When my husband and I go out to eat, I am always looking for low-fat, low-cal foods that I can get. I have been eating Cracker Barrel's grilled chicken tenders when we go there. However, I have been told by someone who works for Cracker Barrel that the grilled chicken tenders are the same calories as the fried chicken tenders. This girl said that it was "her opinion" and the the Cracker Barrel had not published nutritional information about their menu. This girl's reasoning was that the fried chicken tenders are obiviously high in calories and fat due to the breading and deep frying. But she also said that the grilled chicken tenders were "as bad if not worse" because of the marinade that they used.

My question is, "Does marinading foods such as chicken make them much higher in calories?"

Thanks for the consideration.

Kat

Marinating chicken will add a few calories, but not many. Some marinades are high in sugar, and some contain oil. However, most of the marinade is going to drip off while cooking, leaving very little behind. The breading on fried chicken, however, will soak up the oil and keep it there.

I think I would ignore her adivce!

I'm in shock that Cracker Barrel has something which may pass as low fat, lol! I've never noticed anything grilled on their menu before, but I was probably too busy concentrating on the hash brown casserole

I had the grilled chicken salad there the other day, and there's no way that they could have the same calories as chicken that's been breaded and fried. Just can't believe this woman knows what she's talking about. BTW - The grilled chic was good.

Hi everyone

I've had their grilled chicken a couple of times now. It's great! I agree the marinade can't have as much calories as frying chicken.

Suzanne, cracker barrell also has some fish on the menu that sounds like it might be lowfat and good. Haven't tried it though, I couldn't turn down the the grilled chicken.

The grilled chicken salad is EXCELLENT with the fat free 1000 island.

Have them leave off the croutons, which are as big as slices of bread, and skip the cheese, which comes in a wedge.

Other than that, it is wonderful. And having that, allows me to have one of their wonderful biscuits. YUM!

Tiff

Thanks for all of your posts. I was hoping that marinaded grilled chicken was not as bad as she had said.