Baked avocado fries are yummy alternative to fried snacks
I love avocados. They’re high in potassium, they have the
“good fat” (whatever that is exactly), and they’re yummy. If they were
consistently inexpensive they’d be a regular part of my diet, instead of an
oooh-they’re-on-sale-so-I’ll-buy-four kind of item.
I also crave greasy junk food from time to time (who
doesn’t?), but I’m trying to be healthy and shed a few pounds. That’s why my
eyes kind of light up when I see pins for foods that have that
deep-fried/sugary/fatty look, but promise a healthier way to achieve the taste
be it by baking, substituting ingredients, or whatever.
This pin for baked avocado fries might have actually made me salivate a bit. I love
French fries dipped and avocados (so much fat!), but had never thought of
cutting the potato out of the equation entirely.
The pin actually refers you to this blog, which then refers you to
another blog called Adventured in Cooking,
where the recipe (and some pretty cute photos of the blogger’s baby son
reside). Beth (the blogger), adopted a deep-fried avocado fries recipe from Circle B. Kitchen, another blog about food. Have I lost you yet?
I stuck with Beth’s recipe, which is exactly the same as the
deep-fried version minus the canola oil and frying part.
Ingredients
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 firm-ripe medium avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced into
1/2-in. wedges
Grated parmesan for serving (optional)
Easiest part of the recipe accomplished! |
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450.
Coat avocado slices in the four, then egg, then panko.
Spread on a cooling rack that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, then place
on a cookie sheet. Spray the top of the
wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then bake for about 20 minutes at
450, or until they are golden brown (I turned my oven up to 500 for the last 5
minutes).
How it went
Assembly-line style: Flour to egg to panko. |
“2 firm-ripe medium avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced
into 1/2-in. wedges.” Each avocado ended up yielding about 10 slices for me. I
guesstimated instead of measuring so my wedges weren’t uniform.
Bald patches on my avocado fries. |
First batch ready to bake. |
“Spread on a cooling rack that has been sprayed with
non-stick spray, then place on a cookie sheet.” I actually don’t own a cooling
rack. I do own a toaster oven though. And that toaster oven has a mini-oven
rack that I can pull out. I used that as my makeshift cooling rack. It’s not
terribly large, so I did my avocados in two batches. I failed to spray the rack
on the first batch. (Spoiler alert: You should spray the rack.)
I knew I should have checked them sooner. |
“Bake for about 20 minutes at 450, or until they are golden
brown.” My oven runs hot, which I found out when I baked blueberry cheesecake
cookies, so I turned it down to about 425 and put them in. I checked them at 17
minutes and they got a little darker than I would have liked. I wished I’d
checked them a minute or two earlier.
Results
Burnt but still edible. |
I waited a minute or two for them to cool enough to not scald my tongue and dug in. They have a great crunch on the outside and a real creamy inside. They easily fall apart though so be careful. I enjoyed them all right with the Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, but I thought they would do well with a much bolder spice, like red pepper or Cajun seasoning.
Second batch, a little more appetizing, a lot less burnt. |
Second batch turned out well and tasty. |
— Nicole Franz | NiFranz@News-Herald.com | @FranzOrFoe
Follow my Mission: Pinpossible board on Pinterest.
Labels: avocado, healthier alternative, sides
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