Use Avocado Instead Of Butter & 5 More Avocado Substitutions

When most people think of cooking with avocados they think about their most common uses: mixed into a salad, added to a sandwich, or as a base for classic guacamole. However, avocados can also be used as a substitution for many common kitchen ingredients.

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Avocados can be substituted for several ingredients in baking and cooking, such as butter, shortening, eggs, oil, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Some people use avocado as a vegan substitute for these ingredients, but another reason to go with avocado is the increase in nutritional value.

When you substitute avocado for another fat, you're getting about 20 vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, and "good fats" as opposed to saturated. You're also reducing the amount of calories in your dish. For instance, 2 tablespoons of avocado only has 50 calories, compared to 2 tablespoons of butter that has more than four times that amount. And it's easy to swap in — usually you can just swap 1 cup of butter or oil for 1 cup of avocado. However, with eggs it's a different story. Substitute 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup mashed avocado per egg.

Because of the high quantity of water in an avocado, your baked goods like breads and muffins will come out of the oven much softer and less likely to crumble than if you were to use butter. However, make sure to note that when using avocado in cakes and breads, the baked goods may rise higher and brown quicker. To avoid these things from happening, reduce your oven temperature by about 25 percent and increase your baking time.

To get all of the benefits of avocados in your next meal, take a look at these six unexpected ingredients that avocado can replace.