Healthwise, is there a big difference between deep frying in canola oil and pan frying in canola oil?

Canola oil is ok, and so is corn oil. I wouldn’t use olive oil, no. The flavor is too heavy. If you are frying chicken breasts, remember to parboil them first.

It depends upon your skill. If you use a thermometer and fry at the correct temperature there won’t be too much difference between deep frying and sauteeing in canola oil. Both result in some absorbed oil, thus raising fat content and calories.

If you are making what we call schnitzl, I have to disagree with my esteemed colleague @Trillian – I do use olive oil. Mind you there are many kinds and flavours.

As far as i know deep frying takes much less time but is also hard to time correctly. Pan frying on the other hand is slower adn allows better control on how fired the food turns out. At least that’s how my mother explained it when she taught me how to cook.

@zenele Really? You use Olive Oil for chicken? What is schnitzl? I actually prefer peanut oil. You can cook at a really high temp without burning it, and it leaves basically no taste in the food. I use O O for pasta and a few things but I never fry with it. I used to make a really nice `al oglia with OO, and another spaghetti sauce with OO, garlic and chopped tomatoes, then I learned to substitute chicken broth for the OO. You still get that silky texture infused with the garlic but not all the saturated fats.

Instead of giving you mine – which is a secret recipe and I’d have to kill you – here’s one that is along the same lines: They spell it chicken schnitzel

Instead of using genetically engineered rapeseed oil (canola oil) just use rapeseed oil which is common in Asian cooking especially stir-fry.

If you are going to cook with olive oil, cook with cheap olive oil. The Extra Virgin stuff is for fresh uses, like dressings and dips. Monounsaturated oils like olive, canola and peanut are high in calories, but actually help to reduce LDL cholesterol, and are pretty healthy to eat.

Agreed ^

There’s no difference in pan or deep frying as far as nutrition. I don’t fry anything, but I do stir fry sometimes. Then I use olive, peanut, canola, or corn oil. I think peanut oil is my favorite.

I saw a tv programme today where this lady Gizzi Erskine was creating healthy version of dishes. One of these dishes with a Katsu curry which has breaded chicken (which is usually deep fried). Instead of deep frying or pan frying the chicken she sprayed the chicken with a fien layer of oil and put it in the oven.

If you are attempting to reduce the amount of fat you eat, I suggest attempting that.

When using deep fry, I always let the pieces sit on paper towels to absorb some of the oil. That’s about the only difference that I know of.

If you’re talking about which has more calories, I would guess and say that deep frying probably has more calories since what you’re cooking absorbs more oil and usually more oil is used to immerse whatever it is your cooking to cover it completely in oil.
When pan frying you usually just use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan or less which equals less calories. But don’t quote me on it.

And I’m pretty sure canola oil is one of the more healthy oils.