Eggs can be a nutritious addition to your diet. An inexpensive source of protein, eggs also provide vitamin A, iron and selenium. The way you prepare an egg affects its calorie and fat content, but most of the nutritional value is retained.
Preparation
A hard-boiled egg is cooked by placing an egg, shell and all, in boiling water for about 14 minutes, or until the yolk and whites are firm. Hard-boiled eggs may be eaten alone, chopped and made into an egg salad or used as a topping on green salads or soups. Fried eggs are prepared by cracking a whole egg into some sort of fat--butter, bacon grease or vegetable oil. The egg may be cooked through by basting it with the fat in the pan, or flipped to brown it on both sides.
Calories and Fat
One hard-boiled egg has 77 calories, while a fried egg has 90 calories. A hard-boiled egg provides 5 g of fat, 2 g of which are saturated. A fried egg provides 7 g of fat with 2 g saturated. Using saturated fat to cook the egg, such as butter or bacon grease, will increase the saturated fat content of the egg as well.
Additional Nutrition
Both egg preparations provide 6 g of protein. A fried egg is slightly higher in iron, with 5 percent of the recommended dietary allowance, versus 3 percent for a hard-boiled egg, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Either egg preparation provides between 2 and 3 percent of the RDA for calcium, 14 percent for riboflavin, 11 percent for vitamin B12 and 10 percent for phosphorus. Both hard-boiled and fried eggs contain 22 percent of the RDA for the trace mineral selenium, which acts as an antioxidant to scavenge disease-causing free radicals. Fried and hard-boiled eggs also provide small amounts of copper, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin E, vitamin K and thiamin.
Cholesterol
An egg contains about 210 mg of cholesterol, regardless of whether you fry or hard-boil it. The American Heart Association advises limiting cholesterol intake to 300 mg or less daily. One fried or hard-boiled egg may fit into a heart-healthy diet, if you limit other sources of cholesterol on days you choose to eat a fried or hard-boiled egg.
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