Calories in Chinese Food

Chinese food is delicious and most people regard Chinese food as a healthy alternative to most other restaurant and take-away options. Most Chinese dishes are full of vegetables, are quickly cooked and many dishes are stir-fried rather than deep-fried. But you can easily be deceived and you need to learn how to avoid the menu choices that are laden with fat and calories. It partially depends on how the food is cooked in the restaurant, the ingredients used and the type of dish.

There are many low calorie choices if you know what to look for. On the other hand there are many high calorie choices you should avoid. I have reviewed the information and I provide a guide and tips for identifying the low calorie options. I also provide tables (below) which list various Chinese food dishes showing the number of calories, as well as fat and salt content.

The wide array of vegetables in most Chinese meals would appear to be healthy, but most are fried in oil and it depends on how much is used. Some vegetables such as egg plant, beans, snow peas can really soak up the oil. Sometimes various oil-laden sauces are added to the dishes. Fried rice is a favourite can be a real shocker depending on its ingredients and how it is prepared. One large portion of fried rice may even contain more than 500 calories and when combined with deep fried dishes the total calorie count for the meal may be worse than for many fast food items such as burgers and fries! However there are many low fat and low calorie dishes available if you know what to look for.

Appetizers

Spring rolls have less calories than egg rolls because they have thinner wrappers ( that soak up fat) and are smaller. Spring rolls are mostly are filled with rice and vegetables. The average spring roll amounts to about 125 calories and about 5g of fat. Steamed appetizers, such as wontons are a much healthier choice.

Most Chinese soups have few calories. One serving of hot and sour, wonton, or egg drop soup has about 95 calories and about 3g of fat. However, the fried noodles that often come with these soups should be avoided and watch out for pork slices that can be very fatty.

Entrees

Sweet and sour chicken or pork are a poor choice. Deep fried dishes such as chicken or crispy beef, and deep fried seafoods should be avoided. Also beware of large portion sizes mean a low-calorie entree becomes a calorie-laden feast. Try dishes such as shrimp with lobster sauce which only contains about 390 calories. A meal with a tiny offering of meat or seafood meat and stir-fried vegetables is a good. Beef with Broccoli and mixed vegetables only contains about 225 calories and 6g of fat. Broccoli chicken contains 175 calories and just 9g fat. Tofu-based entrees can be a real trap because they sound healthy but are usually deep fried. Make sure you ask for the tofu to be stir-fried, not deep fried. A tofu entree with vegetables contains about 215 calories and 6g fat.

Vegetables

Many restaurants offer vegetable side dishes that can be either steamed or stir-fried. Choose the steamed option, which provides, on average, 200 calories and 1.5g fat. The stir-fried option provides 370 calories and 7g fat.

General Advice

In general, Cantonese style Chinese food is lower in calories and consists of lightly cooked meat and vegetable dishes. Stir-fried dishes with fish, other seafood or chicken and lots of vegetables are usually the best choices calorie-wise.

Calories In Chinese Food (per serve)

• Hot & Sour soup – 90 calories
• Spring Rolls - 95 calories for each roll
• Crispy chicken noodles – 590 calories
• Stir fried vegetables – more than 490 calories
• Chicken and black bean sauce – about 700 calories
• Deep fried tofu with vegetables – about 750 calories
• Sweet & sour pork – 1200 calories
• Mixed fried rice – little over 950 calories
• Fried prawns with garlic sauce – 800 calories
• Every cup of fried noodles is equivalent to a (300-calorie) bag of potato fries.
• Eggplant can really soaks up the oil, which boosts the calories and saturated fat.
• Shrimp with Lobster Sauce is a good choice with only about 400 calories and 3g of fat.

Some High Calorie Dishes to Avoid

• Lemon Chicken contains a whopping 1,400 calories which is equivalent to the worst fast food meal The batter on the chicken soaks up the fat when deep fried.
• Crispy Orange Beef and deep fried Chilli Beef both have about 1,500 calories per serve.
• Sweet and Sour Pork has 1,300 Calories due to the batter covering the pork and the added sugar
• Combination (House) Fried Rice has a huge number of calories (1500) and is laden with fat. This is equivalent to about 70% of a day’s calorie allowance in 4 to 5 cups of rice.
• Combination (House) Chow Mein (with soft noodles) has 1,200 per serve.

Suggestions for Minimizing the Number of Calories in your Chinese Meal

• Always start with a low calorie soup dish. Its only about 100 calories and will fill you up.
• Always stick to steamed rice.
• Stay away from deep fried and batter fried food items if you can.
• Watch you portion size and avoid second helpings.

© janderson99-HubPages

Some other Good and Bad Choices are shown below: