkin can also be substituted for oil; simply use equal amounts of pumpkin for oil in the recipe.
  • Benefits: again, lower in calories and fat. The major bonus of pumpkin is it’s a good source of vitamin K, potassium, and fiber.
  • Works best for muffins, coffee cake, quick breads, pancakes, and brownies.
• Bananas
  • How to substitute: for every cup of butter, use 1 cup mashed banana.
  • Benefits: lower in calories and fat and adds potassium and fiber. It also adds some natural sweetness, so you may even be able to reduce the sugar by a couple of tablespoons.
  • Works best for cakes, muffins, cookies, and breads.
  • Tips: keep a close eye on these baked goods, as using banana in place of butter can reduce cooking time by up to 25%! As with avocado, it doesn’t need to be all or nothing. A good place to start is by substituting just half of the butter with mashed banana.
• Beans
  • How to substitute: for every cup of butter, use one cup of pureed beans.
  • Benefits: lower in calories and fat while adding a boost of fiber and protein.
  • Works best for cakes, muffins, quick breads, brownies, blondies (use white beans for blondies or white cake and black beans for anything chocolate).
  • Tips: to puree, first drain and rinse your beans to get rid of any excess salt. Next, place beans in a food processor or high-powered blender and blend until smooth. You may need a couple of drops of water to fully smooth it out.
• Unsweetened Applesauce 
  • How to substitute: for every cup of butter, use 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce. However, for best results substitute just half of the butter. For example, if a recipe has 1 cup of butter, use ½ cup applesauce and ½ cup butter.
  • Benefits: lower in calories and fat while adding moisture and fiber. Just note that sweetened applesauce will add extra sugar.
  • Works best for cakes (especially denser cakes like carrot cake or spiced cakes), muffins, and breads.
  • Tips: applesauce will make baked goods softer and more cake-like, which is great for breads and cakes but not so great for cookies.