Eggplant fries
Crunchy. Salty. Dippable. These fries are low-carb's answer to both "eat your vegetables," and "keep everybody happy." Before you know it, the kids will be asking for eggplant. Who knew?
USMetric
servingservings
Ingredients
- 2 2 eggplant
- 2 cups 475 ml [250 g] almond flour
- 1 tsp 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
- 2 2 eggeggs
- 2 tbsp 2 tbsp coconut oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Peel eggplant and cut into french-fry shapes. Set aside.
- In a shallow bowl, stir together the almond flour, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper. Place the eggs in a separate bowl and whisk until frothy.
- Dip the eggplant pieces into the egg, then into the flour mixture, then back into the egg, and back into the flour mixture.
- Place the coated fries on a greased cookie sheet, and drizzle with melted coconut oil.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until crispy and brown.
Tip!
These fries freeze well! Make a huge (quadruple?) batch and pop the extras into a couple of Ziplock bags, post-coating but BEFORE you bake them. A perfect, oven-ready side to pair with almost any meal on some future busy night.
And don't forget a creamy, low-carb dip, like our chipotle mayonnaise, tzatziki, or ranch dip.
This recipe is part of a collaboration with Maria Emmerich, the best-selling American cookbook author. Check out her website for more keto inspiration and recipes.
Meals
Breakfasts
Desserts
Snacks
Dairy free
Vegetarian
Bread
Only keto
I ended up putting the cooked product in a baking dish, covered with Marinara sauce and parmesan and baked. That turned out great! But I'd like the "fries". Any suggestions?
Mine are in the oven. Man, I am thankful I read the comments before I started final assembly. I ended up deciding to roast most of the eggplant the way I usually do (olive oil, pepper, garlic salt). I tried making 1/4 of a recipe using 1/2 of an eggplant. I started with 1/2 cup almond flour, hoping to cover 1/2 of an eggplant. Nope. I/2 cup was obviously going to be nowhere near enough and by now I was thinking this could become an expensive mistake. So I made a few as per directions. Then I started rolling the "fries" first in coconut flour, then the egg, then the almond flour. That seemed to work a LOT better. Before I had used up 1/3 of the eggplant, there was no almond flour left, almost no egg, and I said "screw it" and just used egg and coconut flour.
They've been in the oven 1/2 hour and they're definitely not crispy or browned yet. I'm giving them another 20 minutes before I call this experiment utterly failed. But the recipe as written? 1 star.
1. I set aside half of the 'breading' mix once it had been prepared;
2. I used one hand for dipping the eggplant fries in egg, and the other for dropping the fries onto the breading mix - and I rinsed my fingers now and again if they became too sticky;
3. When the first batch of breading mix became used up or not suitable anymore for breading, I used the rest that I had set aside.
I used an entire eggplant and even had different sized fries. I had about 30 fries in total.
They all came out perfect after no more than 20 minutes baking (and I had even forgotten to drizzle butter on them until late in the baking). Great recipe. I will make it again. I took photographs of my steps in the process and the final result. I wish I could upload them to show you.
I only let the eggplant rounds sit for about 5 minutes or so- enough time to make the almond flour mix and whisk the egg- then I blot the tops with paper towels. I dip each round in egg, shake off the excess, then lay it on a pan lined with parchment paper. Once all the rounds are laid out I dry my hands off thoroughly (very important step to avoid the clumpy almond flour issue). Rather than dipping the rounds in almond flour, I just sprinkle it (with dry hands) on top of all the eggplant rounds. I then flip the eggplant rounds over, dry my hands again, and sprinkle the second side with the almond flour mix.
I don't drizzle with any coconut oil; I just bake them, starting on the bottom rack. The bottoms are usually nicely browned in 15-20 minutes; I flip them over and cook for another 5-10 minutes (generally they're pretty forgiving even if over-baked a bit). They're now a big hit in my house and much easier (and less messy) to make. Technically they're baked eggplant rounds and not "fries," but still very tasty!