- Patti LaBelle found a way to make sauteed chicken taste like fried chicken.
- Garlic and hot peppers are her secret.
- Not only do spices add flavor, but they also have health benefits.
Patti LaBelle may be best known for her hits like “New Attitude” and “If Only You Knew,” but she has also made quite a stir in the food industry (maybe her hit “Stir It Up” was foreshadowing). Starting with her first cookbook, LaBelle Cuisine, which features healthier versions of soul food classics, the songstress has made her mark on the way we cook and bake.
In a special “Reheat” episode of the Sporkful podcast with Dan Pashman, LaBelle spills the tea about which two ingredients she uses for the best chicken dinner. Mind you, LaBelle admits she still loves fried chicken. But since her diabetes diagnosis in 1995, she has made some changes to the way she eats.
“I made every change possible,” LaBelle tells Pashman. “Of course, fried chicken is in my blood… [But] I learned I was diabetic, and so I started steaming the chicken, sauteeing with lots of garlic, because the garlic and hot pepper will make you think that it’s just like fried chicken. To me, it gives my mind a good peace that I love.”
Chicken is an excellent protein source for maintaining and building muscle. Protein is also found in every cell of our bodies, so it’s an important nutrient for almost every aspect of health. For people with diabetes, including a protein source at every meal and snack is important for stabilizing blood sugar—and chicken can be a great protein choice.
Besides protein, chicken also provides important nutrients for metabolism and the nervous system, including B vitamins and selenium, a mineral that also acts as an antioxidant.
LaBelle notes that she prefers the chicken legs to breasts. While they have more fat than chicken breasts, chicken thighs provide similar vitamins and minerals to the breasts, just in differing amounts, and they don’t dry out as easily as the breasts.
While fried chicken now and then is fine for most, finding other ways to cook it can cut down on saturated fat. But let’s face it—steaming and sauteeing chicken doesn’t exactly scream flavorful. That’s why we love LaBelle’s idea for adding garlic and hot peppers to the chicken while cooking it.
Besides its classic flavor, garlic is known for its heart health benefits. It’s been linked with healthier cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
Not to be outdone by garlic, spicy foods, like hot peppers, have been shown to have their own set of health benefits. For example, regularly eating spicy foods has been linked with a lower risk of death, reduced blood pressure and healthier cholesterol levels. This is partly due to their ability to reduce inflammation.
Besides switching to sauteed chicken most of the time (LaBelle notes that she does have fried chicken now and then, because “I have to live.”), the Godmother of Soul also made other tweaks to her diet. For example, instead of ham hocks, she opts for smoked turkey. “And I’ll do turkey bacon,” she told Pashman. “And sometimes I’ll do no bacon, because, you know, I might just want eggs.”
Maybe Ms. LaBelle needs recipes like our Baby Kale Breakfast Salad with Bacon & Egg so she doesn’t have to choose between bacon and eggs. We bet she’d also love our Low-Carb Bacon & Broccoli Egg Burrito and our Bacon & Egg Breakfast Wraps, either with pork bacon or with turkey bacon—and we’re sure you will too.
