Healthy cooking methods and recipes

Healthy cooking methods for delicious meals

Learning the lingo for healthy cooking is the first step in incorporating healthy cooking methods into your everyday kitchen time. Here's a helpful glossary of the healthiest cooking methods, as listed in the newest release from Dr. Donald Hensrud and the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic, The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat Well. Enjoy Life. Lose Weight. These cooking methods best capture the flavor and retain the nutrients in your food without adding too many calories or too much fat or salt. We've also included ChefMom's favorite recipes for each cooking method to inspire you to get in your kitchen and cook healthy meals.

Baking

Besides breads and desserts, you can bake seafood, poultry, lean meat, and vegetable and fruit pieces of the same size. Place food in a pan or dish (covered or uncovered) and bake. You may need to baste the food with broth, low-fat marinade or juice to keep the food from drying out. Baked Grapefruit

Braising

Braising involves browning a lean meat or poultry first in a pan on top of the stove, and then slowly cooking it covered with a small amount of liquid, such as water or broth. In some recipes, the cooking liquid is used afterward to form a flavorful, nutrient-rich sauce. Chicken Braised in Tomato Wine Sauce

Grilling and broiling

Both grilling and broiling expose fairly thin pieces of food to direct heat and allow fat to drip away from the food. If you're grilling outdoors, place smaller items, such as chopped vegetables, in a long-handled grill basket or on foil to prevent pieces from slipping through the rack. To broil indoors, place food on a broiler rack below a heat element. Grilled vegetables

Poaching

To poach foods, in a covered pan gently simmer ingredients in water or a flavorful liquid, such as broth, vinegar or juice, until cooked through and tender. For stove-top poaching, choose an appropriate-sized covered pan and use a minimum amount of liquid. Saffron Poached Salmon

Roasting

Roasting uses an oven's dry heat at high temperatures to cook the food on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan. For poultry, seafood and meat, place a rack inside the roasting pan so that the fat can drip away during cooking. Roasted Chicken and Peaches

Sautéing

Sautéing quickly cooks small or thin pieces of food. If you choose a good-quality nonstick pan, you can cook food without using fat. Depending on the recipe, use low-sodium broth, cooking spray, water or wine in place of oil or butter. Sauteed Vegetables and Couscous

Steaming

One of the simplest cooking techniques to master is steaming food in a perforated basket suspended above simmering liquid. If you use a flavorful liquid or add herbs to the water, you'll flavor the food as it cooks. Wine Steamed Trout

Stir-frying

Stir-frying quickly cooks small, uniform-sized pieces of food while they're rapidly stirred in a wok or large nonstick frying pan. You need only a small amount of oil or cooking spray for this cooking method. Healthy Chickpea Stir-fry