Tips For Replacing Butter With Avocado When Baking

While there are many other plant-based butter substitutes out there, avocados are an excellent option for when you're in a pinch, especially if you're looking to up your intake of the healthy fats that avocados are full of. As British Heart Foundation dietician Victoria Taylor explains, avocados are good replacements for high-saturated fat foods, including butter. That's because they're made up of unsaturated fats, or, more specifically, monounsaturated fats. This means that, by eating avocados instead of butter, you can help maintain a healthy cholesterol level without missing out on creamy decadence.

Usually, when you think about eating avocados, savory dishes like avocado toast, guacamole, tacos, spring rolls, burgers, or even your margarita, likely come to mind. There's no denying that avocados add an element of indulgence to the simplest of foods. However, their mild flavor can offer a lot to your sugared treats too. When used as a butter replacement in desserts, avocados bring their luscious texture and healthy fat profile together to satisfy your sweet tooth by activating the dopamine receptors in our brains — just like any other of our favorite sweets would (per Scientific American).

But, in order to achieve that sugar-high — avocado-style — while maintaining the quality of your go-to baked and no-bake desserts, there are a couple of tips you'll want to make note of first.

Just as California Avocado claims, avocados work wonderfully as a substitute for oil, butter, and cream in your dessert recipes. Thankfully, swapping them in is simple: A 1:1 ratio is the golden rule, so if your recipe asks for one cup of butter, all you need is a cup of pureed, or very well-mashed, avocado. Then, feel free to say voila; According to the British Heart Foundation, you've successfully substituted saturated fats for monounsaturated fats.

If you think that sounds too easy, well, you're somewhat correct. While the 1:1 ratio does work, Kitchn makes a point that avocado doesn't melt the same way that butter does and won't do as good of a job at coating your dry ingredients. To compensate, you can use half the amount of butter with half of an avocado and you'd still be upping your intake of healthy fats. However, if you're vegan, plant-based, or dairy intolerant, you can use a touch more of your wet ingredients — or opt for a vegan butter and follow the latter method.