What is junk food? Any food that is processed, high in sugar, low in nutrition and fibers, and high in fats is called junk food. Junk food becomes an instant favorite as it makes us feel happy but at the cost of our health.
Junk food and processed food items are creative, but the way they are cooked is wrong; some of the ingredients are bad for health as they are added in many quantities. We all love to eat burgers and pizzas; here is a better way to cook these at home and enjoy the food. These foods are healthy as well as cheap to make, and easy to cook.
7 Ways Convert Junk Food Into Healthy Food
1. Fries
Who doesn’t want fries?! Instead of categorising them as junk food, cook healthy fries! Make carrot fries, zucchini fries, potato fries at home. No matter the vegetable, first wash them. Chop carrots or zucchini vertically. Sprinkle salt and then let it sit for some time. Take a baking tray and arrange the carrots after sprinkling the pepper on them. Bake them for around 10-15 minutes.
To make potato or sweet potato fries at home, cut the potatoes in half and then cut it vertically. After cutting, soak them into water and salt to it. After resting them, bake them or fry them in canola oil or vegetable oil. In this way, the fries are made from fresh vegetables, and you can also cook them at home as you desire.
2. Burger
Burgers are easy to make; cooking a healthy patty at home is even fun. For non-vegetarian eaters, make ground turkey, beef or chicken patty. To make a vegetable patty, in a large bowl, mash potato, add grated cabbage, cooked spinach, peas, and paneer or tofu pieces. Add spices like paprika, pepper, salt and, make small balls and pat them. Let the patties sit for around 10 minutes. In a pan, add some oil and fry the patties.
For meat patties, take ground beef or chicken breast, add spices and veggies to it. Mix it well, pat them down and then fry them. Now arrange these into the bread to make a burger. Buy brown wheat bread or a big lettuce leaf, place one, then top it with mayonnaise, arrange the onion rings and then put the patty on top of it, arrange the tomato, then again set the brown bread or lettuce upon it.
Using lettuce makes it a lot of healthier options than using brown bread or whole wheat bread. Other options to make healthy patties are salmon patties, chickpea and coriander patties, mushroom patties. So turn this junk food staple into a healthy, yummy alternative and enjoy!
3. Chicken Nuggets
Chicken nuggets are my all-time favourite junk food, and they are pretty easy to make at home. Delicious, super healthy and tasty nuggets made of chicken breast, beat the breast and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. In a dish, whisk eggs, take some flour, and in another one, get some panko or breadcrumbs. The rest of the breasts have been cooked for some time. Cut the breast into vertical or any desired shapes, then dip them into flour, then into eggs and then into breadcrumbs. Fry them in a shallow pan.
4. Pasta
Healthy pasta can be made easily at home. Though now scientifically, it has been proved that spaghetti and pasta are not bad for health, instead they are good. Make pasta in cauliflower sauce rather than white sauce. This will reduce the cheese intake and make it healthier pasta. Instead of using macaroni, make zucchini pasta by cutting ribbons of zucchini. Olive oil and olives are healthy; use virgin olive oil.
5. Pizza
Pizza is my favourite but not good for health and is one of the unhealthiest junk food. Pizza topping matters a lot; make a healthy pizza topping using basil, tomato, spinach, goat cheese, chickpea paste, asparagus shaving, coriander, kale, mushroom, sunny-side-up egg. These are all various veggies that added to pizza can make it healthy. To make a pizza base, use a fried tortilla or a slice of brown bread, or create a pizza on puff pastry. Use rye bread or flatbread like naan to make a healthy pizza base. You can add parmesan cheese and tomato paste. Use cheese for a basic need, do not overuse it.
6. Coffee
A cup of coffee has a lot of sugar in it. Rather than having coffee from a café, make a good cup of coffee at home. Black coffee is the best option to have in any restaurant; at home, make sugar-free coffee with home milk, use almond milk to make a good cup of coffee.
7. Soft Drinks
Rather than having carbonated drinks, make fruit juices at home. Make fruit juices or smoothies. Chia seeds and citrus fruits are the best options for weight loss. Drinking a smoothie is healthier than a burger or any other food item at any given time. Replace cold drinks with these and reduce the sugar in the body.
To Conclude
These are the ways to make your favourite junk food into healthy food to eat, which are easy to cook at home and equally delicious. Let us know if you’ve got other junk food that you want us to turn healthy!
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