Recent consumer trends towards healthier and low fat products have had a significant impact on the snack industry. Vacuum and atmospheric frying of lotus root slices were compared, in terms of oil uptake under same pretreatment conditions. The objective of this study was to examine the most important quality parameters of vacuum frying and atmospheric frying lotus root slices in order to identify the specific advantages of vacuum technology and to understand the relationship between key microstructural changes and oil absorption. Confocal laser scanning microscopy is a new technology that can be used to observe the microstructure of fried lotus root slices after vacuum frying and atmospheric frying. Vacuum frying was shown to be a promising technique that can be used to reduce oil content. when using a driving force of ΔT=60℃, vacuum frying slices absorbed less than 30% of the oil absorbed by atmospheric frying ones. In addition, the results showed that after frying, the cellular structures were well conserved in terms of shape and size. Oil was shown to be mainly located in the surface of the crust occupying. Oil remained in the cut cells emptied during the washing or the frying operation or in the damaged cells partially filled with starch. Cell detachment, because of starch swelling and dehydration, seemed to be the preferential connection between cell layers. The positive effect of vacuum frying toward oil uptake reduction could be the restriction of these connections. Overall, this study has an important significance for decreasing oil uptake in terms of microstructural changes. Besides, it provides reliable data and effective study means for the future.