Last Updated on December 7, 2023 by Cathy
As you decide to start eating real food (Paleo) and not processed foods, you may begin to realize that cooking from scratch isn’t that easy, especially if you’re used to the Standard American Diet. With so many staple ingredients “not allowed” like flour, dairy, sugar, and vegetable oils. It can get kind of confusing as to what paleo substitutes you should be using instead and still make delicious meals.
To be successful with the paleo diet, you need to stop relying on convenience package foods and start using real food and real ingredients. If you need help starting the paleo diet, check out “How to Start the Paleo Diet” for some tips to get you started.
Although this new way of cooking can seem overwhelming with all of the restrictions, the overall benefits to your health are worth the effort. You need to start seeing this as a lifestyle change and not just a temporary diet.
Cooking at home you will not only be making great-tasting meals but you will also be nourishing your body. Unfortunately, many of the ingredients you’re familiar with are highly processed containing artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and monosodium glutamate (MSG), and that’s just the beginning!
To make cooking less daunting as you are starting out I’ve included some of my favorite substitutes. It’s important to understand not all substitutes will be equal, don’t be afraid to experiment to find what works best for you.
All-Purpose Flour
Instead of all-purpose flour, use nut flour or cassava flour. Unfortunately, no single paleo-based flour performs the same way as all-purpose flour especially when it comes to rising. However, using a combination of flours such as almond and coconut flours you can still get good results.
For more details on substitutes check out Paleo Flour Substitutes.
Milk
Cow’s milk is easy to replace just use full-fat coconut milk, homemade almond milk, or other nut-based kinds of milk. Make sure you read the labels and watch for any additives in the ingredients. If you are purchasing milk from a can, buy one that is BPA-free to avoid chemicals leaking into the milk.
Cream
Full-fat coconut milk is great to use not only as milk but also as a cream. Store the can in your refrigerator overnight, the water and cream will separate. Scoop the cream out and save the water for something else like in your smoothie.
Cheese
Soaked and puréed nuts, like cashews, make a great substitute for cheese. Even zucchini can be used to create cheese, you can check the internet or Pinterest for many recipes.
Fats
Instead of butter, or margarine choose a healthy fat such as coconut oil or olive oil. Ghee is considered a healthy fat but people with MS who consume more dairy have more flares. It is best to avoid all dairy including ghee and whey.
Oils
Avoid all highly processed vegetable oils, instead, use healthy oils. Oils like avocado oil, macadamia oil, olive oil, palm oil, and the best oil to use for your health is coconut oil.
Sugar
Sugar is highly processed and should be avoided at all costs! When it comes time to cooking or baking it is hard to figure out what product to use to substitute white sugar. Instead, you can easily substitute it with natural sugars like raw honey, maple syrup, maple sugar, coconut sugar, or fruit. For more details on sugar check out Paleo Sweeteners.
Pasta
Pasta is gluten and is to be avoided but some vegetables make a great substitute. As the name says “spaghetti squash” is great to use as spaghetti. Other vegetables like zucchini or yellow squash can be spiralized or sliced to be used in pasta dishes like spaghetti or lasagna.
Corn Starch
Corn starch is used as a thickener and is easily substituted with arrowroot flour. You can also use tapioca starch otherwise known as tapioca flour.
Soy Sauce
Soy is a legume and should be avoided, instead use coconut aminos or fish sauce. Coconut aminos look like soy sauce but have a slightly sweeter taste, fish sauce has a more savory flavor. Experiment and see which one you like best or combine the two.
Rice
To make “rice” put cauliflower florets in a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend until they form rice-size pieces, it doesn’t take very long.
Potatoes
Root vegetables make a great substitute for potatoes. You can use sweet potatoes, yams, parsnips, rutabaga, or celery root.
Breadcrumbs
Instead, use flax meal ground flax seed (same thing), or almond meal they both work great for replacing breadcrumbs. Plus, you will be getting a healthy dose of omega-3s!
Peanut Butter
Peanuts come from a pod so they are a legume and not a nut. If you have a recipe calling for peanut butter use almond butter or cashew butter instead.
Milk Chocolate
Instead of “milk” chocolate, you can use substitutes such as cocoa or dark chocolate. When buying chocolate make sure to buy a high-quality brand that is unsweetened.
Mayonnaise
Instead of buying store-bought mayonnaise (it has soy in it) you can make your own. I’m all about easy so I substitute mayo with mashed-up avocado, I like the taste better.
Eggs
This is a little trickier, it will depend on your recipe as to what will work the best. Different options are using mashed bananas, applesauce, gelatin, ground flax seeds, or chia seeds.
Some people consume pasture-raised eggs and I’ve talked about it on my blog. But, eggs cause problems for a lot of people. Dr. Terry Wahls recommends people avoid eggs. If you want to heal faster it is best to avoid eggs altogether.
Summing It Up
There are plenty of paleo substitutes that you can buy at places like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Natural Grocer, Costco, or even your local grocery store. You can even check online, at places like Amazon or Vitacost.
You might find making some of these yourself easier and it will help you save money in the long run. Don’t be intimidated by “sticking” to a recipe, I was missing an ingredient when I was making paleo tortillas so I substituted it with something else. They turned out great, even my family thought they were better than the last time I had made them (following the recipe).
Ultimately, these ingredients are not an exact substitute but they will help you understand how to approach paleo cooking. Have fun cooking!
If you need help starting the Paleo diet, check out How to Start the Paleo Diet.
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Easy Paleo Substitutes
