Baked Zucchini Fries - Healthy Recipes Blog (2024)

FAQs

Are zucchini fries healthier than French fries? ›

These Zucchini Fries are a great way to use up those extra vegetables. Plus, they're delicious, easy to make and a much healthier alternative to those greasy french fries.

Ingredients

3 medium 7-inch zucchini cut into 1/2 inch x 3 1/2-inch “sticks” (about 1 1/4 pounds) 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs. 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour. 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese.

Make sure you pat your zucchini dry – dry zucchini will get crispy, wet zucchini will get soggy. Set up your breading station. For these zucchini fries we first toss them in flour, then dip in egg, then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture. Bake in a single layer on a baking sheet to allow air to circulate.

The best side dishes to serve with zucchini fries are tzatziki sauce, blooming onion, mozzarella sticks, Popeyes sweet heat sauce, poached egg, guacamole, potato rosti, cauliflower steaks, crispy chicken wings, garden salad, cheese dip, shrimp skewers, mushroom risotto, spinach artichoke dip, and BBQ ribs.

Raw zucchini can also cause gas and bloating, especially if you overdo it. Zucchini is rich in fiber that your gut doesn't digest. When your body doesn't fully break the fiber down, gas can build up and cause bloating and make you pass wind. Eating raw vegetables can cause gas if you have irritable bowel syndrome.

There are many advantages of baked fries over fried fries. Baked fries are lower in calories and fat, and they're also much easier to make at home. When you fry potatoes, a lot of the potato's natural nutrients are lost in the process. But when you bake potatoes, they retain more of their vitamins and minerals.

Salt and drain zucchini

Salting and draining ensures the zucchini doesn't turn into a soggy mess while frying. This method also works for roasted zucchini, grilled zucchini, or baked zucchini if you're looking to remove as much water as possible.

The Italian zucchini is smaller, a bit rounder with a chubbier appearance, and has a lighter green color that is randomly speckled with a cream color and is milder and sweeter in flavor. See the Italian zucchini pictured above.

Salt causes zucchini rounds to release excess water. This important extra step helps the zucchini to sauté rather than stew in its own juices.

Mushy veggies are also often the result of overcooking. When the interior is loaded with moisture, you have to cook it for much longer to evaporate all of the water and avoid the interior having the unappealing, spongy, raw texture that eggplant and zucchini are notorious for.

Can you eat zucchini raw? ›

Zucchini, also known as courgette, is a type of summer squash with many culinary uses. While it's commonly served cooked, many people enjoy eating zucchini raw too, as it works great in salads, with dips, as a wrap, or even spiralized to make low-carb noodles.

These fries are amazingly crisp-tender and healthy with just 135.4 calories.

You can also make the up, stick them in the freezer on a tray (raw), freeze them, place them into a big freezer bag and freeze for another day. Pull them out, line them on a tray and bake them up! YUM!

If you are really dedicated to making healthier choices when out to eat in 2022, grilled vegetables are the best alternative to fries. Side dishes like grilled asparagus offer plenty of nutrients, few refined carbohydrates, and few calories. Grilled veggies contain far less oil and fat, too.

Sweet potato fries are slightly higher in calories and carbs but also more nutrient dense than French fries. The greatest nutrient difference is that French fries have no vitamin A, while sweet potato fries are high in this nutrient. Vitamin A is important for your vision and immune system ( 2 ).

These fries are amazingly crisp-tender and healthy with just 135.4 calories.

"Vegetable fries are fattier and more caloric than conventional potato fries,” confirmed nutritionist and dietician Véronique Maindiaux in an interview with RTBF. "This is probably due to the fact that they absorb more oil during the frying process. They are also much saltier than classic fries.