It’s clear that fried potatoes are unhealthy but does this apply to sautéing? Is there some quality specific to the potato that makes it bad to use oil in any way?
In other words… Why are potatoes either boil/baked or deep fried? Why don’t people recommend sautéing potatoes as a healthy choice when it is fine for other foods?
This isn’t a nutrition question as much as its a culinary one. The reason people don’t saute potatoes is because they’re so starchy it’s difficult to get them to not stick to the pan or fall apart. They also have to soften during cooking and that can take a prolonged cook time to accomplish. Sauteing is good for <10 minutes of cook time.
If you use more oil, there will be more calories. If you use less oil, there will be less calories. That is neither “good” nor “bad”. If you want to lose weight, you could use less oil to lower the caloric content of the food. That is it.
Potatoes are quite healthy on their own. Adding oil, butter, and salt makes them unhealthy. Using less oil reduces the amount of calories, so saute may be preferable to frying them. Better to think of it as a scale rather than a binary.
If you boil the potato, there will be no extra calories from the oil. Potatoes by themselves are pretty low in calories. People really underestimate the enormous amount of calories you can add by just adding “a drizzle of oil”. This isn’t to say that oil/sautéing potatoes is “bad”. Calories in, calories out.