Calories in Chinese Food
I posted this article about 9 months ago. However I’ve had so many questions recently from my clients on calories in Chinese food that I wanted to repost it so everyone would see it. Many of my clients trying to lose weight eat this cuisine on a regular basis. I think most of us know it isn’t the healthiest food around, but I think a lot of people don’t realize how bad it can actually be for your waistline…
Chinese food tastes so good … but is so fattening! Most dishes are high in calories and fat due to the amount of oil used in cooking. In addition, many of the vegetables soak up the oil like a sponge (especially eggplant). Many of the dishes contain over 800 calories - and this is before you add the rice. And do not let the fact that a particular dish is vegetar
ian fool you. Some of these dishes are the highest in calories!
The Center for Science in the Public Interest decided to see how fattening Chinese food really was. They bought food from multiple Chinese restaurants and had it analyzed at a lab.
Here are the Calories in Chinese Food:
Egg drop soup (one serving in restaurant) 100 calories for each soup
Hot & sour soup
Wonton soup
Little pack of fried noodles 150 calories
| Appetizers | |
| Egg roll | 200 calories |
| Spring roll | 100 calories |
| BBQ spareribs (4) | 600 calories |
| Vegetable Dumplings (6 steamed) | 400 calories |
| Pork Dumplings (6 steamed) |
500 calories |
| Vegetable Dishes | |
| Eggplant in Garlic Sauce | 1000 calories |
| Stir-fried mixed vegetables (Buddha’s Delight) |
500 calories |
| Szechuan string beans | 600 calories |
| Seafood Dishes | |
| Shrimp with garlic sauce | 700 calories |
| Shrimp with lobster sauce | 400 calories |
| Szechuan shrimp | 700 calories |
| Chicken dishes | |
| General tso’s chicken | 1300 calories |
| Lemon chicken | 1400 calories |
| Kung pao chicken | 1400 calories |
| Moo goo gai pan | 600 calories |
| Chicken chow mein with crispy noodles | 700 calories |
| Chicken with black bean sauce | 700 calories |
| Meat dishes | |
| Mu shu pork (without the pancakes) | 1000 calories |
| Each 8 inch pancake | 90 calories |
| Orange crispy beef | 1500 calories |
| Beef with broccoli | 900 calories |
| Sweet and sour pork | 1300 calories |
| Rice and Noodles | |
| Chicken chow foon | 1200 calories |
| House fried rice | 1500 calories |
| House lo mein | 1100 calories |
| House chow mein with soft noodles | 1200 calories |
These figures do not include rice. Add 200 calories for each cup of white rice
Tips for surviving Chinese food:
- Obviously steamed protein and vegetable dishes are your best bet for 325 calories. Add a few Tablespoons of sauce on the side. If you need rice, try to limit it to 1/2 cup of brown rice. All for 445 calories.
- Not a bad idea to start the meal with a soup - no crispy noodles of course. Soup helps to fill you up. One bowl is 100 calories
- Some restaurants also have special diet menus (called Revolution Diet Meals) where the dishes are prepared in a sauce with soy sauce, broth, ginger, black beans or garlic AND no added oil or cornstarch. These dishes would be substantially lower in calories than the regular dishes maybe by 200-300 calories due to the limited anount of oil used in cooking. However steamed food would still be the lowest.
- Try to eat with chopsticks. Hard to shovel in rice with chopsticks.
- Order your dishes lightly stir-fried. Avoid battered, breaded and double fried.
- How about ordering one chicken with brocoli stir-fry dish (700 calories) and one dish with steamed shrimp and veggies. (325 caloires). You can mix the two to cut calories. You should then be getting 3 meals from these orders of food for a total of 330 calories per meal. You can add 1/2 cup (100 calories ) - 1 cup of rice (200 calories) to each portion. So these meals will total 430 - 530 calories for entree and rice.
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January 30th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Hi Martha,
I’ve always been a fan of the steamed whole fish with veggies and/or sauce. It is usually a very nice presentation and the wait staff will de-bone in front of you. What are the calories in something like this?
thanks,
Hilkka
February 28th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Just wondering what the serving size is for your dishes. 2 cups? More? I am trying to figure out the calories/fat of 2 cups of Cashew Shrimp (with zuchini)
Thank you,
Dawn
March 6th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Does the 500 calories in the steamed pork dumplings include the sauce?
June 16th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Do you have a calorie and fat breakdown for broccoli with garlic sauce. I know I’m getting good stuff in the broccoli, but I suspect it has a lot of fat, right?
Thanks!
Beverly
June 18th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hey, if you still check your “replies” get back with me.
I am a very skinny 29 year old male, and I have never been able to gain weight.
This could be caused from not eating enough, not working out enough, have no friends, having had smoked cigarettes before, etc.
I have started a diet where I eat a lot of lo mein, once a day at a restaurant.
I wanted to know if I was getting a lot of calories from it.
I also wanted to know if there are more calories in a chicken lo mein than say like a chicken fried rice or general tso chicken w/rice or a boneless bbq rib w/rice.
From what I have seen you think I am getting about 1500 calories from a large chicken lo mein and about 400 less for a large chicken fried rice, right?
No wait, I read that wrong. WTH.. I thought noodles had more calories than rice. It seems I never gain weight eating rice but when I eat noodles, I do.
I’m confused.
Anyway, thanks for the effort.