There are three reasons that I use unsweetened applesauce as a substitute for oil in my baking, especially, almost homemade recipes. The reasons are nutrition, texture, and flavor.  Applesauce, in my opinion, adds a lot of character to your baking, especially, in cakes and bread without all the added calories and oil fats.

Another good reason to consider applesauce an oil substitute is the simple fact that you can grow apples in your backyard, garden, and/or orchard.   Healthy applesauce is easy enough to make at home and, if you happen to have enough apples in your backyard, you can make a large quantity, which when canned stores for years.  So, from an Eco-friendly point of view, you don’t need to pay to have large corporations process the oil and shipment it from around the world to get it to your local grocer.

Simply stated even a good olive oil has little in it be on calories fat and some vitamin E.  While it is true, depending on what oil you cook with, your oil may contain some omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, the quantity is so small when compared to the calorie and fat ratio, as not to make it worth adding it into your baking for that purpose alone.

Applesauce, on the other hand, has no fat, add dietary fiber, natural carbohydrates, and sugars; not to mention more flavor.  Oil in cooking is one of American cooking’s most overused ingredients.  It’s used in baking, mostly, to make foods moist.

The table below does a brief comparison of a 1/4 ounce serving of both applesauce and oil:

Nutrition Facts	Olive Oil	Applesauce
Calories	480	50
Total Fat	56g	0
Cholesterol	0	0
Sodium	0	25mg
Total carbs	0	12g
Protein	0	0
Vitamin E	15%	0
Dietary fiber	0	2
Sugar	0	8g

Related References

• Find Out Which Thickener to Use
• Cooking Measures – Egg Size Substitutions
• Cheeses and Cheese Substitutes Used for The Filling of Cheesecake
• A Reference Guide To Potato Sizes For Cooking