Frying Meat

whatyouwill
whatyouwill Posts: 71 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Of course, in my ideal world, I would grill or bake every meal. But sometimes I like to get it all in a pan and really infuse those flavours among all the ingredients.

My question is around calorie counting. I fear I may be underestimating but I can't find anything on this. If I have say, 190cals worth of chicken breast (weighed, uncooked), and a 40cal tsp of olive oil, would I be right in saying I can't just add them up as 230cals if I fry the chicken in the oil? Basically, does frying chicken in oil cause the calories to shoot up to more than their uncooked number?

Any expertise much appreciated.

Replies

  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    No. Just weigh the raw chicken breast and measure the oil then log that. End of story.
  • Dgydad
    Dgydad Posts: 104 Member
    Not a nutitionist, but I don't see how the result can be anything but cumulative. If you have "x" calories of food cooked in "y" calories of oil, the result should be the sum of x and y. The calories from the chicken itself are constant....................
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    You have it right: 230 calories.
  • whatyouwill
    whatyouwill Posts: 71 Member
    You have it right: 230 calories.

    Well it looks as if I have been misinformed in the past then! Excellent. Oil + Food cals = total, no added cals because it's frying.
  • lollyhackett
    lollyhackett Posts: 79 Member
    I like to cook a lot at home too - and I used to get so confused with this!!! I always assumed that raw calories weren't the same as cooked calories - but turns out all you have to do is make sure you are accurate with your weighing and measuring prior to cooking and you'll know how much you are consuming. Simple!
  • whatyouwill
    whatyouwill Posts: 71 Member
    I like to cook a lot at home too - and I used to get so confused with this!!! I always assumed that raw calories weren't the same as cooked calories - but turns out all you have to do is make sure you are accurate with your weighing and measuring prior to cooking and you'll know how much you are consuming. Simple!

    That's great, thanks.

    I don't know where I heard it, but the advice I was given in the past was that the METHOD of cooking can add unwanted calories. It sounds mad now actually, I wonder if anyone on here does agree with it?

    i.e. 100g Chicken and 1 tsp of Olive Oil grilled would somehow equal less than the same amount fried,
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    If you were to dump the chicken in a vat of oil and do what we call "deep frying," the chicken would have a lot of oil and a lot a calories. Is this what you are talking about?

    But in your case you carefully measured the
    ~chicken
    ~oil
    Then you did the math of everything that was in the pan exactly. You did that. And you are good now.

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