Here’s the thing: cornstarch is not inherently evil. A single tablespoon has about 30 calories and 7 grams of carbs. That’s it. That’s less than half an apple. But we don’t eat cornstarch by the spoonful in a dark room, do we? No, we eat it inside a deep-fried wonton or a rich, silky gravy. The real culprit isn’t the white powder—it’s the company it keeps.
Think of cornstarch as that friend who’s a little too fun at parties. By itself, it’s a quiet librarian. But add it to hot oil, sugar, and butter, and suddenly it becomes the life of the party—and your jeans are feeling a bit snug the next morning. It’s not the cornstarch that’s making you thick; it’s the fried chicken suit you wrapped it in.
What Your Grandma and Science Both Know
Your grandma knew this. She’d dust a pork chop with cornstarch to get that perfect, shatteringly crisp crust. She wasn’t trying to sabotage your gym routine—she was trying to make dinner delicious. And let’s be honest, has a single pork chop ever made anyone thick? No. But a whole platter of them, with a side of mashed potatoes, absolutely has.
From a scientific standpoint, cornstarch is just a glycogen bomb. Your body breaks it down into sugar really fast. If you eat it and then immediately run a marathon, it’s fuel. If you eat it and then binge-watch three episodes of your favorite show, it’s storage. The cornstarch doesn’t care—it’s just being starch. Your activity level is the real bouncer at the door of your fat cells.
Thicken Your Soup Perfectly: Cornstarch Tips And Tricks Revealed | AnSoup
