Yahoo Lifestyle "I Do This For Cakes, And It Works Like A Charm": People Are Revealing The Genius Ingredient Substitutions That EVERY Home Cook Should Know
I don't know about you, but I always seem to be missing at least one ingredient in every recipe I want to make. Cream of tartar? Baking powder? Cooking wine? Nope, I don't own 'em.
Thankfully, I'm learning how to make better use of the ingredients that are already in my pantry so I don't have to worry about this issue too much. To further expand my knowledge, I asked the Tasty Community about the ingredient substitutions everyone swears by, and people shared tips I wish I had known way sooner.
I rounded up 20 of the best hacks below:
1."I always substitute soy sauce in place of Worcestershire sauce."
2."For the diabetics out there that need a cheap substitute for rice, barley pairs well with many dishes. Probably my favorite combo is cooking the barley in a roasted garlic soup base and serving it alongside a saucy poultry dish, like poppyseed chicken."
3."In sweet dishes, you can substitute eggs for applesauce or mashed bananas."
4."OK, I’m kind of weird, but living alone, I don’t like to buy loads of dairy products because I can’t eat them before they go bad. So if I have chili or tortilla soup or something, I usually just put plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese in it instead of buying sour cream. It’s good on bagels, too! Also, stirring Cinnamon Toast Crunch into cottage cheese is *chef's kiss*."
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5."I sometimes make Chinese and Japanese-style meals. Sake, Shaoxing wine, and mirin are expensive, so I use dry or medium sherry (for the first two) and amontillado or cream sherry (for mirin) to replace them. Not authentic, but much cheaper and easier to find."
–Chris, United Kingdom, 39
6."Grits instead of polenta, which is more readily available here. Also, less stirring."
–Amy, Georgia, 70
7."If your recipe calls for buttermilk, you can 100% use sour cream instead, and thin it out with milk or water if you need. So, like, if your recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk, you could do 1 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup of milk. I do this for cakes because I can never find buttermilk, and it works like a charm."
–Ginger, Texas, 27
8."Gordon Ramsay recommends massaging an herb butter under the skin of your roast chicken to maximize flavor and texture, but butter isn’t easy to mash and spread over a chicken breast. I use mayonnaise and herbs instead of butter — it has all the flavor, adds the same moisture, and is so much easier than mixing and spreading butter. I use it on the outside skin, too!"
–Anonymous
9."Instead of all-purpose, I use bread flour when making flour tortillas."
–Allison V., Instagram
10."Coconut oil instead of vegetable oil for brownie mix!"
–T, Michigan, 34
11."I've been subbing yogurt for mayo in salad dressings for years."
–Carol T., Instagram
12."You can use maple syrup instead of malted barley extract. Make sure the maple syrup doesn’t have corn syrup."
–Max, New Jersey, 22
13."Ras el hanout instead of cinnamon. It’s cinnamon plus a bunch of other warming spices, like cumin, ginger, and turmeric. I ran out of cinnamon months ago and have been using my giant jar of ras el hanout as a sub ever since. I enjoy the added flavors every time!"
–David B., Instagram
14."Milk with vinegar to substitute for buttermilk."
–Leah, Virginia, 50
15."I use evaporated milk in place of heavy cream when making soups and such."
–mrstevers, Instagram
16."Ground flaxseed when I'm running low on all-purpose flour! But the flour ratio has to be higher than the flaxseed; it’s not a complete substitution. For example, my cake recipe called for 3 cups of flour. I only had 2 3/4 of flour. Then I used 1/4 a cup of ground flaxseed. The cake baked well and was still delicious!"
–Lauren, Virginia, 39
17."If you don’t have any cornstarch, and you need a thickener right now, a little bit of flour and water mixed into a slurry will provide some of the same effect. The more glutinous the flour, the stronger the effect. I don’t know why you would have bread flour and not cornstarch, but that’s the one that typically works the best."
18."In soups and sauces, use instant potato flakes as a thickener instead of a roux or cornstarch."
19."Love to sub shallots for onions in many recipes. They're not so pungent and they can be grated into salad dressings easily with minimal waste. Never have to wrap up half a shallot like I do with onions for my two-person household."
–Carol T., Instagram
Do you have a tip that belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
