5 Cooking Techniques To Use For Eating Healthier

Food should be exciting, yet somewhere along the way, between the twin rises of addictive fast food and new fad diets, we developed the belief that healthy has to be bland and cooking healthy foods is difficult.  

This couldn't be further from the truth. The produce aisle has so much to offer, and when we enter our kitchens armed with solid cooking techniques, quality ingredients, and a variety of herbs and spices, the options truly are limitless.

The following tips and tricks will help you cook healthier versions of your favorite meals while improving your overall culinary skills at the same time.

1. Start Steaming

As a cooking method, steaming is fast, efficient, and requires little cleanup. As a means to achieving better health, few techniques compare.

Because foods don't come into direct contact with their cooking liquid and cook relatively quickly, they retain more of their nutrients than they would through methods such as roasting or frying.

Steamed foods are also prepared without fats or oils, both of which add more calories than most people realize. We often lose track of how much oil we've added to a roasting pan in our effort to prevent vegetables or meats from drying out, and a glug here and a glug there really do add up over time.

So how do we add life to steamed vegetables, fish, or poultry? There are four main methods:

•Add aromatics to the steaming liquid, such as onions, celery, and bay leaves.

•Use broth rather than water.

•Season or sauce the food afterward, so you have control over portions and calories. You might drizzle olive oil on steamed vegetables with some crushed garlic, add a sauce or spice rub to a steamed chicken breast, or toss steamed ingredients into a salad with a homemade dressing.

•Cook fish or chicken breasts in a parchment packet along with flavorful ingredients like sliced lemon, garlic, fresh herbs, and chili flakes. This technique is known as en papillote, and can be adapted to suit your taste.

2. Put on the Pressure

Pressure cooking offers a myriad of benefits to the home chef. Much like steaming, pressure cooking allows for shorter cooking times, which translates to fewer nutrients lost, less time spent in the kitchen, and better texture and color in your food.

It's also many a chef's secret weapon when it comes to cooking beans. If you've ever wondered why your from-scratch beans don't taste the same as canned, it's because you didn't use a pressure cooker. This can transform hard, dried beans into soft and creamy deliciousness in less than an hour — without breaking them apart.

3. Use Acid, Not Salt

When testing the seasoning of a dish and it falls a little flat, most people automatically reach for the salt, but chances are, they're attacking the wrong problem.

While it's a necessary component of a properly seasoned dish, most of us already add enough. The quickest way to liven up a dish is to add something acidic, such as vinegar, citrus, or tomato paste. It's the reason hearty stews often call for a splash of red wine and sandwiches love pickled veggies.

Even sweets can benefit from a touch of acid; a squeeze of fresh lemon or dollop of sour cream, for instance, can transform a heavy-tasting frosting into something much livelier.

And if you've added too much acid? Now's the time to balance things out with a touch more salt or fat.

4. Add Texture

There's a reason kids abhor mushy peas and boiled vegetables, and it's the same reason adults add crushed crackers to pureed soups: texture is important, and it can make or break a dish.

A quick glance at recipes for salads, grain bowls, or soft and creamy dishes like risotto are evidence of this fact. A good salad, for instance, will have a balance between soft ingredients like sliced avocado or cheese and crunchy elements like chopped celery or pomegranate seeds.

If your dish only hits one texture note, liven things up by adding toasted nuts and seeds, crispy roasted vegetables, or toothsome beans.

5. Make a Swap

Many of our favorite comfort dishes have one thing in common: cream.

From a velvety fettuccine alfredo or cream of broccoli soup to a satisfying lasagna, cream often takes center stage in our most loved dishes. However, it also takes a toll on our waistlines and heart health, making it better left for special occasions.

Fortunately, we can still enjoy these dishes throughout the year by employing these techniques borrowed from vegan kitchens.  

Cashew Cream

One of the most versatile cream substitutes, cashews can replace cream in any manner of sweet or savory dishes, such as soups, pastas, or even cake frosting. Once you learn the base recipe, you'll have a workhorse of a sauce at your disposal whenever you need it.

To make cashew cream, simply soak one cup of raw cashews in two cups of water overnight or for at least four hours, depending on the strength of your blender. After soaking, drain and rinse the cashews before adding them to a blender with a half a cup of water and a pinch of salt. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. The cream will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Now comes the fun part. Are you making a cheese sauce? Add some squeezed lemon and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Some frosting? Try some honey or maple syrup. The options are endless.

Pureed Beans

Pureed beans are another vegan trick to add body and heft to a dish without the caloric weight of a heavy cream. Packed with heart-healthy fiber and a good dose of protein, they also improve the nutritional profile of a meal, too.

Try a white bean puree in your next soup or pasta sauce in place of cream and see just how much it elevates your cooking.

Pureed Root Vegetables

Pureed root vegetables, like potatoes or butternut squash, can also add thickness to soups and sauces without also adding a ton of calories.

Try making mac and cheese with pureed butternut squash or potato and leek soup thickened with vegetables alone.

Healthy and Easy Are Not Mutually Exclusive

By learning a few basic cooking techniques and some essential flavoring principles, you can eat healthfully and joyfully every day of the week with minimal effort. The more you do it, the easier it will become, and the more confident you'll feel about flexing your creative muscles in the kitchen, too.