Substitute Olive Oil for Butter
Why would you want to substitute olive oil for butter? There are so many reasons, beginning with the fact that olive oil is an extremely healthy butter substitute.
Olive oil is great for your heart; in fact, it helps reduce bad cholesterol while also helping fight the free radicals that attack your cells on a daily basis. What does this mean for you? It helps prevent heart disease and certain types of cancers.
If you substitute olive oil for butter, you're also helping your body in so many other ways. Drinking olive oil is great for your digestive system; it relieves constipation and even prevents stomach ulcers.
It's easy to substitute olive oil for butter. Here's how:
Instead of greasing your pan with butter or another type of butter substitute, use olive oil.
Bake with olive oil instead of using butter (which is so much more fattening anyway!).
Consider dipping toast into olive oil instead of slathering it with butter. You can also dip rolls into olive oil and vinegar (delicious!) instead of using butter.
Drizzle it on steamed veggies instead of caking them with butter.
There are also some really fun things you can do to dispose of used cooking oil. I know that sounds funny, but you can make soap and candles out of used cooking oil and much more!
Olive oil can be a bit more expensive than butter, but a little goes a long way. Also, if you consider the overall health benefits when you substitute olive oil for butter, you are saving money in the long run (by avoiding hospital bills).
| Butter | Olive Oil |
|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 3/4 teaspoon |
| 1 tablespoon | 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 teaspoons |
| 2 tablespoons | 1 1/2 tablespoons |
| 1/4 cup | 3 tablespoons |
| 1/3 cup | 1/4 cup |
| 1/2 cup | 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons |
| 2/3 cup | 1/2 cup |
| 3/4 cup | 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon |
| 1 cup | 3/4 cup |
How do you choose good quality olive oil?
Look for cold-pressed, unrefined oil in dark colored bottles. This means it has retained most of its original nutrients and that they haven't been processed out of the oil. The dark colored bottle will protect the oil from the damaging rays of sunlight (you should also consider storing it in a dark place).
The freshness of the oil also matters; you want to use your olive oil within a year of its process date.
As well as using olive oil as a butter substitute, you can consider other healthy ways of using it, such as in the form of olive leaf extract and olive leaf tea. Olive oil is truly a wonder food; to get the best health results, try to use it as part of your every day cooking and eating habits.
