Some days I’d love nothing more then to experiment in the kitchen for hours.
Other days, I’m not in the mood for playing around when it comes to my eats.
The latter was the case over Labor Day weekend. The entire three days, I just wanted to make some yummy food in as short amount of time as possible. This was my masterpiece-in-less-than-thirty-minutes meal of the weekend:
It all started off with one my favorite veggies, zucchini: 
I adore zucchini fries. Almost anytime I see them on a restaurant menu, I’m compelled to order them. I’ve made zucchini fries at home numerous times, but for some reason they haven’t made it onto the blog thus far, so today I’m sharing my version of zucchini fries!
First, I cut the zucchinis into fry-like pieces:
Next I whisk an egg in a bowl, and combine Italian bread crumbs, shredded cheese, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper in another bowl. I dip each zucchini piece into the egg, coat it with the bread crumb mixture, then place it on a baking sheet coated with baking spray.
Unlike restaurant versions, I don’t fry my zucchini. Instead, I keep em super healthy by baking the battered zucchini in the oven, thus omitting any oil. After they’re nice and crispy, I take them out of the oven and sprinkle additional cheese and salt on top.
I like my zucchini fries with either marinara sauce or ranch dressing on the side. Last weekend, some Newman’s Own marinara was our dipper of choice.
I decided to make the fries part of an appetizer meal, and I wanted to used these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes:
My easy go-to appetizer with tomatoes is bruschetta – so simple and yummy! This night I made avocado bruschetta (the recipe can be found here) on fresh ciabatta bread:
It was quite a tasty meal! Here’s the exact recipe for zucchini fries:
Oven Baked Zucchini Fries
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 2 TBSP shredded parmesan or other cheese plus 1 TBSP for sprinkling on top
- 1/2 TSP garlic powder
- 1/4 TSP salt plus more to sprinkle on top to taste
- 1/4 TSP oregano
- 1/8 TSP pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Chop the zucchini into small, fry-shaped pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk one egg. In another small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and 2 TBSP of shredded cheese.
- Dip each piece of zucchini into the egg, coat with the bread crumb mixture, then place on a large baking sheet coated with baking spray.
- Bake in the oven until crispy, around 20 minutes.
- Place fries on a serving dish, and sprinkle with additional cheese and salt to taste. Serve with marinara sauce, ranch dressing, or whatever other topping of your choice.
Yay you posted the recipe! My laziness has been at an all time high lately too. Basically been eating oatmeal and pancakes…officially out of content for the blog EEK…motivation where art thou?!?!
Haha, hey it happens! I feel like it happens to me in waves — I’ll be a recipe creating machine one week, then have absolutely no ideas or sense of wanting to be in the kitchen the next week. Just let it ride out, you’ll get your cooking/baking mojo back soon! 😉
I’ve never had zucchini fries before, but I love sweet potato and regular french fries so maybe I’d like these too!
Yum, I love sweet potato fries too! These are definitely a healthier version of normal zucchini fries you’ll see.. if you like your fries a bit more conventional, lightly fry these in a saute pan instead. The chances of you liking them are pretty good if you like zucchini!
Yum, I just bought a butt load of zucchini from the Farmer’s Market, so I know what I’m going to be making! I have a killer hot sauce that would go so well with these.
PS: Why haven’t I thought of avocado bruschetta?!
Nice! See I’d try that, but I’m a total baby about spicy foods and I just can’t help it! Ha.
Oh yes, avocado bruschetta is awesome!
Mmmm girl those zuchinni fries look amazing! So easy!! Thanks for the reminder! I need to make these 🙂
Thanks, Sarah!!
I love your recipe! I had some Zucchini fries recently and they were delicious! I was going to make them at home but I was too lazy! I’ll definitely give your recipe a try! 🙂
YAY! Thanks girl!