Pan fried or roasted potato

[LizClegg]

Hi.  If I pan fry potato cubes in, say 20ml oil, is that worse than roasting them in 20ml oil?  I'm using the same amount of heated oil.  Many thanks.

[BabyBear]

I guess that depends on what you mean by worse.  I personally think as long as you are using a healthy approved fat than enjoy them the way you like them best.  If you feel it is too much oil you can play around with amounts to how much oil you really need for the results you want.  That may also benefit the purse strings if you find you are happy With the results of less oil, because those good healthy oils can get expensive.  Best of luck with your recipe.  

[LizClegg]

Thanks for responding.  I was unsure because I thought I saw elsewhere that you should start the potatoes in the pan and then finish them in the oven, but I don't see what difference it makes.  Is it better to heat oil in the oven than to heat it in a frying pan?  Many thanks.

[laura_juggles]

30 minutes ago, LizClegg said:

Thanks for responding.  I was unsure because I thought I saw elsewhere that you should start the potatoes in the pan and then finish them in the oven, but I don't see what difference it makes.  Is it better to heat oil in the oven than to heat it in a frying pan?  Many thanks.

"Better" how? Easier? Faster? Healthier? 

I toss cut up potatoes with a little oil and some salt, then fling them onto a pan and stick it in the oven. There is no reason to complicate roasted potatoes. They're supposed to be an easy thing to make. 

[SugarcubeOD]

On 10/19/2020 at 11:48 AM, laura_juggles said:

fling them onto a pan

This is exactly how things are done at my house... love the use of 'fling' in cooking!

[LizClegg]

By "better" I mean "healthier".  I am not trying to complicate roast potatoes and I am not sure why my question is so difficult to understand.

I want to pan fry potatoes in 20ml of oil.  I want to know whether this is less healthy than roasting potatoes in 20ml of oil.  If it is less healthy, why?

I thought I had previously seen somewhere on the forum a suggestion that it was better to roast potatoes than fry them, but it is not clear to me why that is.

[SugarcubeOD]

I don't think anyone said your question was difficult to understand, Laura was clarifying what you meant by 'better'.

As far as which is healthier, I don't recall seeing that on the forum but that doesn't mean it's not there.  The only thing I can think of is that the heat in an oven will be consistent and the frying pan might end up heating the oil to a higher temperature as you can't set a burner to a temp like an oven.  If you were using a low smokepoint oil, then in a pan, you might run the risk of overheating it but if you're using a stable oil that's not likely to be a huge concern.

As far as the actual potato, I don't think either way is healthier than the other so I assume that the question relates to the oil.

[LizClegg]

OK thanks.

[Healthgrab]

You can use olive oil to decrease guilt, I mean the oil is pretty healthy!

[SchrodingersCat]

This may also come up in the context of the temperature of the oil - olive oil loses a lot of its goodness at a higher temp (and may even develop some undesirable elements), so isn't as good for frying, but is fine for oven baking. Really, it's picking the right type of oil for your cooking method. 

[SugarcubeOD]

On 11/9/2020 at 7:55 PM, Healthgrab said:

decrease guilt,

I don't see anywhere in this exchange that is referring to guilt and as we don't assign moral value to food, comments about what is or isn't less guilt inducing as a fat source is a bit misplaced.

[LizClegg]

Thanks, that makes sense.  I guess with frying there's more risk than with roasting of reaching the smoke point of the oil so it breaks down.  I'm using avocado and macadamia oils but they are terribly expensive.