If you follow me over on Instagram you may have seen I'm fry crazy! Veggie fry crazy, that is. Carrot fries have been a long standing go-to but when I received an eggplant in my latest Imperfect Produce box I was super excited to turn them into fries too. However eggplants do tend to have a very water-rich, somewhat soft and spongy feeling to them- so I thought the exterior of these fries need to pack a punch and a crunch.

I also wanted to make the recipe super simple (since ALL my recipes are) so we're only using three ingredients. Plus sea salt of course. You're likely very familiar with coconut oil and coconut flour, but nutritional yeast may be new to you. It's basically a cheese substitute that you will find in a lot of vegan recipes. It comes in a shaker bottle and is really delicious and versatile. I really like it atop steamed veggies, salads or to "bread" things like chicken breast. Nutritional yeast is also very nutrient dense- packed with protein and B-Vitamins. Love that. You should definitely be able to find this at Whole Foods, or if you don't have one of those by you online here!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. Share the recipe and tag me (@nutritionwithchelsea) on Instagram!

Eggplant Fries

makes 1-2 side servings

Ingredients:

1 small/medium eggplant (about 4 cups when cut)
1.5 tbsp. coconut oil (*not melted)
1 tbsp. coconut flour
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp sea salt (+ more to taste after baked)

method:

preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
slice the ends off of the eggplant, then into 4-5 pieces vertically (about 1 inch thick) but depending on the width of your eggplant. Then cut those pieces each in half horizontally, then into fry size- like shown in the pictures. The do not have to be perfect!
add the fries to a medium-sized mixing bowl, then add the coconut oil and massage it in so that all the pieces are covered as much as possible
add the coconut flour, nutritional yeast and sea salt and mix thoroughly - know that a lot of it will not stick completely- but we will be using that in the next step
add the fries to a covered sheet plan (this recipe works best if you can used a wire rack like pictured) but not necessary. If you have extra coconut flour/nutritional yeast mixture at the bottom of the bowl, using your hand push it out over the fries to the best of your ability to give them an extra dusting
if using a wire rack- bake for 18-25 minutes. Cooking times will vary oven to oven and based on the size of your fries so check at 18 and cook longer based on desired crispiness! I think they taste best extra crispy.
if not using a wire rack- bake for 9 minutes, then pull them out and flip, then bake for 9- 16 more minutes
once they are done cooking, I recommend an extra generous sprinkle of sea salt
dip into Primal Mayo, Sir Kensington's ketchup, hummus or pesto! Or enjoy on a salad- like me!