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Low Calorie Sauce Hacks: Add Flavour, Subtract Calories
Watching your calories can be difficult, and it may seem like you can’t enjoy flavourful, tasty foods. If you’re a sauce lover, you may find yourself compromising on your favourite condiments, but your weight-loss journey doesn’t have to be this way! We have curated a list of top tier sauce hacks to help you enjoy delicious food whether you’re dieting or not. Everyone deserves to enjoy tasty food, so if you’re interested in our low-calorie sauce hacks, keep on reading!
Why Should I Include Sauces In My Food?
Whether you’re a flavour fanatic or you’re a little sceptical when it comes to sauce, there are a range of reasons why sauces should be used in your cooking to take your food to the next level! Sauces can bring a whole new world to your kitchen, and help you to improve your cooking skills too!
Flavour
One of the most obvious ways that sauce can elevate your meals is by bringing complementary flavours to your meals. They can be used to complement similar flavours to other ingredients within your dish or to contrast elements. The combinations of flavours are practically endless, and it pays to be experimental with your sauces as they can completely change the taste of your meals.
More Moisture
Sauces are an effective way to add moisture back into a dish with a dry cooking method, or a dry dish in general. If you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy dry food, sauce is a great way to combat this and still enjoy a tasty, healthy meal.
Some naturally lean or drier protein choices can benefit from the moisture that comes with a sauce. Grilled foods can also be dry, and meals like burgers can definitely be improved with a tasty sauce.
Aesthetics
Something as simple as a sauce can improve the look of your dish by a mile. Whether it’s a sticky sweet and sour or a juicy, succulent jus, sauces can elevate the look of your food and make it look much more appetising. Your sauce may bring a contrasting colour or have an appetising finish, leaving your meals looking mouth-watering!
Texture
Sauces can come in a range of thicknesses and textures, which can bring a new element to each dish you prepare. Depending on the kind of meal you are preparing, you may want to consider using a complementary texture, like a thick gravy, or a thinner sauce such as a white sauce! Or, if you enjoy contrasting elements, you might want to use your sauce to bring new textures to your dish.
Contrast
While some sauces can bring harmony between similar flavours, using sauces for contrast can make your dishes much more interesting. Contrasting flavours and colours can improve the look of a dish by a long way, and it can help you to explore more obscure flavour combinations. You can also use contrasting colours and textures in your food to make each meal more enjoyable. You could try experimenting with sharp and tangy flavours to make your meals more interesting
Low-Calorie Sauce Hacks
To give you some inspiration when it comes to keeping your meals low-calorie, we’ve created a list of some low-calorie sauce hacks to help you get started. If you want to find out more about low-calorie sauces that we offer here at Calorie Watchers, you can check them out on our website. To learn more about our hacks, keep on reading.
Citrus
Zesty lemon juice is a fantastic way to finish off a light dish, chicken, fish and salads. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some garlic can be a great low-calorie sauce which is full of flavour. With only 4 calories per tablespoon of lemon juice, you don’t need to worry about going over your calorie restrictions by adding a sauce. You can add lemon juice to some olive oil, with salt and pepper too, for a light and calorie conscious vinaigrette.
Other citrus fruits such as oranges can be used for low-calorie sauces and they are great for helping you get some Vitamin C into your diet. Much like lemon juice, you can add orange juice to olive oil and season it for a summery citrus dressing, perfect for salads. With 7 calories per tablespoon of orange juice, it is slightly heavier than lemon juice, but not by much.
Fresh Herbs
One of the most effective ways you can bring flavour to a dish on the least amount of calories is to use fresh herbs in your sauces. They have less than one calorie in them, meaning you don’t need to worry about herbs increasing your calorie intake.
Fresh cilantro, basil and parsley are all great fresh herbs to include in your sauces for ounces of flavour in each bite. Not to mention, a little greenery on your plate can do wonders for presentation. You can also use them to garnish your dishes if you feel like going one step further.
A fresh, oil-free chimichurri sauce could be a great idea, especially during the summer when you may want lighter, more flavourful meals. You can find a range of fresh herb sauce recipes that remain under 10 kcal, which should keep you under your calorie intake for your meal.
Salt Free Seasoning Blends
There are plenty of seasoning blends that you can already buy in most supermarkets, such as italian seasoning or other pre-made seasoning mixes. Most of these will have a high sodium content (salt) which can add unnecessary calories to your diet.
Premade seasoning mixes are great because they are convenient for sauces and preparing your food, and they taste great! No-salt seasoning mixes are relatively easy to come by and can be used in your cooking in a range of ways.
Hot Sauces
Hot sauce goes with everything! If you’re out of creative ideas to spice up your meal, hot sauce could be the answer. If you love your spice, hot sauce is something you can still enjoy even if you’re watching the calories. Most hot sauces have about 5 calories or less in a teaspoon, so you can kick your meals up a notch without having to worry about your calorie intake.
Broths
While broths are not quite sauces, they are more on the soupy side, they are worth touching on as a low-calorie option. Out of all soups, broths have the least amount of calories, while still having a warming and hearty quality. Whether you are using vegetables or meats, broths have a high water content, despite being filled with flavour, which is great for anyone looking to consume fewer calories.
In 100 ml of vegetable broth you would only find about 7 calories, which may sound like a lot, however if your broth is the base of your entire meal, 7 calories is actually very low. If you need more substance in your broth, common fillings and toppings can include noodles, vegetables, meats or fish. Broths and other soups can be great weight-loss options, especially in the winter, as they are hearty and comforting.
Calorie Watchers: Vegan Sauces & Low Calorie Meals
Here at Calorie Watchers, we believe that your meals should always taste great, even if you’re watching your calorie count. Which is why our meals, recipes and sauces are created to tantalise your tastebuds without overloading on calories.
Our line of slim-range meals have been created to help you find low-calorie meals and prepare them without any hassle. And if you like to get creative in the kitchen, we offer low-calorie noodles, pasta and rice options that are perfect for creating tasty meals day in day out. Our line of low-calorie sauces are also perfect for elevating your dishes with a minimal amount of calories. You can browse our range of products here!