• Curcumin oleogels suppressed AGEs and 5-HMF formation during frying. • β-sitosterol/γ-oryzanol oleogels enhanced moisture and oxidative stability. • Curcumin delivery via oleogels improved texture and color of fried chicken. • Antioxidant oleogel coatings preserved sensory quality of fried chicken. This study evaluated curcumin-enriched oleogel coatings structured with β-sitosterol and γ-oryzanol in rice bran oil for mitigating heat-induced toxic compound formation and improving the quality of deep-fried chicken nuggets. Nuggets coated with oleogels containing 0.1–0.5 g curcumin/100 g oleogel were compared with uncoated controls. The highest curcumin treatment (0.5 g/100 g) reduced fat content by over 50% and increased moisture retention from 48.28% (control) to 60.13% (p 7). These results demonstrate that β-sitosterol/γ-oryzanol oleogels serve as an effective delivery system for curcumin, simultaneously reducing fat, oxidative degradation, and toxic compounds while preserving sensory quality in fried chicken products.
Adedeji et al. (Sun,) studied this question.