ZeroPoint foods are one of the cornerstones of the WeightWatchers® program. They’re nutritional powerhouses that help set you up for a healthier pattern of eating and that you can lean on as go-to staples when sitting down to a meal. No weighing, measuring, or tracking required.
But are you using your ZeroPoint foods to their full potential? Read on for our best tips and tricks to see how these ZeroHeroes can save the day. Since ZeroPoint foods can differ, scroll through to find the ones that pertain to you.
Beans, Peas & Lentils
Ways to Use Them
- Add moisture to chocolate cake and brownie batters with the addition of puréed black beans. The bean flavor will be drowned out by the rich cocoa.
- Purée canned chickpeas or white beans and use them to replace some of the fat in peanut butter cookies and to bind together edible cookie dough and protein bites.
- Roast or air-fry seasoned chickpeas or shelled edamame for easy, protein-rich crunchy snacks.
- Add beans to pasta dishes to amp up the protein while keeping things plant-based.
Recipes to Try
Chicken & Turkey
Ways to Use Them
- Prep large batches of poultry to use in different dishes, such as burritos, bowls, and casseroles throughout the week.
- Add canned (in water) chicken or turkey to make a quick, no-cook poultry salad, wrap, or sandwich.
- Use ground chicken or turkey (90% lean or leaner) in your favorite soups, casseroles, and meatloaf recipes.
Corn & Popcorn
Ways to Use Them
- Swap air-popped popcorn for croutons in soup and salad recipes.
- Reduce the amount of bread in your stuffing recipes by replacing half the bread with plain popcorn.
- Minimize higher-calorie ingredients (like nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit) in homemade granola bars and cookies by stirring plain popcorn into your batters and mixes.
- Purée fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels to lend sweetness and creaminess to pasta sauces.
- Rely on corn’s naturally occurring sugar to add sweetness to puréed desserts such as panna cotta.
- Grill whole ears of corn, cut off the kernels, and use them to impart smoky-flavor to salsa.
Fish & Shellfish
Ways to Use Them
- Keep frozen fish filets and shellfish on-hand to grill, sear, broil or saute and add to pastas, soups, or tacos.
- Crack open canned salmon, tuna, and sardines – any canned fish packed in water (not oil), to conveniently add to grain bowls, wraps, and salads.
- Opt for pre-cooked shrimp or smoked salmon if you’re not yet comfortable preparing seafood items.
Recipes to Try
Eggs
Ways to Use Them
- Make mini two-bite sandwiches with halved hard-boiled eggs instead of bread.
- Cook up a stack of really thin omelets and slice them into strips to make wheatless noodles.
- Blend eggs with mashed ripe bananas for easy, 2-ingredient gluten-free pancake batter.
- Crack eggs directly into bell pepper halves or acorn squash rings and bake.
- Line the cups of a muffin pan with thin slices of deli ham or turkey and add eggs, then bake.
Fruits
Ways to Use Them
- Swap unsweetened applesauce for some of the sugar or oil in cake and cookie batters.
- Purée frozen bananas with your favorite fruits to make dairy-free “nice” cream.
- Air-fry or bake very thin apple slices until crispy for fruity chips.
- Use watermelon instead of tomatoes in summer salads and use whole watermelon slabs as the base of no-cook desserts.
- Skip traditional pie crust and bake pie filling in cored apples, or stuff strawberries with cheesecake filling.
Lean Meats
Ways to Use Them
- Let your slow-cooker do the work with lean, trimmed cuts of beef, pork, and lamb.
- Marinate meats for 20 minutes or 20 hours using lemon, garlic, and even yogurt to tenderize and flavor lean cuts.
Oats*
Ways to Use Them
- Combine uncooked oats, plain non-fat Greek yogurt, and pumpkin or banana purée in a jar and let it set overnight.
- Mix oats into your preferred nut butter or protein powder with other flavorings and roll into bite-size energy balls.
- Add oats to savory dishes such as bean patties or meatloaf in place of breadcrumbs to bulk up the fiber.
- Mash rolled oats into ripe bananas with a hint of cinnamon to bake easy homemade muffins
Non-Starchy Vegetables
Ways to Use Them
- Spiralize carrots, beets, zucchini, or butternut squash, or roast and rake spaghetti squash into strands, and use them as a spaghetti stand-in.
- Use puréed cauliflower rice to add (nearly) flavorless creaminess to soups and sauces.
- Cut back on flour by using some grated cauliflower, butternut squash, or zucchini as part of the base of pizza crust and taco shell recipes.
- Swap riced broccoli or cauliflower for regular rice in grain-based main dishes and side dishes.
- Add canned pumpkin puree to frittata recipes to give them a custard-like texture.
- Skip tortilla chips and make nachos using bell pepper wedges instead.
Starchy Vegetables*
Ways to Use It
- Roast potatoes, parsnips, chestnuts, and other starchy vegetables to bring out the aromas and natural sweetness of these foods while adding acrispy texture.
- Shred, bake, grilll, or mash potatoes and yuka to enjoy as a side or the base for a main dish.
- Spice up a salad with roasted sweet potato pieces.
Recipes to Try
Tofu
Ways to Use It
- Use silken tofu as a cream or mayo replacement in salad dressings, deli-style salads, and sauces.
- Purée tofu into dips, soups, and smoothies to give them a silky smooth texture.
- Blend silken tofu until smooth and add to chocolatey desserts instead of heavy cream without imparting any flavor.
Yogurt & Cottage Cheese (plain, nonfat)
Ways to Use Them
- Make pizza crusts, bagels, cinnamon rolls, and mini pies using Two-Ingredient Dough.
- Swap yogurt or puréed cottage cheese for sour cream and mayo in dips and deli-style salad recipes.
- Swirl yogurt into soups as a garnish for a hint of tanginess.
- Add Greek yogurt to softened cream cheese so you can spread it further throughout a dish.
- Blend cottage cheese until smooth and add to mac and cheese for a creamier sauce.
*not a ZeroPoint food for those living with diabetes
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Leslie Fink, MS, RD, has worked on the WW editorial team for more than 21 years. She plays a key role in food, recipe, and program content, as well as product partnerships and experiences.