The Effects of Different Frying Oils and Antioxidant Use on Quality of Deep-Fat-Fried Chicken Nuggets

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: Special, 204 - 215, 28.12.2025

Selin Açıkel , Esra Kılınçarslan , Burcu Öztürk Kerimoğlu , Onur Özdikicierler

https://doi.org/10.31015/2025.si.28

Abstract

Lipid oxidation chain reactions occurring during the deep-fat-frying of coated chicken products are undesirable since they reduce quality and nutritional value of the product, thereby shortening shelf life. In recent years, natural antioxidants have gained increasing attention as alternatives to synthetic ones for preventing lipid oxidation and improving product quality. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical, technological, and sensory properties of chicken nuggets fried in sunflower oil (SO), canola oil (CO), and olive pomace oil (PO), with or without the addition of rosemary extract (RE). The type of frying oil and the presence of antioxidants did not significantly affect the moisture content of cooked nuggets, though variations were observed in other compositional parameters. The addition of RE to sunflower oil decreased the pH of the cooked product. While RE addition did not influence lightness (L*), it affected redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) differently across treatments. Antioxidant inclusion showed no significant impact on technological quality parameters. Among the oils, CO groups exhibited higher oil absorption and lower batter pick-up compared to others. The addition of RE reduced purge loss during storage in PO groups, whereas it caused an increase in CO groups. According to the TBARS results, the addition of RE accelerated lipid oxidation in final products fried in SO and PO. In contrast, RE reduced TBARS values in nugget samples fried in CO. Sensory scores indicated that neither the oil type nor the addition of antioxidants significantly affected color, crispness, or juiciness. Although CO samples without RE received the lowest flavor and overall acceptability scores, these scores improved with the inclusion of antioxidants. In conclusion, RE demonstrated oil-dependent effects on oxidation and quality, highlighting the importance of selecting appropriate oil-antioxidant combinations for optimizing the frying stability and sensory properties of chicken nuggets.

Keywords

Canola oil , Coated poultry products , Meat product quality , Olive pomace oil , Rosemary extract , Sunflower oil

Supporting Institution

The authors would like to thank the Ege University Office of Scientific Research Projects for financial support under the Project No. 28410.

Project Number

28410

Thanks

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Ms. Asena Demirbaş, Ms. Melisa Dündar, and Ms. Selin Öztürk, undergraduate students of Ege University Department of Food Engineering, for their kind assistance in the laboratory.

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