About six years ago, I lived with a roommate who had planted six zucchini plants and ended up with more zucchinis than what we could eat and share with friends that summer. We grilled them almost every night for dinner, made breads, cooked them into fritters, stuffed them into cakes and cupcakes, and pan fried them. What I wish that I had known back then was to turn them into these crispy fries.
These fries were really freaking good. I almost forgot that these weren’t fried. Baking them in high temperature and rolling them twice, first in the flour, and then in panko made them crispy in the outside, while the inside were still tender. We gobbled these up and used a ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper, generous amount
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb zucchini, cut into 4-5-inch sticks, about a 3/4-inch in thickness
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment, or coat them using cooking spray.
Place the flour in a large zipper bag.
Whisk both eggs with 2 tbsp water and place them in a shallow dish.
Get another shallow dish, and place Panko, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper in it. Mix to combine.
Place zucchini in the bag with the flour and shake until well coated. Dip the zucchini into the egg and then into the panko, turning to coat well.
Place breaded zucchini on the baking sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes, until golden brown.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
They’re best the first day, but to store leftovers, store in a single layer on a plate, wrapped with ziploc. Reheat at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes, until heathed through.
Adapted from The Confections of a Foodie Bride
I’ve heard zucchini grows like mad! What a new and unusual way to snack on it. I was so glad to see they’re baked as well! xo Smidge
These look fantastic!
Mandy
These fries and healthier, crunchier and more delicious looking
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Oooh, I made these recently too, and couldn’t agree more. So good! I kind of wish I had planted zucchini this year so I would be forced to make these more often!
These look absolutely perfect.
Nice recipe! I loved fried zucchini, but the fat! This is a great solution. Unfortunately my zucchini plants are under major attack from aphids. I’m gaining on them, but I’m wondering what kind of crop I’m going to get this year. Last year cut worms got the zucchinis. Think maybe I should just start relying on the farmer’s market for zucchini, and grow the stuff that does really well? I’m thinking maybe so. Really nice post (and nice blog!) – thanks.
I really love zucchini fries! These look so crispy and perfectly golden brown. Love the idea of dipping them in ranch too.
When I was little, my mother would fry zucchini almost every day during the season, and we never had enough! That’s a lovely meal.
I just bought zucchini, so I can’t wait to make these!
i have just come around to loving zucchini this year. this sounds delicious!
Hi Yudith, I saw something like these recently and they looked fantastic but I forgot about them – thanks for reminding me of them again – they look so crispy and delicious and healthy too!
Omg, these look great! I love the recipe. It’s very similar to my blog post about mozzarella sticks – http://www.recipris.com/2012/03/05/mozzarella-sticks/. I feel like panko bread crumbs can make anything taste good!
I’ll have to keep these in mind when the zucchini crop comes in this year. There’s always more than anyone knows what to do with. They look delicious!
I LOVE eating zucchini but baking it into fries would get me to love it even more. If that’s possible.
I completely forgot about Zucchini fries! I saw similar recipe somewhere and it was in my list to make. Yours look crispy and perfectly baked! I’d love to try this soon. Kids will love this veggies especially when it has nice crunchy texture to it.
I haven’t tried zucchini fries yet..but it looks really delicious!
I love zucchini and this looks like such a great use of it!
One of my guilty pleasures is ordering fried zucchini out (just maybe once a year or so) but making them healthified and still crispy and delicious…this is going to make me so happy Yudith! THank you!!!
I haven’t made these for years. I must make them again because I really like them.
These look delicious! it is nice to see a healthy version of this
Bravo! I always order these if they are on a menu in a restaurant. I can’t get enough of them. Yours look fantastic and I love your aoli
Just so perfect!!!
I have to try these soon!!
[...] Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries was delicious – and definitely satisfied my craving for “fries”, but I wanted [...]