Cooking oil is an important addition to many recipes. Many baking recipes require adding cooking oil to the mix, while several other recipes call for using cooking oil in the pan that will be used for cooking. Unfortunately, cooking oil is high in fat and is not the healthiest ingredient to add to a recipe. Thankfully, there are many available alternatives to cooking oil.

When baking muffins or cakes, mashed bananas, applesauce, prunes, and plain yogurt can each be an excellent alternative for cooking oil. It may also be beneficial to add a bit of skim milk to the fruit in order to liquefy it if the cooking oil needs to be of a liquid quality for the recipe. Not only does this replacement reduce the amount of fat in the recipe, but it also adds a bit of flavor and a healthy component to these otherwise unhealthy foods.

When using pureed fruit as a cooking oil substitute, it should replace the cooking oil in equal amounts. If the recipe calls for ¼ cup of cooking oil, for example, ¼ cup of applesauce can be used as a replacement. This provides the baked good with the moisture that would be supplied by the cooking oil. It is also acceptable to replace only a portion of the cooking oil with a fruit puree substitute.

Meats can also be cooked without using cooking oil. In order to eliminate the need for cooking oil altogether, the meat can be wrapped in foil and cooked on a grill. By adding some vegetables inside the foil, the meat can get a little extra flavor while an entire meal is cooked – all without the use of unhealthy cooking oil.

Many recipes, particularly baking recipes, require adding baking oil to the pan in order to prevent sticking. In order to avoid adding this extra fat to the dish, a non-stick cooking spray is an excellent alternative. It prevents sticking, yet eliminates the unwanted fat and calories associated with cooking oil. Care must be taken, however, to avoid using too much of this spray on a pan. Otherwise, non-stick cooking sprays can add more fat to the recipe than using traditional cooking oil. Only a thin layer of non-stick cooking spray is necessary.