Food Substitution Chart

Looking for a clean eating food substitution chart? This one is a list of random substitutions I came up with and will update over time. I hope you fine is useful!

If you have any particular foods you’d like to have clean substitutes for, please leave them in a comment below and I will do my best to find a substitute and add it to the list here.

Clean Eating Food Substitution Chart

FOOD SUBSTITUTION CHART:

INGREDIENT USED FOR POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTES NOTES
White Sugar Baking/Cooking Honey, Maple Syrup, Sucanat, Coconut Sugar See my sugar substitution chart for help with converting sugar measurements.
Brown Sugar Cooking/baking Honey mixed with a bit of molasses You can make the flavor as strong as you like, just remember that a little molasses goes a long way.
Corn Syrup For hardening (candy) Brown Rice Syrup This will not harden like corn syrup will, but it’s the closest thing you can get to corn syrup with out using corn syrup. It remains slightly sticky.
White Flour (A/P Flour) For cooking/baking Whole wheat pastry flour or WHITE whole wheat flour Whole wheat pastry flour is best for things that need less gluten, like pie crust. WHITE whole wheat flour is better for things that need more gluten, like bread. It will produce a very “bready” texture in your finished food. Good also for thickening soups.
Butter Cooking/baking Heart healthy oils such as olive or avocado oil or purchase organic butter from cows who are grass fed and pastured. (Butter is not "unclean" in and of itself. But if you want to avoid it, this is how I do it for most recipes) While not all recipes will handle oil, many will. However, this substitution will NOT work on items that are dependent on butter for form or texture. Things such as croissants will not work with oil. It’s far easier to make this substitution in cooking than in baking. If you are baking something that simply includes butter but does NOT depend on the butter for form or texture, then usually a mixture of unsweetened apple sauce and oil will do the trick. Usually 2/3 apple sauce with 1/3 oil.
Baking Powder Leavening Baking Soda Baking soda is too “salty” for some recipes. For this reason, I continue to use baking powder. 1 or 2 tsp. of baking powder in a recipe is not the end of the world.
Sour Cream Cooking/baking Plain Greek yogurt Substitute in equal amounts.
Barbecue Sauce Grilling/baking/slow cooker recipes This is my clean version of BBQ sauce. If you prefer to buy them, Bone Suckin' Sauce is an excellent and clean sauce as well as the OrganicVille brand. Both can be found at Whole Foods and other retail stores.
Pizza Dough Pizza This is my clean version of pizza dough. If you need a gluten free version, try this recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess.
Condensed Milk Coffee and baking. Condensed Milk Coffee and baking.
(This makes good coffee creamer) This is my version of condensed milk.While this works wonderfully in coffee and things like muffins, it may not be suitable for all baking. (This makes good coffee creamer)
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