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Healthy Ways to Add Honey to Your Diet

Honey is a great way to add natural sweetness to your dishes, giving them an extra element or balance to foods that need them. Honey is often used as a healthier alternative to refined sugars in many dishes since it also offers a host of health benefits, but, as we mentioned in the linked article, too much of it can still be unhealthy. In a number of previous Diet recipes, we’ve used honey as a way to sweeten the end product while adding a healthier element. Today, we want to look at some recipes that utilize honey to its fullest potential. These recipes can easily be added to your routine of regular meals, which will help promote a healthier diet.

Replace Refined Sugars

The simplest way to add in honey to your diet is to use it as an alternative to unhealthy refined sugars. These are usually white sugars that have had many of the nutrients processed out of them, giving you no nutritional value. We’ve actually utilized honey in this way many times in the past. To show you just how easy it is, we’re pulling up one of our more recent recipes, from Halloween Mocktails for Spooky Senior Parties. This takes the hot toddy and sweetens the drink with a touch of honey. For another example, check out Getting Creative with Thanksgiving Classics: Cranberry Sauce.

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Harvest Spiced Cider Toddy

Ingredients

  • 1 gallon of apple cider
  • 4 tbsp of vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp of honey
  • 2 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 10 whole cloves

    Directions

    1. Mix the ingredients in a large slow cooker.
    2. Set the slow cooker to low and allow to cook for about two or three hours.
    3. Occasionally stir the cider to ensure spices distribute evenly.
    4. Once the cider is heated through, serve with a ladle in a heat-proof mug.
    5. Enjoy!

Healthy Salad Dressing

Another way to up your intake of honey, but in a healthy way, is to make a delicious vinaigrette for a salad. Not only will this help you eat more honey, it encourages you to eat more salad, which is a bonus. This honey-apple cider vinaigrette also adds the health benefits we often associate with vinegar (apple cider vinegar, especially). What you end up with is a simple to make, but tasty, salad dressing that is absolutely loaded with healthy nutrients!

Medicareful Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup of apple cider vinegar
  • ⅓ cup of honey
  • ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Add ingredients to a mason jar or coverable container.
  2. Seal the container and shake it until ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
  3. Serve over a salad or as a marinade.

Honey-Sriracha Chicken Glaze

Looking to spice up your meal repertoire, a honey-sriracha glaze goes well with almost any mild protein or vegetable. In this case, we’ll be using chicken cutlets as a base. The sauce itself isn’t too spicy for anyone who doesn’t love a fiery mouth, due to the melted butter that adds some fat to the overall dish. The honey also sweetens the mix, which masks some of the spicy flavor, as well. Simply mix the sauce ingredients, add water to thin the sauce out a bit if needed, and then cook it with your chicken.

If you really want a honey-filled meal, each recipe in this article pairs well with the others, making a complete meal with a main course, a side, and a drink. That’s certainly one way to get your fill of honey!

Honey-Sriracha Chicken

Ingredients for Sauce

  • ¼ cup of Sriracha chili sauce
  • ⅓ cup of honey
  • 2 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp of melted butter
  • 2 tsp of garlic powder
  • Water

Ingredients for Chicken

  • 1 chicken breast
  • 2 tbsp of flour
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of pepper
  • 1 tbsp of olive oil

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a bowl or saucepan.
  2. Mix in the honey, soy sauce, Sriracha, and garlic powder.
  3. Add water if you think the sauce is too thick.
  4. Slice the chicken breast in half, giving you two thin pieces.
  5. Cover the chicken breast halves with paper towels and pound them thin, creating cutlets.
  6. Season the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper and dredge them with flour.
  7. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a pan.
  8. Cook the cutlets until they’re browned, roughly four minutes a side.
  9. Add half the Sriracha-honey glaze to the pan.
  10. Sauté the chicken in the sauce, spooning the sauce overtop to ensure it’s evenly covered.
  11. Allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
  12. Remove the chicken from the pan.
  13. Spoon the remaining sauce overtop the cutlets and serve.
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