Low oil French fries produced by combined pre-frying and pulsed-spouted microwave vacuum drying method

French fries were prepared by a combined method of pre-frying and pulsed-spouted microwave vacuum drying (PSMVD). The impact of pre-frying and PSMVD on the quality (oil content, color, texture, microstructure and shrinkage in volume) of French fries was studied and the sample was compared with that of only vacuum fried ones. The results indicated that the French fries prepared by the combined method had lower oil content (25%, db) than that of vacuum-fried sample (40%). Other property analysis also showed that the combined technique processed samples exhibited comparable food texture and color to that of vacuum fried samples, and had a porous microstructure with relatively smaller pore size. It was concluded that the combined method of pre-frying and PSMVD could be an alternative method to produce high quality French fries with low oil content.