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Healthy Fried Food Recipes and Cooking Tips

Featured Recipes

Oven-Fried Chicken

Great news—crunchy, flavorful fried chicken can be healthy. We marinate skinless chicken in buttermilk to keep it juicy. A light coating of flour, sesame seeds and spices, misted with olive oil, forms an appealing crust during baking. And with only 7 grams of fat per serving rather than the 20 in typical fried chicken—that is good news.

» Oven-Fried Chicken

Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers

Instead of batter-dipped, deep-fried nuggets, we coat chicken tenders in a seasoned almond and whole-wheat flour crust and then oven-fry them to perfection. With half the fat of standard breaded chicken tenders, you can enjoy to your (healthy) heart's content.

» Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers

Oven-Fried Zucchini Sticks

Our oven-baked zucchini sticks taste every bit as good as their deep-fried brethren with only a fraction of the fat and calories. Serve with a side of your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.

» Oven-Fried Zucchini Sticks

EatingWell Fish Sticks

You can make these homemade fish sticks in about the same amount of time it takes to bake a box of the frozen kind. Make it a meal: Serve with lemon wedges, coleslaw, roasted new potatoes and a dollop of tartar sauce.

» EatingWell Fish Sticks

BBQ Chicken Tenders

These crispy chicken “wings,” made with boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders, stay crispy with only a light coating of oil—no deep-frying needed. Serve as an appetizer or try them for dinner with crunchy vegetables and dip on the side.

» BBQ Chicken Tenders

Jalapeño Poppers

Spicy peppers get a cooldown from the creamy bean-and-cheese filling in our healthier version of jalapeño poppers.

» Jalapeño Poppers

Onion Rings

We couldn’t get enough of these crunchy onion rings in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. Try any seasoning blend that you have on hand to add flavor to the breading or substitute 1 teaspoon salt instead. Seasoned whole-wheat breadcrumbs are available in some supermarkets and natural-foods stores. If you can find them, try them in place of the plain breadcrumbs and seasoning blend.

» Onion Rings


Discover the secret to frying with less fat and fewer calories.

You love fried food, right? But you also know it’s pretty bad for you. What if we told you “fry” is OK? No, not deep-fried, trans-fat-laden junk, but a lighter, smarter type of “fry.”

Our easy, oven-frying technique delivers a crisp, seasoned exterior and moist, tender interior without all the fat and calories of deep-frying. For the basic technique, we have you coat your food in a light breading, spray it with oil and bake it on a rack. An oil spray bottle works great and so does cooking spray. Sometimes we go for a slight variation—brown the coated food in a bit of oil in a skillet and then finish it in the oven. That way it gets crisp on the exterior but doesn’t burn and requires only a little oil.

Buy our book, EatingWell Comfort Foods Made Healthy.

Healthy Fried Recipes

Instead of batter-dipped, deep-fried nuggets, we coat chicken tenders in a seasoned...
These crispy chicken “wings,” made with boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders,...
Lovers of fried fish get the taste without all the calories in this recipe. Seasoned...
The crunchy-crisp tofu and our spicy-sweet salsa are inspired by that restaurant-...
Tomatillos and pepitas form the basis for pepian sauce--one version of Mexican mole.
You can make these homemade fish sticks in about the same amount of time it takes to...
Technically, these tomatoes aren't fried but they are crispy when breaded and...
Though greasy French fries are (almost) everyone's favorite, our baked version...
Spicy peppers get a cooldown from the creamy bean-and-cheese filling in our...
We couldn’t get enough of these crunchy onion rings in the EatingWell Test Kitchen....
Great news—crunchy, flavorful fried chicken can be healthy. We marinate skinless...
Fish and chips are traditionally sold wrapped in paper to soak up all the grease—not...
Toasting the breadcrumbs in a skillet ensures a crisp and golden crust on the fish.
Hungry for fries? Slice potatoes into long thin wedges, toss with a little oil, salt...
Our oven-baked zucchini sticks taste every bit as good as their deep-fried brethren...
These oven-roasted fries are simple and healthy yet as wholly satisfying as their...
Rice flour is the “secret ingredient” in this dish and is used to make the flavorful...
Instead of having a greasy, battered coating, the tofu “steaks” in our revamped...

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