This Easy Substitute Should Replace Your Whipped Cream

Whipped cream is a great addition to many desserts and even coffee, especially if you're looking to treat yourself on a festive occasion and want something a little more indulgent than your regular Americano. Whipped cream, as its name indicates, provides a creamy texture and sugary goodness to any dish with minimal effort. However, as illustrated by Healthline, incorporating too much heavy cream into your diet can be a real problem if you're trying to limit your overall fat intake and don't wish to pile on the pounds — and the calories in heavy cream aren't low either. You're looking at 400 calories and 43 grams of fat in each half cup of heavy cream. Phew.

What, then, is the best way for a person to continue enjoying their homemade desserts sans the whipped cream and side serving of guilt? Well, never fear! There is a simple alternative to heavy cream that can help you turn things around health-wise.

Greek yogurt, as is often proclaimed by many health enthusiasts, works well as a substitute for many less healthy dairy alternatives. As explained by Livestrong, Greek yogurt has several advantages such as its relatively high protein content and the fact that it is a low-carb option that is easy to digest. Plus, Greek yogurt is a versatile ingredient that is thicker than your standard yogurt, and can be used to spruce up all kinds of dishes. Yes, you understood us right — you can even replace whipped cream with Greek yogurt in many foods.

As illustrated by Health Digest, when you're preparing a dessert like strawberry shortcake, try swapping the whipped cream for Greek yogurt to make it healthier. If you want your yogurt to be fluffier and lighter, you could always blend it with a stabilizer like soy lecithin for great results. That way, you'll end up enjoying a well-deserved serving of strawberry shortcake without stressing over the extra fat from the whipped cream. Sounds like a win-win, right? Hey, if you're not too keen on completely eliminating whipped cream from your recipe, you could still use a little bit of heavy cream, but add Greek yogurt, a sweetener like honey or maple syrup, salt, and vanilla bean or rosewater to create a low-cream version of the traditional whipped topping (via Serious Eats). That way, you'll still get some of the benefits of using Greek yogurt without totally giving up your whipped cream.