9 Low-Calorie Butter Substitutes

Butter is a creamy ingredient that plays a crucial role in baked recipes from cakes to quick slices of bread to muffins. And the good thing is that you can buy low calorie butter to keep things simple and healthier.

How Many Calories Does Butter Have?

Butter contains 80% fat, and the rest is mostly water. It is the fat content of milk separated from protein and carbs. Since it contains more than 400 different fatty acids, butter is considered the most complex of all dietary fats. One tablespoon of fat (14 grams) contains over 100 calories and 11 grams of fat.

Is Butter Bad For Health?

Butter is a rich source of necessary vitamins including A, D, E, B12, and K2, but it also contains a huge amount of fat that could cause concerns like obesity, hypertension, and heart ailments in the long run. But there is little harm in consuming butter in a safe amount. Or you can switch to low-fat butter that contains all the necessary nutrients.

What Is Low Calorie Butter?

Butter free of trans-fats is called fat-free butter. Its advantage is that it is high in taste and low in fat. With fat-free butter, you get both taste and nutrition. And there are several options available in fat-free butter.

Milk products brands are launching fat-free options in butter products. But here we’ll discuss the conventional alternatives of butter. Luckily there are a handful of delicious options to choose from if you want to cut back on fat without compromising on taste and nutrition.

Avocado

It is a fatty fruit and its healthy fat contains nearly 20 vitamins and minerals. Also, you will love the creamy texture and mild flavor of the avocado fat. This fat is suitable for chocolate recipes including cakes, cookies, and pastries. The dark color of chocolate will hide the greenish avocado fat completely. But the green color will be visible on the cookies. A whole avocado contains approximately 240 calories, 22 grams of fat, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of fiber, and 3 grams of protein.

Avocado Oil

There is little need to stick to avocado butter if you dislike its greenish texture. While dark chocolate can reduce the appearance of the green color of avocado butter, this avocado butter can change the color of chocolate cookies from brown to green. It is where you can use avocado oil. Simply replace avocado butter with avocado oil to take advantage of avocado fruit. Another advantage of oil is that it is easier to apply. Even nutritionists prefer avocado oil as a reliable source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is generally used for dressing salads and stir-fries but it can also be used for baking recipes. But there is a drawback to this oil. It tends to give an olive oil taste to the recipes it is added to. For example, if you are baking a cake with this oil, it will become an olive oil cake. But you can switch to a light variety of olive oil if you dislike the strong flavor of the oil.

Yogurt Low Calorie Butter

A tablespoon of thick yogurt will give a mouthful of fat you can expect from the same amount of butter. But yogurt has fewer calories than butter. Nutritionists suggest Greek yogurt as its consistency is thicker than other varieties of yogurt. Made of bacterial fermentation of milk, yogurt is a very nutritious delicacy that can be consumed in different ways including raw. It contains all necessary nutrients including calcium, vitamin B12 and riboflavin, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin D.

Applesauce

Using applesauce is a great way to cut your fat intake without compromising your taste. If you apply applesauce to a baked recipe, it will lend a natural sweetness and extra moisture to the recipe. The biggest advantage of applesauce is it contains no fat and it is far lower in calories than butter. It contains a sweet texture and if you don’t like its texture, you can switch to the unsweetened variety of applesauce. It also contains a good amount of fiber and potassium.

Banana

Bananas are a good source of potassium as a piece of medium-sized ripened banana contains 422 mg of potassium that can meet about 9% of the daily value of your mineral intake. Also, mashed banana is as creamy as avocado and as sweet as applesauce. You will love the banana-y taste the mashed fruit will add to a baked product. But replacing butter with fruit will decrease the shelf-life of the recipe. In other words, you will need to eat the recipe fresh.

Nut Low Calorie Butter

Nut butter has many things in common with traditional butter. For example, it remains firm at room temperature. Also, you have the option to choose from a variety of nut butter flavors like peanut, almonds, and cashew. Another advantage of nut butter is its high protein and fiber content. For example, take almond butter. It contains 3 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber per tablespoon. Similarly, other varieties have quantities of protein and fiber.

Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin puree is a better substitute for butter because of its nutritional content which includes vitamin A, potassium, and fiber. Also, you will like the earthy sweetness it gives to baked goods. If you add pumpkin puree to cakes or brownies, it will bring moisture and creaminess to them. The good thing is that pumpkin puree can be used on all kinds of baked recipes and desserts. If you are looking for a low-calorie substitute for butter, you can try pumpkin puree.

Beans Pack Low Calorie Protein Butter

Try beans in baked goods instead of fat to reduce your calorie intake without compromising on taste. And you will be surprised to know that a cup of beans contains 299 calories, 13 grams of fiber, and no saturated fat. To start, you can try half beans and half butter before going full-on beans pack protein.