Is there actually more fat in deep fried foods than sautéed?

The breading soaks up more fat. You can tell because when you chew it, oil leaks out. Since sauteed foods are in oil for a short period of time, it is likely that it is much healthier than deep fried.

@kimchi Deep fried doesn’t necessarily mean it’s breaded, battered, or in the oil longer. That’s the thing, I think the breading is at least half of the problem. French fries are deep fried and not breaded. When I cook breaded eggplant in a pan it isn’t deep fried, but it soaks up a ton of oil.

@JLeslie French fries may not be breaded, but they are absorbent.

Just last Monday I braised some skinless chicken breasts in butter and a little olive oil. They picked up little fat, because the meat doesn’t absorb like a breading or a potato.

Theorem for verification: Is it carbohydrates that absorb cooking fat?

@zenvelo That’s my point. What matters is how absorbent. Not whether it’s cooked in shallow oil or deep oil. Unless you use so little oil that you really control how much oil is available to the food that is cooking.

What about the people who say that deep frying sears the outside to keep the juices in? Does that imply that it is less oily?

I posit that the temperature of the oil should be added to your theorum, @zenvelo.

I think you’re right about the amount of oil in the saute, @JLeslie. When I saute potatoes, I run out of oil. If I was sauteing with more oil, surely more would have absorbed.

Technically, any time the food is less than halfway submerged in fat, it’s being sauteed.

In my experience, it’s a lot easier to keep a deep fat fryer at the proper temperature for dry cooking than it is to keep a shallow saute pan at the proper temperature.

Cooking breaded food at too low a temperature will lead to over-absorption and greasy, gummy breading.

@kimchi ia exactly right!

I’d like to add to the theorem that the type of fat is important to health not the amount.