- Researchers are testing a cooking method that combines microwave energy with conventional frying to reduce oil absorption in chips.
- The aim is to keep the crisp texture people expect while cutting cooking time and lowering fat uptake.
- Less oil does not make chips a health food, but it could make fried foods somewhat less damaging.
French fries and chips are popular for obvious reasons: crisp surface, soft centre, salty flavour and plenty of fat.
The problem is that deep frying lets food absorb a lot of oil, adding calories and saturated fat depending on the oil used.
Researchers at the University of Illinois are exploring whether microwave energy could change that.
Their work suggests microwave-assisted frying may help potatoes cook faster while taking up less oil.
- Frozen fruit and canned vegetables can be just as useful as fresh food
- Ultra-processed foods may affect focus even in people with healthy diets
The science comes down to pressure.
At the start of frying, the tiny pores inside a potato are filled with water, so oil has little room to get in.
As the potato heats, that water turns into vapour and escapes.
Once spaces are left behind, negative pressure can pull oil into the potato.
The researchers found that much of frying happens while the food is under this negative pressure.
Microwave energy changes the process because it heats water molecules throughout the potato, not just from the outside inward.
That creates more internal vapour and helps keep pressure positive for longer.
In practice, that makes it harder for oil to penetrate the potato.
Microwave frying alone was not enough, though.
The fries came out too soft, because conventional frying is still better at producing the crisp surface people want.
So the proposed solution is a hybrid method.
Conventional frying delivers colour and crunch, while microwave heating speeds moisture removal and limits oil uptake.
For food manufacturers, that could mean chips with less oil and shorter cooking times.
- French fries linked to higher type 2 diabetes risk but other potatoes were not
- Delivered groceries improved blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes
For people with type 2 diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure, this is interesting but needs perspective.
A lower-oil chip is still a chip.
It may contain less fat, but it can still be high in starch, salt and calories, and it can still affect blood glucose.
The useful point is not that fried food suddenly becomes healthy.
It is that food engineering may be able to reduce some of the damage without relying entirely on willpower or consumer behaviour.
That could matter because people do not stop eating foods just because guidelines tell them to.
Making popular foods less harmful is not the whole answer, but it is not pointless either.
