Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to banish your favorite foods from your diet. Any food can be made healthier simply by cooking it at home. For example, making a homemade version of french fries allows you to be in charge of what exactly goes in your food. This is especially helpful, considering McDonald’s French Fries has more than 15 ingredients. In this edition of Homemade Healthy, we whip up a no-sodium, non-fried version of French fries.
No-Sodium French Fries
Ingredients
- 4 large Russet potatoes*
- 4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
Seasoning mix:
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp red cayenne pepper
Step 1: Peel and Rinse Potatoes
Tip: Soaking the potatoes in water prevents them from turning brown.
Step 2: Cut into Matchsticks and Season
When cooking without salt, the trick is to add as many complementary flavors as possible. Fragrant seasonings like garlic powder and dried thyme combined with spicy seasonings like cayenne pepper provide enough flavor that won’t make you miss the salt.
Mix fries with paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme and cayenne pepper. Toss with 4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil.
Step 3: Arrange and Bake
Arrange fries on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes, flipping about halfway through. If you like them extra crispy, leave them in a few minutes longer.
Serve with condiments like Dijon mustard, natural ketchup or even vinegar. Vinegar tends to mimic some of the same flavors as salt, while having much less sodium.
These French fries are a great sources of potassium, which helps naturally lower blood pressure.
Nutritional Information
Servings : 6
- Calories: 256
- Total Fat: 9.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 15 mg
- Potassium: 1020 mg
- Total Carbs: 39.6 g
- Fiber: 6.1 g
- Sugar: 3.1 g
- Protein: 4.6 g
*Do your best to use organic potatoes. Potatoes are on the “Dirty Dozen” list, meaning they’re one of the produce items with the highest levels of pesticide residue. Non-organic potatoes are also treated with the chemical Bud Nip, also known as chlorpropham, to prevent sprouting and prolong shelf life at the grocery store.
Bobby is the community and social media manager at Zipongo. He has a degree in nutrition and dietetics and previously worked as a health educator.
