Try these thinly sliced baked zucchini fries for a healthy alternative to fried potatoes with half the calories and carbs! The “fries” come out golden and crispy and absolutely delicious.
These baked zucchini fries are crunchy, crispy, easy to make, and addictive!
When you begin making the zucchini fries, you need to simply slice your two zucchinis into long strips, or circles. Either way works fine, but for this recipe we’ll be using strips!
You then dip the thinly sliced zucchini into eggs and Parmesan cheese, bake them for about 30 minutes or until crispy and golden. However, make sure that they bake long enough, otherwise they’ll end up being soggy.
You can then pair the zucchini fries with any favored sauce but we suggest chipotle sauce! Ketchup works really great as well.
How to Make Baked Zucchini Fries
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini
- 1 beaten egg
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
Directions
Step One : Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease lightly with oil and set aside.
Step Two : Get a shallow bowl and combine the two eggs and set it aside. In another shallow bowl, combine the parmesan cheese, paprika, salt, onion and garlic powder and set aside.
Step Three : Prepare the two zucchini by trimming their ends and cutting them into ½ inch slices or strips.
Step Four : Dip the zucchini strips into the egg mixture and coat them with parmesan cheese. You can then place the strips on the pre-greased baking sheet. Repeat this process until all of the zucchini strips have been coated with the egg and coated with the parmesan cheese.
Step Five : Season the zucchini strips with garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste, then drizzle them with olive oil or spray them generously with cooking spray.
Step Six : Bake the zucchini fries in the preheated oven, until they’re crispy and golden- turning them as they’re baking. Bake them for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until they’re crispy and golden. Enjoy the zucchini fries with your choice of sauce, some delicious and hot chipotle sauce, some ketchup, or your favorite dipping sauce!
Why Zucchini is good for you
Zucchini is healthy and nutritious, it’s 0 in fat, high in fiber, low-carb, high in water, contains the minerals potassium and sodium, and is rich in the vitamins B, C and K.
Some of the health benefits of zucchini are that it slows down aging, improves digestion, supports heart health, lowers blood sugar levels, boosts energy, reduces fatigue, improves eye health, helps with weight loss, and protects against inflammation.
Zucchini isn’t only healthy and nutritious, it’s also very versatile. You can add zucchini to bread, make it into zoodles in place of pasta, make stuffed zucchini, add to soups or salads, and of course make baked zucchini fries! There are endless zucchini options and recipes that you can try.
Baking vs Frying
When it comes to the baking vs frying debate, baking will always win, no doubt about it. If you fry the zucchini fries, it adds a considerable amount of fat to them, whereas with baking, little to no fat is used.
Baking actually gives more flavor and tenderness to your food in comparison to frying. However, when it comes to zucchini tries, having them crispy is the way to go- which is why we have certain ingredients in this recipe that help achieve that.
Tips for the Zucchini Fries
Tip One: Always make sure that the zucchinis are dry, because if you’ve just taken them out of the fridge before slicing them- they may end up starting to condensate. In this case, blot them with paper towel before you add them to the egg wash to ensure that the egg sticks.
Tip Two: Have all your ingredients ready- sliced zucchini on one side, the egg wash ready in a bowl, the parmesan mix and the baking tray that’s lined on the other side.
Tip Three: Keep your hands in different stations, as in one hand to dip the zucchini in the egg, the other hand to coat the zucchini with the parmesan. Avoid using the same hand for both, because if you do the cheese will end up wet and the zucchini fries clumpy.
Tip Four: Make sure that you flip the zucchini fries halfway through, this is because each oven cooks in a slightly different way- so keep an eye on the zucchini fries.
Tip Five: Enjoy the zucchini fries immediately! Since zucchinis have a composition of 95% water, after they’re cooked they release the water. This means, the longer they stay, the softer they become- so it’s best to eat the zucchini fries right away.
Leave a Reply