Who's mouth isn't watering? Come on….fess up.
Who DOESN'T love fat-free French Fries? It's America's favorite vegetable! (And yes, sadly, in some places the "french fry" is considered a vegetable - not the potato)
Whether we dip them in ketchup, tartar sauce (hey I was in High School), or even fry sauce - America LOVES their french fries.
But - and you knew there'd be a but….
They're usually Deep Fried!
Well there's nothing NON-vegan about deep frying potatoes, but keep in mind all that fat is going to go somewhere, and it's usually your middle, your thighs, or your bottom.
Not to mention what all that grease does for your arteries. Don't ask.
And baked french fries - well I'm sorry but they usually come out tasting like mini baked potatoes - not that crispy - french fry - crunchiness we all know and love.
There has to be a better way.
And there is.
Here's my trick to making some of the tastiest, crispiest, BAKED, french fries, and without using a single drop of oil......
Crispy, Oven Baked, Fat Free French Fries
Start with some good quality spuds. I like Yukon Golds myself, but a good Russet will work nicely too. Scrub them up and remove any eyes or green spots you may find.
With Golds, you don't really have to peel them, or at least I don't. Just give them a good scrubbing first. If you don't like peels on your fries, then peel away.
Add some cold water to your cooking pot, and as you slice up your potatoes drop them in. I slice mine pretty thick, as you'll see why in just a minute. Make them a good ¾" to an inch wide and thick.
After all the fries are in the water, turn the heat on high and wait for it to start boiling. Always add potatoes to COLD water as they will heat more evenly.
Once it comes to a boil, set your timer for 5 minutes and start preheating your oven to 425 degrees. You can also take this time to line your favorite cookie sheet with parchment paper. Sure makes cleanup a breeze.
Once the timer goes off, drain the potatoes and then put them back into the pot.
Here comes the magic part…...
Add 1 tablespoon of flour, and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and chili powder to the potatoes in the pot. You can also add salt and pepper now if you want, or wait until they're done.
Now place the lid securely on the pot, and while holding both the pot and lid in place….
SHAKE IT UP!
A good 5-10 seconds of shaking will not only distribute all the seasonings to the potatoes, but it will also smash up the edges a bit - and these are the yummy parts that get crispy!
Seriously! Try it.
After a good shaking or two, spread these babies out on your cookie sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
What comes out is pure fat free french fry heaven.
Now if you didn't slice your fries thick enough, as I mentioned earlier, they will just turn to mush at this step. Oh they'll bake up just fine, but they won't be french fries. They'll be nicely browned, amoeba like, globs of potatoes.
But hey - if that's your thing…. 🙂
______________
We had these for lunch today, with just a splash of malt vinegar and a bit of ketchup. Mmmmm. They served very nicely with our Vegan Tuna Salad Sandwiches.
Oven Baked, Fat Free French Fries.
They're crispy, they're crunchy, they're fat free, and they're 100% french fry yumminess.
Go on, give them a try!
Print
Crispy, Oven Baked, Fat Free French Fries
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 -4 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: American
Description
Crispy, oven baked, fat free french fries. You've never had baked french fries this good. The secret is in the shaking - go ahead and shake things up!
Ingredients
- 7-8 Potatoes ((small - med))
- 1 Tbs flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Clean and slice potatoes into fairly thick french fries ¾" to 1" thick
- Add to pot of cold water (enough to cover) and bring to boil.
- Boil for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425 and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- After boiling, drain potatoes and place back into pot.
- Add all seasonings, cover, and shake to distribute.
- Spread evenly on cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Dave
Excellent recipe!! The thicker the cut the longer in the oven. I did both russets and red potatoes both worked very well. Season as you like. I left out the chili pepper. Made Garlic fries. So nice too taste the potatoes and spices without the taste of oil.
Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
Natalie
This was amazing. I had some Japanese sweet potatoes around so I did half of the potatoes with those. This is definitely make it again recipe. And a great recipe to enjoy potatoes without fat. Thank you!
★★★★★
Lauralyn Chrisley
These are SO GOOD! I like mine with mustard.
Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Lili
Chuck,
I used white potatoes and steamed them for 1 minute and quick release in the IP then followed your instructions, but used my Gourmia Air fryer in the Air Fry setting. I had to let you know that my husband said this recipe is a HOMERUN!!!
Thank you,
Lili
Kate Hall
Made these tonight. I was a bit unsure whether the very short oven preheating time was part of the process (it takes my oven a lot longer to get up to temperature than that) so I started heating it at the same time as I put the tatties on. Other than that I followed this exactly and they turned out perfectly! Really crunchy and really tasty! My 20 month old daughter kept asking for more and more! She called them "biscuits" which is what she calls any treat like cake or chocolate or biscuits (cookies). A big hit in this house, we'll definitely be making these again!
★★★★★
Vivian
Great recipe!!
★★★★★
Carissa
Delicious!
★★★★★
Doug
I was a doubter, but now I am a believer. These are so good. We took have of the potatoes and put some of our vegan chili on top and ate the rest with some ketchup. Your recipe is a keeper.
★★★★★
Linda Piazza
Oops! Forgot to put the stars in the previous comment.
★★★★★
Linda Piazza
I just made these to go with our vegan burgers (with tomatoes warm from the garden--yes!) and they were great. My particular potatoes needed to come out of the boiling pot about thirty seconds to a minute before they did, but next time I'll know exactly where they need to be when I pour off the boiling water. I used the convection setting on my oven, so I needed only about 12 minutes at 425 F. Next time, I think I'll try Lorraine Smith's suggestion of using polenta instead of flour. My grandmother used to fry her potatoes in the same grease (I know, yuck, but they were delicious) in which she'd cooked the catfish coated in cornmeal, and little bits of cornmeal would stick to the fries, too.
Andrew Mush
Hey Chuck,
Really excited for this recipe to turn out. QUICK NOTE!
I think you should put the warning about cutting them too thinly (and the resulting absolute mush fest that ensues) in the part where you wrote "I slice mine pretty thickly, as you'll see why in just a minute." By the time I read the warning about them turning to mush, they were already mush! I'm absolutely at fault here. It was my own zeal and lack of careful reading that had me headed in the wrong direction, just wanted to say maybe you should move the warning up to the top of the recipe.
Still excited for the mush 🙂
Thanks,
Andrew
Steve
Just did this . Brilliant. Thanks for the recipe
Lorraine Smith
Instead of using flour, I use polenta. It gives the fries a more crispy coating. You're welcome.
Heather
These came out great for me! If I had not made them myself, I never would have guessed they were oil free! So crispy! Now I can enjoy guilt-free fries during the COVID crisis! Thanks for all the great recipes on this blog and stay safe 🙂
★★★★★