A Nutritionist Explained The Healthiest Way To Cook Potatoes
- 3.09.2026, 11:37
It is not the product itself that is key, but the way it is prepared.
Potatoes can certainly be part of your daily diet while still being part of a healthy eating plan. It’s not the food itself that matters most, but how it’s prepared. Nutritionists recommend boiling, baking, or steaming more often, since these methods allow you to use less oil.
This is reported by Today.com.
As certified dietitian Natalie Rizzo notes, it isn’t necessary to completely give up French fries from time to time. But if potatoes appear on the table regularly, it’s better to prepare them in a way that minimizes the amount of added fat.
The best options are baked, boiled, and steamed potatoes. You can get even more nutritional benefits by leaving the skin on—it contains additional dietary fiber and other nutrients. Fiber, in turn, is important for normal bowel function and helps maintain cardiovascular health.
What Nutrients Do Potatoes Contain?
According to experts, potatoes cannot be considered a harmful food. On the contrary, they serve as a source of several substances important for the body, including potassium and vitamin C.
Different varieties of potatoes also vary in their composition. For example, the batata, known as the sweet potato, contains a significant amount of beta-carotene. And some varieties of Japanese purple-skinned sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin E.
At the same time, the cooking method can significantly alter a dish’s nutritional value.
Why it’s better to eat fried potatoes less often
Even when turned into French fries or potato chips, potatoes are still vegetables. However, during frying, the product absorbs additional fat, and its calorie content increases significantly. Furthermore, this cooking method can produce compounds, an excess of which is undesirable for health.
As a result, the large amount of oil, salt, and high calorie content can negate some of the benefits that potatoes offer in their less-processed form.
Natalie Rizzo also warns: don’t use too much fat, even when cooking potatoes at home. Otherwise, this familiar vegetable side dish risks turning into a very high-calorie meal with a lot of saturated fat.
Which oil to choose for potatoes
If you can’t do without oil entirely, the expert advises opting for olive or canola oil—they’re considered better choices than solid or saturated fats.
Thus, potatoes themselves do not necessarily need to be excluded from a healthy diet. It is much more important to practice moderation and opt for gentler cooking methods more often, without overloading the dish with oil, salt, and other high-calorie additives.