Ghee, I can’t believe there’s still butter.
Seriously, would you eat butter all by itself? Then why would you intentionally put it into/onto something else to eat? Truth be told, I actually used to love butter, until I stopped eating it, which in turn helped me to stop craving it.
Most butter-afficionados will tell you about the good fats, the good cholesterol and the iodine. They won’t tell you about the bad fats, the bad cholesterol, and that one tablespoon of butter is about the same calories as a banana. Ok, enough about the real stuff, here’s some options if you want to replace or substitute with some decent options.
There are three main uses for butter: Cooking, Baking and Spreading. The focus is on a a dairy allergy or intolerance, so sorry vegans, not every option here will be animal or animal by-product free.
Spreading
This is a tough one, because butter is delicious. But keep in mind, you’re either doing this because someone you know and care for can’t have dairy. You gotta put something on toast, and butter still remains one of the most spread items in the United States. So here’s our top two picks.
Earth Balance Spread
By far, our favorite. And more importantly, our son’s favorite; dairy allergy.
Comes in Organic, Olive Oil, Coconut, Soy Free and Original. Tastes pretty good on popcorn too!
Smart Balance Spread
Sounds very similar to the one above, but the taste is a bit different and not all stores carry this one.
Comes in Organic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Light and Original.
Cooking
Mmm. Cooking with good fat can really make a dish standout, and make it so it doesn't stick to the pan! Aside from baking, which deserved it’s own section below, this could be methods like sautéing, frying, searing, broiling, grilling, and pressure cooking.
Olive Oil
This is our go-to, we cook over half of our foods using olive oil, most often from Costco. Interesting fact, olive oil expires like any other food.
In case you haven’t seen Lorenzo’s Oil, there’s tons of magic stuff in here.
Grapeseed Oil
This stuff is amazing, we have 3 or more bottles around at any time.
Tons of Vitamin E, no trans fats, hardly smells/tastes like anything and smokes a lot less than it’s Olive Oil cousin.
Our favorite bottle is from Sadaf, which you can buy online.
Lard
Love rendered bacon fat? Then lard is for you, sorry vegans.
It used to be the go-to fat for Italian cooking, but can be used for anything from eggs to fried chicken to tamales. It has a phenomenal crisping ability.
Our favorite is Fatworks Leaf Lard.
Baking
Every kid loves cookies, right? And muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, or any kind of cake! How do you make these safe and delicious? By using a butter substitute of course! Here’s a good article that talks about the pros and cons for each, but here’s our preferred short list.
Vegetable Shortening
This is basically solid vegetable oil and is tasteless. We love to use this for sugar and thumbprint cookies, and frosting.
Tip: Whole Foods carries the organic kind.
Coconut Oil
There’s a liquid kind, but we mostly use the solid form.
You can replace for butter 1:1 in measurements. Just know your baked good will taste coconuty.
Costco has a giant tub that lasts a long time. Oh, and it’s useful to treat mosquito bites!
Applesauce
Like coconut oil, we prefer to use this in ‘sweet’ baked goods.
You’ll need to cut the amount to 1/2 or 2/3 of the butter needs, but you’ll be happy with the super moist end result!
Earth Balance Sticks
For savory baked goods, these sticks come in super handy and can be used just like butter sticks!
Thanks for reading! We hope you find a safe and delicious alternative to butter for your spreading, cooking and baking needs!