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You are here: Home / Food / Recipes: Make it YOUR Way!

May 16, 2017

Recipes: Make it YOUR Way!

Recipe cardsHave you ever seen a recipe in a magazine or on the Internet and thought, “That sounds pretty good, except for the [insert ingredient]”?  That happens to me a lot!  Sometimes it is an ingredient that someone in my family just doesn’t like.  Other times I might be looking to make the recipe a little healthier, simpler or less expensive.

The great thing is that unless it is a home canning recipe, anything can be modified!  (In home canning, the proportion/volume of ingredients needs to be maintained for safety.)  Most ingredients can be increased, decreased, substituted or removed.  Use the original recipe as a guide.  There are a variety of resources available to help you make healthy recipe modifications, including Modifying a Recipe to Healthier, Adjusting Recipes to Meet Dietary Guidelines(PDF)Links to a PDF document., and Recipe Makeovers.

If you have a recipe that you would like to make larger or smaller, you can do it yourself with some number crunching or find a recipe calculator online.  One example is My Kitchen Calculator.  This site can increase and decrease recipes by volume or portions and has a tool to convert common kitchen weight and volume measurements.

A few words of caution though:

  • Making too many changes in a recipe can make it hard to pinpoint the culprit if the dish flops.
  • Try making only 1 or 2 changes each time you make the recipe so you can see how the dish responds.
  • When increasing herbs and spices, err on the side of caution.  You can always add more, but you can’t take it out.

One of my favorite “Kate Originals” started as a college student survival recipe for clam chowder in a hot pot.  It is now a 10 minute ham and corn chowder that is a cold weather staple at my house!  Happy cooking!

Sources:

  • Brinkman, P. (2015). Modifying a Recipe to be Healthier. Ohio State University Extension. HYG-5543.
  • Franzen-Castle, L., Jones, G. and Albrecht, J. (2013). Adjusting Recipes to Meet Dietary Guidelines.  University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. EC422.
  • Garden-Robinson, J., Ryant, J., Gold, A. (2011). Now Serving: Recipe Makeovers! North Dakota State University Extension Service. FN1447.
  • My Kitchen Calculator. mykitchencalculator.com.

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WRITTEN BY: Kate Shumaker, MS RD, LD, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Holmes County, shumaker.68@osu.edu

REVIEWED BY: Christine Kendle, MS, RDN, LD, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension, Tuscarawas County, kendle.4@osu.edu

Categories: Food
Tags: modify, modify recipes, recipe, recipes

Avatar for Kate Shumaker
Avatar for Kate Shumaker

About Kate Shumaker

Kate Shumaker, MS, RDN, LD, has enjoyed being an Extension Educator for over 15 years. All that time in the garden and kitchen with Mom and Grandma and the years in high school and college spent waitressing and cooking in restaurants have finally paid off! In addition to nutrition, Kate has developed specializations in food safety and food preservation. She is also a registered instructor and proctor of the ServSafe program with the National Restaurant Association.

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