Baked Eggplant Fries with Lemon Dill Dipping Sauce

My children love french fries, what kid doesn't? Okay, and I confess so do the adults around our house. I prefer to make mine at home so I can make sure they are not deep fried in unhealthy oils and loaded with sodium.

I have been dreaming about making these eggplant fries for a couple of weeks now. I have had zucchini fries at restaurants in the past and considered making that - I will definitely be trying those out since these came out perfect. If you have had zucchini fries at a restaurant you know that they are deep fried and definitely not healthy. I hate to think all the nutritional benefits of vegetables are just destroyed by deep-frying and dumping huge amounts of salt on them. I personally don't think that even tastes good anymore. I want to taste my food and not salt, butter, or oil - how about you?

I love eggplant because it is downright delicious and it's such a versatile vegetable that can be cooked in so many ways. It is also an important antioxidant vegetable that makes a wonderful addition to your diet. It is loaded with vitamin A, B, C folate and minerals like potassium. It is rich in dietary fiber, contains no fat and is low in calories. How perfect, right?

I did a quick search for eggplant fries to see what delicious recipes were out there. Most were deep fried like I thought they would be, but I did find a great one at Dianne's Dishes. I used her method for cutting the fries because I definitely needed a visual on that - check it out. Thank you Dianne for this and for my recipe inspiration.


Baked Eggplant Fries with Lemon Dill Dipping Sauce


Lemon Dill Dipping Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup plain soy yogurt

1 tsp dill

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbsp lemon juice

Fresh Black Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour to chill and allow flavors to combine.

* You can add cut up cucumber to this to make it traditional Tzatziki Sauce.

Baked Eggplant Fries

Prep Time: 10 min

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, cut into strips

1/3 cup plain soy yogurt

1 tbsp dried parsley

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp paprika

¼ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp onion powder

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 cups Whole Wheat Seasoned Breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 450 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper.

2. Cut your eggplant into fries - go here for the steps Dianne's Dishes.

3. Combine yogurt, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, ground cumin, onion powder, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl.

4. Toss eggplant fries in soy yogurt mixture, coating evenly.

5. Place breadcrumbs on a plate and lightly coat eggplant fries with breadcrumbs.

6. Spread out evenly on trays making sure they don't touch.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Turn halfway during baking to brown evenly.

8. Serve immediately with sauce of choice.

I served these with the Lemon Dill Sauce for a Greek-style dish. This recipe is crispy, tangy, sweet and outright outrageous. You can serve with some marinara sauce if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Great review of Baked Eggplant Fries done by Healthy Girl's Kitchen check it out!

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