Calories in fried zucchini?

[TheTimelessOne]

I've been searching the internet for the amount of calories and nutrients however some sources say that its 140 kcal, some say that its 300 kcal, even had a website claim its 521 kcal.

I fry my zucchini in sunflower/olive oil, however to make get rid of extra oil i put them on thick napkins so that the napkins take away some of the unneeded oil. I've been counting zucchini as 136kcal per 100 grams with 10.8g carbs, 9.8g fats and 4.2g protein. However im unsure if i am correct or not. My logic is that since raw zucchini are like what? 20 calores? The frying adds the extra 100 kcal and thats all? I mean where to figueres such as 500kcal come from?

Here's an image of my zucchini's, love em!

[elephantstone]

Bear in mind that not everybody fries zucchini in the exact same way. Some people may use a lot more oil, which would explain the variation in calories you're seeing online (especially as oil is so calorie dense).

The best way of figuring out the calories and macros in your fried zucchini is to simply add together the calories and macros of the raw zucchini and oil you personally use. Since you have no way of knowing exactly how much excess oil soaks into the napkins, it's probably a good idea to account for the full amount of oil you add to be on the safe side.

[WonderPug]

FYI: Variance in calories, the macronutrient composition of those calories as well an the micronutrient content of highly processed foods often varies between batches by +/- 20%. Whole foods have a (much) broader range, which is further expanded when processed (cooked in oil, for example).

[AdamWW]

Another option given it is difficult to guesstimate on frying: you could use a certain amount of oil and simply pat-down/coat the zucchini lightly and then bake. That would retain more oil but you could be more conservative with the amount and you'd be able to basically just count all of it.