No matter how well-stocked your pantry is, you will eventually, inevitably begin to cook a dish before you realize that you’re missing one of the key ingredients.
If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to find a viable substitute.
Some of my favorite ingredient substitutions include:
- 1 cup yogurt instead of 1 cup of buttermilk
- 7/8 cup vegetable oil instead of 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons flour instead of 1 cup cake flour
- 1 cup plain yogurt instead of one cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs instead of 1 tablespoon fresh herbs
- 1 cup butter instead of 1 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup cocoa instead of 1 (1-ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
However, recently, I found myself making a simple spaghetti sauce on a weeknight and realized after I had started sautéing the onions and had an open can of tomatoes staring at me, dripping red juice down the sides of the can, that I was missing tomato paste.
The only thing left to do was find a substitution.
Since I had nothing remotely akin to tomato paste in my cabinets I turned to Twitter for advice on how to compensate for the lack of thickening agent in my sauce.
Kalyn told me to cook the sauce down until it was thick enough to spoon over pasta. I cooked the sauce about an hour longer than the original recipe called for and it turned out perfectly.
If you want your meat sauce a little sooner though, I highly recommend picking up some tomato paste next time you go grocery shopping.
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 28 ounce can of whole, peeled tomatoes
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1 cup water
- Salt, black pepper and sugar, to taste
- In a small stockpot over medium-low heat, brown the beef in olive oil. When the meat is thoroughly browned, add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Drain off the excess oil.
- Add tomatoes, bay leaf, oregano and water. Simmer, uncovered, for forty-five minutes to an hour, or until the sauce is thick and rich. Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Serve over the pasta of your choice.
4 Comments
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)
January 26, 2010 at 4:09 pmI’m always substituting smoky things when a recipe calls for ham, bacon or pork. My favorite substitutes are barbecue sauce (in soups and stews), smoked paprika, urfa and aleppo peppers, and the adobo sauce that chipotles come packed in.
Stephanie
January 25, 2010 at 12:49 pmI’m very often substituting various things for gluten. Another blog recently suggested using a portobello mushroom cap instead of a pizza crust…I love this idea!
Rachel
January 24, 2010 at 10:42 pmToday I used 1 cup yogurt instead of sourcream in waffles. It worked perfectly!
Daryl
January 24, 2010 at 9:25 amInteresting. What is the calorie difference between the oil and butter? That may be a good idea even if I have butter in the house.