I wanted to give you a fat-free version of my Garlic Aioli today, and the perfect way to present that is on these yummy Sweet Potato Fries - hot outta the oven.
Many of you have commented on how much you love my Garlic Aioli, but have also asked for a way to make it without the cashews (ie. fat).
So today I made a batch without the cashews and used one of my favorite, most-versatile ingredients ever instead. And the result was this amazing sauce I can see being used on all kinds of things.
Can you imagine a sauce that is
- Creamy
- Speadable
- Garlicky
- Tangy
- And completely FAT_FEE?
This is it.
Try it as a direct mayo replacement. Use it on your potatoes or added to your favorite pasta or potato salad. Like sandwiches? This makes the perfect sandwich spread.
Let me know in the comments your favorite way to use it....and I KNOW you're gonna use it because it's that good!
Sweet Potato Fries with fat-free Garlic Aioli
The Taters
So let's start off by getting our fries ready since they're gonna need time to soak. I took 2 sweet potatoes (the orange kind), and cut them as evenly as I could into ¼" sticks.
Note: DO NOT use the 7-1 chopper I reviewed on my YouTube channel, it will NOT cut through a sweet potato and you'll end up with a slab of sweet potato stuck, surrounded by little razor-sharp squares that want to rip your fingers to shreds trying to get it out.
Another note: If you DO try this anyway.... submerge the blades and sweet potato into a pan of really hot water - it will soften and you can then carefully push it out using a chopstick. You're welcome.
Once all your fries are cut - cover them with cold water and let's move on to the sauce. I'd let those fries soak at least 30 minutes.
The Sauce
In my original recipe, we used a can of white beans. Any white bean will work but some sometimes the can itself will just say "white beans".
This time all I could find was Cannellini Beans, so open the can and drain it, being sure to save some of that magical juice. It's called aquafaba and we will use a couple of tablespoons of that when we season our fries. Rinse the beans thoroughly and set them aside.
Next, the old recipe had us using 1 cup of cashews. But instead of adding all that fat, this time we will use 1 cup of riced cauliflower. Add that directly to a saucepan with a ½ cup of water, and let that simmer and soften for 5 minutes. Then add the beans, stir, and let that simmer an additional 5 minutes.
UPDATE: When I say simmer, I mean gently simmer - just until the cauliflower is softened. We are not trying to boil off all the water here. We should still have close to ½ cup of liquid when we put it into the blender. Also - raw cauliflower can be used - but it will need to processed small - like riced cauliflower - to measure out the 1 cup.
Finally, into the blender we go. Add your cauliflower, water, beans, and all the remaining sauce ingredients from the recipe box below and blend until silky smooth,
Note: I used pre-chopped garlic from a jar so if you use fresh garlic you may not need as much as I indicated. I also used a few teaspoons of horseradish. My horseradish was NOT hot - so again, start with a little and taste it as you go - you may not need the entire 2 teaspoons.
Ok - now that the sauce is made, place it in a covered bowl in the fridge, and let's move onto cooking our fries.
The Fries
Drain your sweet potatoes and place them on a clean towel (or paper towels) to dry. Dry them as well as you can then place them back in the bowl and add 1-2 Tablespoons of that bean juice you saved. Toss to coat.
For the sweet potato seasoning - I simply used garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper with a teaspoon of corn starch (arrowroot will work too). Sprinkle some on your sweet taters, shake to distribute, sprinkle on some more, shake, sprinkle, shake, you get the ideas.
Air Fryer: Preheat your air fryer (with its basket) to 425° F. If your brand of AF doesn't have a pre-heat option - simply turn it on for 5 minutes with your basket inside. NO PARCHMENT PAPER!!! Just the basket.
Oven: Preheat your oven and a baking sheet to 425° F.
Carefully arrange your fries on a single layer and bake/air fry for 10-15 minutes. Every 5 minutes carefully remove the basket/baking sheet and using a spatula - flip your fries to make sure nothing is sticking. My fries were ready after about 12-13 minutes in an air-fryer. Using an oven may take longer, check check, and flip every 5 minutes.
Note: These fries are NOT going to be super crispy like regular french fries. Just sayin'.
Many people ask about my Cuisinart Air Fryer, so I'll attach an Amazon Link here, but know that as an affiliate, I do earn from qualified purchases, but at no extra cost to you.
All that's left is to grab that sauce we made from the fridge and go to town on these amazing fat-free sweet potatoes. I hope you like them as much as I did and feel free to comment below.
Now that all my company is finally gone, I can get back to putting out a new recipe every week again - and maybe even a video! Sheesh!
See ya'll next week and STAY SAFE out there!
Sweet Potato Fries with fat-free Garlic Aioli
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 Servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Snack
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
I wanted to give you a fat-free version of my Garlic Aioli today, and the perfect way to present that is on these yummy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries - hot outta the oven.
Ingredients
Garlic Aioli
- 1 cup riced cauliflower
- ½ cup water
- 1 can white beans (15oz - drained)
- 1 Tbs nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp prepared horseradish (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- dash hot sauce
Sweet Potato Fries
- 2 orange-fleshed sweet potatoes
- 1-2 tablespoons aquafaba
- 1 tsp cornstarch (or arrowroot)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Clean sweet potatoes and cut into ¼" sticks
- Cover with cold water and soak at least 30 minutes
- Add cauliflower and water to a saucepan and simmer until softened - about 5 minutes
- Drain beans, reserving 2 Tbs of the liquid, and rinse well
- Add beans to the saucepan and continue to heat an additional 5 minutes
- Add mixture to your blender along with the remaining sauce ingredients
- Blend until smooth
- Drain fries and pat dry
- Toss fries with reserved bean liquid until evenly coated
- Add seasonings and toss until evenly coated
- Preheat air fryer or oven to 425° F
- Carefully spread fries evenly in preheated air fryer basket or baking sheet
- Air fry/bake for 10-15 minutes (AF) or 15-25 min (Oven)
- Every 5 minutes flip fries with a spatula to prevent sticking
- Serve with Aioli
Paula Cummings
Will it still be nice without the nutritional yeast as I don’t use it.
Chuck Underwood
Only one way to find out
Catherine Clarkk
This garlic sauce/hummus sounds delicious! I can’t wait to try it! Vegan AND oil-free!! I am ecstatic to find this site! Thank you for your recipes Chuck!
Jana Singer
Chuck! You did it yet again! This is a perfect replacement for my beloved mayo. I made the aioli this morning and used it as a sandwich spread for my lunch sandwich! It was so good!! (Its pretty tasty by the spoonful too!) Yum!!
Sita Packer
I love Chuck's recipes and make them often. But my comment applies to the garlic aioli sauce, I added more water than the recipe called for, but the "sauce" remained more like hummus and was grainy. I ended up tossing it. Now I am a big fan of Chuck's, but am posting this recipe so you will know my experience.
Chuck Underwood
Because it IS hummus. It's made from beans. Sorry, you didn't get what you expected, but I liked it and it tasted great. The only reason my other aioli works so well is that it has a lot of fat (cashews). Some of us can't have all that extra fat anymore, so I improvised. Again, sorry you didn't like it - but maybe others will.
Regina
Can you just use 1 cup regular cauliflower and not riced? you're going to blend it anyway.
Chuck Underwood
I made the recipe with 1 cup of riced cauliflower. Will one cup of whole cauliflower give you 1 cup of riced? I don't know. Feel free to try it and let me know. All I can do is tell you how I made it.
Dawn Niekarz
I'm interested in the air fryer but don't see the Amazon link you mentioned. Is it here somewhere and I am just missing it? This recipe looks amazing and I would make it npw but it's too darn hot and I don't want my house to be hotter. Later though.......
Chuck Underwood
It's there toward the bottom - right before the recipe box.
Charlotte
Hi Chuck, Just made your recipe for the Garlic Aioli. The flavor is delicious but mine is more like a hummus texture vrs a sauce. I did end up adding a couple more TB of water but still very thick. I didn’t want to dilute it too much because I thought I’d lose some of the flavor. Let me know what you think. I know after I cooked the cauliflower and beans with a 1/2 cup water the water was pretty much gone when I added to the blender.
Chuck Underwood
I just inserted an update into the recipe. It "is" basically hummus I guess, but you do not want to boil the cauliflower until all the water is gone. GENTLY simmer - JUST until the cauliflower is soft enough to blend.
Linda
How much water do you add to the cauliflower? thank you.
Chuck Underwood
I fixed the recipe - I had added the 1/2 cup before but it did not save correctly.
Gwen
I have the same airfryer. Best purchase ever says my hubby.