How to Increase Calories in your Diet

High Calorie Foods

Butter and Margarine

• Add to soups, potatoes, hot cereals, grits, rice, noodles, and cooked vegetables.
• Stir into cream soups, sauces, and gravies.
• Combine with herbs and seasonings, and spread on cooked meats, hamburgers, and fish and egg dishes.

Increase Calories Using Cream-Based Ingredients

Whipped Cream

• Use sweetened on hot chocolate, desserts, gelatin, puddings, fruits, pancakes, and waffles.
• Fold unsweetened into mashed potatoes or vegetable purees.

Table Cream

• Use in soups, sauces, egg dishes, batters, puddings.
• Put on hot or cold cereal.
• Mix with noodles, pasta, rice, and mashed potatoes.
• Pour on chicken or fish while baking.

Cream Cheese

• Spread on breads, muffins, fruit slices, crackers.
• Roll into balls and coat with nuts, granola, or wheat germ.

Sour Cream

• Add to cream soups, baked potatoes and potato dishes, macaroni and cheese, vegetables, sauces, dressings.
  

Increase Calories with Salad Dressings and Mayonnaise

• Spread on sandwiches, crackers.
• Use in meat, fish, egg, or vegetable salads.

Honey, Jam, and Sugar

• Add to bread, cereal, milk drinks, and fruit and yogurt desserts.
• Glaze for meats such as chicken.

Granola

• Use in cookie, muffin, and bread batters.
• Sprinkle on vegetables, yogurt, ice cream, pudding, custard, and fruit.

Dried Fruits

• Use as snacks, with breakfast, in baked products, etc.

Eggs

• To increase calories by using eggs, mix extra eggs into batter for French toast, pancakes, custard, pudding, quiches.
• Beat into mashed potatoes, vegetable purees, and sauces. (Cook the products further after eggs are added.)

Increase Calories During Food Preparation

• Bread meats and vegetables, fry or sauté foods instead of baking or broiling, add sauces or gravies to food.

Note:  We strongly encourage you to talk with your health care professional about your specific medical condition and treatments. The information contained in this website is meant to be helpful and educational, but is not a substitute for medical advice.