Of course it is possible to opt for a diet without snacks from the chip shop, but occasionally snacking or eating fries does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. The choice for a diet without fries or snacks seems easy to make, but maintaining such a diet can often be more difficult than we have to spare for a good figure. By choosing the least harmful snacks, it is still possible to combine such snacks with an otherwise healthy diet. To choose the healthiest snacks, it is not only good to know which snacks have the fewest calories, but also which preparation method (frying, oven or hot air fryer such as the actifry or air fryer) produces the fewest calories in the end product.
Calories for snacks and fries depend on preparation method
Not only are there differences in calories between different snacks, but the preparation method can also make a huge difference in the number of calories. There are different ways to prepare the typical deep-fried snacks. The simplest and most traditional way is of course frying the snacks, and there are basically two different ways. On the one hand, frying with solid fat and on the other hand, frying with liquid fat. An important difference between the two types of fat is the difference in health risk. Solid fat contains many saturated fatty acids, while liquid frying oil or frying fat contains many unsaturated fatty acids. The latter, the unsaturated fatty acids, have a cholesterol-lowering effect and thus reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
More or fewer calories with oven fries and oven snacks?
In addition to traditional frying of snacks, it is also possible to prepare fries and snacks in the oven. To prepare fries or snacks in the oven, a special preparation process is required since regular deep-fried snacks do not become crispy in the oven. To prevent this problem, various manufacturers have made special oven fries and oven snacks. It is often thought that preparing oven fries or oven snacks is healthier than frying snacks, but in the case of snacks this is often the opposite. Oven fries are often healthier than regular fries, because oven fries are less fatty than regular, fried fries. Oven snacks, however, are a different story. To give the snack sufficient crunchiness, the snack itself often contains more fat, often saturated fat. In many cases, this means that oven snacks are unhealthier than deep-fried snacks.
Actifry, Airfryer and other hot air fryers
In addition to preparing snacks using a deep fryer or an oven, it is also possible to use hot air fryers (also written as hot air fryer). Some well-known models of hot air fryers are the AirFryer, the ActiFry or the Smart Fryer. This method of preparation is specifically aimed at preparing both snacks and fries in the healthiest possible way. Logically, this method of preparation contains the fewest calories. The taste of fries and snacks is slightly different than fried fries and snacks, especially with snacks with a crispy coating, such as croquettes or bitterballen, the taste can differ considerably.
Calories for frying, preparation in the oven and for preparation with a hot air fryer
To gain insight into how many calories fries or snacks contain per preparation method, a table is shown below with the different calories based on the different preparation methods.
| Snack | Calories for frying | Calories from the oven | Hot air frying calories |
| Mexicano | 330 calories | 252 calories | 220 calories |
| Cheese soufflé | 300 calories | 200 calories | 200 calories |
| Viandel | 300 calories | 190 calories | 190 calories |
| Hamburger | 270 calories | 200 calories | 200 calories |
| Meat stick | 270 calories | 200 calories | 200 calories |
| Frikandel | 200 calories | 160 calories | 160 calories |
| Kipkorn | 190 calories | 150 calories | 150 calories |
| Croquette | 175 calories | 250 calories | 150 calories |
| bitterballen | 40 calories each | 45 calories each | 35 calories each |
| Fries (per 100 grams) | 320 calories | 300 calories | 130 calories |
Differences in calories
Depending on the brand, there may of course be a difference in the number of calories; For example, when producing oven croquettes, some manufacturers will choose to use more fat to promote crispiness, while other manufacturers may do so less. The table with different values gives a good indication of the differences in calories depending on the preparation. In some cases, for example, preparation in the oven produces fewer calories, but especially for products that need to be crispy on the outside, an oven variant is often higher in calories than the regular deep-frying variant. As a rule of thumb, the number of calories of the unprepared product can be used to calculate the calories of a snack when prepared using an air fryer, actifry or other hot air fryer.