One of the guilty little pleasures that I used to indulge in once or twice a year was a large order of Jack-In-The-Box seasoned curly fries and their buttermilk ranch dressing to dip it in. While it still sounds (mostly) good to me, I do remember afterward having to continually clear my throat due to all the phlegm that I’d get from eating so much oil at once.
Now that I finally figured out how to make satisfactory crispy and fat free oven fries, I decided to take on those seasoned Jack-In-The-Box fries I used to have and see if it can also be made just as delicious and crispy without any of the fat.
Guess what? It can be done. Oh so deliciously done.
I promise, you can make french fries in the oven without any oil that are just as crispy as fried ones. Bonus: no continual clearing of your throat because there’s no fat involved.
I like to leave the skins on my potatoes unless they’re looking pretty gross. (If that’s the case, the whole potato probably is bad.) I finally gave in to buying a little vegetable scrubber which, in my opinion, is somewhat superfluous to have, but when you like to leave the skin on, you won’t find me complaining about it’s price and the minimal amount of space it takes up!
One trick I’ve learned to getting fries crispy when baking is to get rid of some of the starch in the potatoes. The particular method I found that works well for me is to let the potatoes sit in water that was/is boiling for two minutes. (I’ve seen others who make hot water and let potatoes soak in it for 15+ minutes.) If you want to skip this step, at least rinse the potatoes really well after cutting to remove that superficial layer of starch that turns the potatoes brown (and not in the crispy way you like them brown).
While crispy, fat-free oven baked fries are easy enough to do, the biggest draw back is the amount of space you need if you want to get them done right. Ideally you want the fries to be completely spaced out and not touching each other when going into the oven – this will ensure a prompt cooking time and crispy fries. If you don’t space them out, they’ll cook (though likely still won’t stick to one another) but it’s going to take a while to get them all done. So if you have multiple baking sheets and a big enough oven, simply make this process easier on yourself and just utilize all the surface area you can!
Seasoned Crispy French Fries
Makes two large baking sheets of fries that aren’t touching, good for 3 people as a side dish or just barely enough for 2 hungry people as the main dish
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 medium-sized russet potatoes, scrubbed
- 1 vegan “egg”, paste-like (i.e. Ener-G Egg Replacer egg = 1.5 tbsp powder + 2 tbsp water OR ground flax seed egg = 1 tbsp flax + 2 tbsp water) OR 2 tablespoons aquafaba
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Scant 1/2 tsp cayenne
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 deg F. Place a pot of water on high heat to start warming the water, you want enough water so that the potatoes will be submerged. Cut potatoes into french fry-sized pieces. Once the pot of water has reached a rolling boil, place the potatoes in the water for 2 minutes then immediately drain and dry with paper towels or a kitchen towel. (As soon as you put the potatoes in the boiling water, the boiling may temporarily stop, but that’s okay – still only let them sit in the pot for 2 minutes.)
If using a vegan “egg”, mix it in a large bowl then add in the remaining ingredients and mix until it reaches a paste-like consistency that slowly runs when you tip the bowl on its side. (Add only a tiny splash of water at a time and mix until the consistency is right.) If using aquafaba, add it and the seasonings in a large bowl and mix till combined. Put the potatoes in the bowl and toss to coat.
Place the coated potatoes on two parchment paper-lined baking sheets without letting them touch. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the sheet, bake another 8-10 minutes, flip and turn the fries, and bake in 3-5 minute increments until done (see notes regarding baking time). You know they’re done when the fries look a bit puffy and deformed from their originally flat-sided shape. Remove from the oven and enjoy on their own, with ketchup, or vegan ranch dressing!
Recipe Notes:
- Okay, I confess: I personally haven’t tried making this with the ground flax seed “egg” yet. But with my experience using flax seed as an egg replacement, my brain says it should work!
- Have you heard of aquafaba? It hit the vegan work with a bang in the spring of this year (2015). It can be used mostly as a egg/egg white replacer! Why I say “mostly” is because it works in most instances, but not all (no one has perfected angel food cake with it as of today, 10/16/15). On the other hand, it’s being used for all sorts of foods, like: meringue, macarons, macaroons (yes, there’s a difference), mayo, ice cream, egg wash, binder in quick breads and cookies, emulsifier in dressings, etc.
- If you want to make less or more than 3 medium-sized potatoes, you can! Just use enough baking sheets so that the potatoes are spaced out and not touching. The total baking time depends on your oven, baking sheet, how thick you cut the fries, and if the fries are touching or not. Long story short? Keep an eye on the oven so you don’t get burned fries! Also cutting them as evenly as possible is helpful. And I mentioned this above, but you know the fries are done when the sides start to puff out.
- I’ve found out that not all baking sheets are created equal and one of my sheets will completely burn a few fries at the 20 minute mark while the other doesn’t quite get there after 24 minutes.
- Once I tried boiling the potatoes for 3-4 min and though they were still good, they didn’t have that ideal separate crispy exterior with a soft interior like they did when I boiled them for two minutes exactly. I surprisingly had to bake them a lot longer than 20-25 min total to be happy with them, though this is likely because I crowded 4 cut potatoes onto one baking sheet.
lessons by teeth 