How to Prepare Leaner Poultry Dishes

Add lean poultry to a healthy diet

Poultry can be a good source of essential protein. However, it can also be high in fat, especially unhealthy saturated fat and cholesterol. Knowing how to pick the right cuts of meat and how to use low-fat cooking techniques can cut unnecessary fat from your diet. The following article discusses steps that you can take in order to achieve your healthy eating goals.

Things You'll Need

• Low fat ground turkey or chicken
• Lean cuts of turkey or chicken
• Lean turkey deli meat

Instructions

1. When preparing a recipe that calls for ground chicken or turkey, try low-fat ground turkey or chicken breast meat. Ground poultry can have as much fat as ground beef has because it often includes dark meat and skin. Look for ground breast meat or low-fat ground chicken or turkey.

2. Be sure to choose lean cuts of poultry. The leanest poultry choice is white meat from the breast of chicken or turkey, without the skin.

3. Trim off any visible, solid fat from poultry, including the skin.

4. Use low-fat cooking methods including, grilling, broiling, roasting and baking.

5. Marinades can enhance flavor, tenderize meat and keep poultry moist while cooking. However, it is important to choose low-fat marinades. These can include mixtures of spices and herbs with soy sauce, wine, or lemon juice.

6. Watch serving sizes. Reducing your portion size of meat and poultry further reduces your fat and cholesterol intake. Three ounces of meat is about the size of a deck of cards. Three ounces also equals 1/2 of a boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 skinless chicken leg with thigh and 2 thin slices of lean roast beef.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose lean turkey for sandwiches instead of luncheon meats with more fat, such as regular bologna or salami.

• Skip or limit the breading on poultry. Breading adds fat and calories.

• Luncheon or deli meats, including chicken and turkey, have added sodium. Check the ingredient label to help limit sodium intake.

• Fresh chicken and turkey that have been enhanced with a salt-containing solution also have added sodium.