Frying versus grilling chicken - approx calories

celestial

Hey guys

I take a chicken fillet and grill it - how many calories?

I do the same and fry it on the pan with say a little olive oil - how many calories now?

Would like to see some accurate estimates

EileenG

Best way is to weigh it raw, then use the raw values for the grilled chicken and the raw value plus the olive oil for the fried. The nutrition panel on things like chicken are always for the product as sold (ie, raw) unless it specifies that it's cooked.

Websites like fitday.com or MyPlan on lowcarber.org usually give the options for chicken cooked in various ways, but I like to go by the raw weight.

rubadub

Only thing is not all the olive oil will be used up, unless you add just a tiny bit, which is what I do.

I prefer frying as it tastes nicer to me, and comes out jucier as I usually fry in a saucepan and stick on a lid.

When people warn about "fried chicken" it is usually deep fried, which is more popular in the US. I also used to dry fry chicken on non-stick "magic sheets" you get in supermarkets near the tinfoil.

You can get spray oils, I prefer to put a tiny bit of oil on a pan and rub it around with a little kitchen roll.

EileenG

I honestly can't see the difference between using olive oil to cook, or using it on your salad or vegetables.

I'm a huge fan of non-stick pans with a good glass lid. You can cook just about anything over a moderate heat with little or no fat, and it doesn't burn or get dried out.

celestial

Right. What I am really wondering is what the potential difference is between frying on pan and grilling. Like you rubadub I prefer the taste of it fried - more flavour and less dried out. I know the process of frying is bound to result in a higher calorie count but am wondering how big the gap is.

EileenG

It really depends on how much fat you use to fry.

celestial

EileenG wrote: »

It really depends on how much fat you use to fry.

I'd be using around two tablespoons of olive oil.

EileenG

If you are being totally paranoid, you could cook as normal, then pour off the excess oil and see how much you have left, then work from that. You'd only need to do it once.

Serafijn

One tablespoon of olive oil has about 120 calories, 14g of fat and 2g of saturated fat.

2tbsp sounds like a lot for one chicken breast, try measuring it going in next time then as Eileen suggests, drain the pan after to see how much you really need.

rubadub

If draining some will also stick to the pan. If you have a good scale you could stick a kitchen towel on, zero the scale, wipe all the oil off and reweigh the towel.

I wouldn't worry myself about it though. I never use enough oil to cover the base, I put a tiny bit of butter on now and wipe it around.

barbiegirl

I find that if I add 1 - 2 teaspoons to a good pan, then use a pastry brush to spread it around that I can fry my chicken breast, and feel happy enough as I've added 1 ww point to my 2.5 of the chicken breast. I butterfly the chicken open, then rub in some paprika and onion salt and fry this, have it with salad and veg on a day I need to keep points down (i.e. I've had a bad day lunch wise) or add pasta (30g 2 points) with a little butter (2 points) or home made pesto (2 points) to it. I find grilled chicken quite dry and as I only cook one meal, for all 3 of us to eat, I have to keep things tasty.

DéiseGirl

barbiegirl wrote: »

I find that if I add 1 - 2 teaspoons to a good pan, then use a pastry brush to spread it around that I can fry my chicken breast, and feel happy enough as I've added 1 ww point to my 2.5 of the chicken breast. I butterfly the chicken open, then rub in some paprika and onion salt and fry this, have it with salad and veg on a day I need to keep points down (i.e. I've had a bad day lunch wise) or add pasta (30g 2 points) with a little butter (2 points) or home made pesto (2 points) to it. I find grilled chicken quite dry and as I only cook one meal, for all 3 of us to eat, I have to keep things tasty.

I was just going to suggest the pastry brush option. I have one of those silicone brushes and I use that to coat the base in a film of oil.

I have been weighing nearly everything I eat at home for the best part of a year now - at first I thought it was a pain but it's amazing how it just becomes a habit and it's a real eyeopener to see how much things actually weigh.

rubadub

Another thing I do is add a little oil first, then fry the chicken in a saucepan with the lid on. Now the outside is nicely browned, I usually fry in butter & garlic. Now I would add in 2 desertspoons of water and put the lid on again.

This in effect steams the chicken, so cooks it a little faster, it stops it from burning and keeps it nice and moist, it also means I do not have to watch over it, if browned on both sides I just leave the lid on and turn the hob off and walk away. It slowly steams away. But it doesn't really taste like chicken that has just been steamed, the bit of butter sort of absorbs into the meat. I would then stick it on a plate and run the juices over it, which is not just a load of fat, since I barely use enough to begin with.

Macha

Another good way to control the amount of oil you put in is to put the chicken in a bowl and add the tsp of oil or whatever amount you want, then mix it around so that the chicken is coated in the oil. That way, you know exactly how much you've used and you don't have to worry about the chicken sticking.