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Deep frying is a common cooking method used across the globe. Restaurants and fast-food chains often use it as a quick and inexpensive way to prepare foods. Popular fried foods include fish, french fries, chicken strips, and cheese sticks, although you can deep-fry just about anything. Many people like the taste of fried foods. But these foods tend to be high in calories and trans fat, so eating a lot of them can negatively affect your health.
Compared to other cooking methods, deep frying adds a lot of calories. Fried foods are typically coated in batter or flour before being fried. And when foods are fried in oil, they lose water and absorb fat, which further increases their calorie content. Generally speaking, fried foods are significantly higher in fat and calories than their non-fried counterparts. For example, one small baked potato contains 128 calories and 0.18 g of fat, while the same amount of french fries contains 431 calories and 20 g of fat. As another example, a 100-g fillet of baked cod contains 105 calories and 1 g of fat, while the same amount of deep-fried fish contains 200 calories and 10 g of fat. As you can see, calories add up quickly when eating fried foods.
It’s understandable not to want to say goodbye to fried foods. That said, you can take steps to get the satisfaction of fried foods with fewer of the health consequences. These include: