Sauté the Low-fat Way

With these simple tips, anyone can master this healthy cooking technique

Fast, flavorful and healthy, sautéing is a basic cooking method used for locking in the moisture and fresh taste of food. Requiring nothing more than a nonstick pan, most foods can be prepared with little or no fat.

Sautéing is an essential first step in many recipes. For example, chopped vegetables and cubed meats are typically browned this way to enhance the flavor of soups and stews. It’s also used to quickly cook portion-size pieces of meat, which can then be topped with a simple pan sauce for a restaurant-quality meal in as little as 20 minutes.

Low-fat sautéing is easy to learn. Once mastered and added to your cooking repertoire, you'll be able to create your own signature recipes with whatever ingredients you have on hand.

5 steps to low-fat sautéing

1. Mise en place. Sautéing takes its name from the French verb "sauter," which means "to jump," describing how the food reacts in a hot pan. Because this is a fast-cooking method, be sure to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go near the stove (known as mise en place) before you begin cooking.

The best foods to sauté are lean meats and vegetables that are naturally tender. They will cook much faster than dense foods. Beef tenderloin medallions, pork loin chops, chicken breasts and fish fillets are all good candidates, as are tender vegetables like mushrooms, onions, zucchini and asparagus tips.

For best browning, trim away the outside fat from meats and pat them dry with paper towels. Cut or pound meats and poultry with a meat mallet to an even 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness, and slice or cut vegetables into uniform bite-size pieces.

2. Heat the pan. When using nonstick cookware, lightly coat the cooking surface with a nonstick cooking spray and/or add a small amount of oil, wine or broth before heating the pan over medium-high heat. To test the heat level, hold your hand over the pan until you feel the heat rising

3. Carefully add the food to the hot pan. Avoid overcrowding. Cook only one layer of food at a time. When sautéing portion-sized meats, leave at least half an inch in between the pieces. Too much food in the pan will cause the food to steam rather than brown.

4. Toss, turn or tumble. Toss the vegetables with the oil in the pan, then stir only occasionally during the cooking process until the vegetables are tender and golden. For portion-sized meats, turn only once so that they have a chance to brown evenly on both sides.

5. Serve and enjoy!

Picking the Pan

The most important piece of equipment for sautéing is a high-quality pan. You can use either a sauté pan (with straight sides) or skillet (with sloped sides). Both pans have a wide cooking surface with low sides to allow air to circulate around the food to prevent it from becoming soggy.

Pans with nonstick surfaces have become incredibly popular among cooks who are looking for ways to reduce fat in their diets. However, questions have been raised about their safety, mostly because of environmental concerns about perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This chemical is used to bond the nonstick coating to the pan. But the Environmental Protection Agency says that cooks have little to worry about if they use nonstick cookware properly. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Choose a heavy, nonstick pan with a thick bottom.
• Never preheat an empty nonstick pan or leave it unattended.
• Do not cook on high heat or exceed temperatures of more than 450° F.
• Use wooden or heatproof silicon utensils, and avoid stacking nonstick cookware to prevent chipping or damaging the surface.
• Ventilate the kitchen when sautéing foods.

If you prefer not to use a nonstick pan, consider a cast-iron skillet. The beauty of cast iron is that it not only conducts and holds heat well, but, when seasoned correctly, also provides a natural nonstick surface.

A Mist of Oil

Cooking sprays have become widely popular among healthy cooks. These no-mess sprays allow you to maintain a stick-resistant cooking surface while keeping fat to a minimum. The oils most commonly found in purchased nonstick cooking sprays are canola and olive oil. Both oils contain high amounts of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and can take the high heat. Alternatively, you can make your own. Just combine equal parts canola or olive oil and liquid lecithin, a natural emulsifier available at most health food stores, in a clean pump bottle. If you choose to use olive oil for a cooking spray, use either virgin or pure. Don’t waste money on extra-virgin oil because the heat will diminish its taste.

What’s the Difference?

Whether stir-frying, sautéing or pan-frying, all are techniques for cooking foods fast on top of the stove with some fat.

Stir-Frying is the quickest of the three methods. It involves cooking bite-sized pieces of meats and vegetables in a small amount of oil over high heat. During cooking, the food is stirred continuously.

Sautéing also uses a minimum amount of fat, but the food is cooked over medium-high heat and is stirred only occasionally.

Pan-Frying is similar to sautéing, but uses more fat and lower temperatures. Often these foods are breaded. For a more healthful alternative to pan-frying, opt to cook these breaded foods with a low-fat, oven-frying method.