No need for potatoes when you can get your fries in a much healthier and tastier way. Surprise your family with this healthy side dish and serve these fantastic fries with the Ready-in-a-Snap Low-Carb Ketchup; that’s an unbeatable combination!
This blog post is continuation to last week’s post. I just thought these fabulous fries deserve a blog post and recipe of their own.
Tips for making the turnip fries
First of all, you have to find turnips somewhere. Even better if you find organic ones. Depending on where you live, you might find them from the nearest grocery store, or maybe you have to try to search for them from the farthest corner of the whole foods market. Turnip is unfortunately an undervalued root vegetable. I hope it would be easier to find and also more used in recipes.
These fries are really easy to make, although it takes some time to wash and peel the turnips and cut them into thick sticks. But, that’s exactly what you would have to do also for potatoes when making traditional fries.
My best tip is, that try to cut the sticks equally thick. That ensures even cooking.
The turnip fries taste best when they are not too raw but on the other hand not overbaked — which in turn makes them soft and mushy. In my oven 25 minutes is the ideal time. You can take a peek after 20 minutes and check if the fries are done.
So, how to make these tasty fries?
Just wash and pat dry the turnips and peel them.
Cut into 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) thick sticks…
…like this.
Place the turnip sticks in a large bowl.
Add the salt and olive oil.
Toss well until everything is properly mixed.
Place the turnip sticks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer so that the sticks are hardly touching each other. Bake until golden brown, not too raw but not mushy and overbaked.
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) organic turnips
- 1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
- 1 tablespoon organic olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
- Wash the turnips and pat dry. Peel the turnips. Discard the peels.
- Cut the peeled turnips into 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) thick sticks.
- Place the turnip sticks in a large bowl. Add the salt and the olive oil.
- Toss well until everything is properly mixed.
- Place the turnip sticks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer so that the sticks are hardly touching each other.
- Bake until golden brown; not too raw but on the other hand not overbaked. This takes approximately 25 minutes.
- Serve immediately with the Ready-in-a-Snap Low-Carb Ketchup.
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Nutrition information | Protein | Fat | Net carbs | kcal |
In total: | 4.5 g | 15.4 g | 19.1 g | 235 kcal |
Per serving, if 4 servings in total: | 1.1 g | 3.8 g | 4.8 g | 59 kcal |
My turnip fries experiments
I have to admit, that this recipe didn’t need extensive experimenting — it just happened. Basically I needed something catchy-looking for my Ready-in-a-Snap Low-Carb Ketchup. What could be catchier than fries?
Because potato is out of question for me, I was pondering other options. It was a couple of years ago that I made fries from rutabaga. The rutabaga fries were nice, but they tasted quite strong.
This time I bought a big bag of organic turnips from the local grocery store. I tried to remember how I had baked my rutabaga fries, since unfortunately I hadn’t written down any notes on that.
First, I washed the turnips and peeled them. Then I cut the turnips into 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) thick sticks, which I thought was the ideal thickness for fries. I tossed the sticks with 1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Then I just placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them in the preheated oven.
I was closely observing the fries and after 25 minutes they were perfect. I was completely surprised how good the turnip fries tasted and how easy the whole thing was! No need for further experiments. Phew! That was much easier than expected!
Tips for variation
In case you consider the taste of turnips too strong or otherwise unpleasant, you can try to cover it with different spices. My favorite is Cajun seasoning, it gives a wonderful flavor. Add the spices at the same time with salt and olive oil. I highly recommend to use ketchup (a healthy option is the Ready-in-a-Snap Low-Carb Ketchup, my goodness, that was already the fourth time when I link to that recipe in this post… sorry…), which also covers the flavor characteristic of turnips and simply goes perfectly with these healthier fries.
You can also add 1 tablespoon raw organic apple cider vinegar for reaching that salt-and-vinegar flavor. Add the ACV together with the salt and oil.
If you have a deep-fryer, you can naturally deep-fry these fries. Just be sure to choose a healthy oil for frying. I would suggest coconut oil, but that easily becomes expensive. Also for baking in the oven, if you are afraid of heating olive oil to high temperatures, you can try other fats as well for baking.
In case you cannot find turnips, rutabaga is also a nice option. However, personally I prefer turnips, they taste milder than rutabaga.
P.S. I’m currently concentrating on writing and photographing my recipe book which I’m going to publish as Kindle version on 20th of March. There is still a lot to do, so I will keep these blog posts short and sweet — and recipes really simple. I’ll tell more details about the book soon, and I have a surprise for you! Stay tuned!
Donna in Phx
I absolutely love your site. I LOVE the step by step pictures. They are such a help. I also love that you don’t use or at least I haven’t found things like ‘carbquik’ in your recipes. 4 and 5 ingredient recipes are so easy.
Thank you Elviira.
elviira
Thanks, Donna! So great to hear that you like my recipes! I try to use as natural ingredients as I can, so Carbquik is a definite no-no for me 🙂
Maria
Wow! I’m going to buy some rutabagas! I actually prefer them to turnips, although I love both. The reduced carbs are motivation enough. Thanks for all your experimentation!
elviira
Maria, hope you like them! For me ketchup is a must with them, they are perfect French fry replacement!
Sarah
Elviira, I have made these several times and they are fantastic! I use swede which is similar to turnip but easier to get here in Ireland. They go perfectly with your low carb ketchup – yum! To be honest, I have to be careful not to make them too often, as they are so tasty I end up eating too many! 🙂 Thanks for posting, Sarah
elviira
Hi Sarah, great to hear that you like the fries 🙂 I also used to use swede (rutabaga) at first but prefer the milder taste of turnip. There is also a bit controversial info about the carbs in turnip, my Finnish source says there are 4.2 grams net carbs in 100 g turnip, but Wikipedia says 8 g. So if you want to play it safe with the carbs as well, swede (rutabaga) is better option. But I’m really pleased that you like the recipe! Thanks for your comment!
Teresa
How many carbs are there is the various recipes. I could not find. I am also looking for a no egg and low carb pancake. Going to try nerd net carbs thank you!
elviira
The nutrition info (including carbs) is under each recipe. Just scroll down the page 🙂
Lucia
Yummy! Thank you for all amazing recipes. Looking forward to your book, I guess it will be great 😉
elviira
Thanks, Lucia! My first book will be a little bit of practicing and it will contain very refreshing recipes… I hope you’ll like it!