Super healthy herbed oven fries

Name me someone who doesn’t love fries. Now find someone who won’t love my recipe for home-made, super healthy herbed oven fries! They have all the flavour without the fat found in deep fried and processed supermarket potato fries.

These oven fries are the perfect Quick Fresh Delicious accompaniment to a good meal, a burger or whatever you like.

Before starting out, source an all-rounder potato and make sure they’re really fresh. Why? Because you’ll need to cut these nice and fine (or whatever size you like) before cooking, so you need them to stay firm, but bake nice and crisp in the oven

Potatoes come with surprising health benefits that you may not be aware of. This makes these fries even better!

You can read more about the benefits of potatoes below the recipe, but for now, let’s get cooking.

Healthy herbed oven fries

Recipe by MartiCourse: Side dishes, Savoury snacksCuisine: ContemporaryDifficulty: A little skill helps

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

17

minutes

Vegan friendly oven baked potato fries that are incredibly tasty and good for you too!
See notes below for more tips.

You will need

• all-round potatoes

• pimenton (Spanish paprika)

• onion powder

• garlic powder

• dried thyme

• dried oregano

• chilli flakes (optional)

• sea salt flakes

• white or black sesame seeds

• Good grinding of black pepper

• extra virgin olive oil

Here’s what to do

• Peel your potatoes if needed. If they’re organic and not at all green, they can just be scrubbed.
• Use a mandolin or sharp knife and cut into the size you want – thin fries or thick ones. Your choice.
• Place in a pan with cold water to cover and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil and cook about five minutes. You want them to hold their shape when being tossed in oil and flavourings.
• Mix together all the herbs and spices in a mixing bowl that will hold the potatoes and set aside until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 180C (fan forced).
• When the potatoes are just tender, drain them and let steam until they’re completely dry.
• When dry, add them to the bowl with spices and pour the olive oil over the top. Gently toss through the herbs and spices, then gently tip into a large roasting pan and spread so they’re in one even layer.
• Check them after about 10 minutes and turn them. Bake a further 10-15 minutes, or until golden in colour and crispy on the outside.
• Serve alongside a burger or a fish fillet with a fresh green salad – or as a delicious snack all on their own.

Tips and tricks

• For extra flavour, boil the potatoes with the addition of half lemon that’s been cut into wedges. Then add the lemon to the baking pan.
• If you really want more flavour, add a peeled garlic clove. The flavour really infuses through the fries.
• You can adjust the herbs and seasonings according to how many potatoes you’re cooking. The amounts shown are a guide and work well for a nice coating on 2-4 medium potatoes.

Potato is healthy food too

There’s so much hype these days around how unhealthy carbs are. This includes carb-rich foods like potatoes. And let’s face it, potatoes are a great source of energy when cooked and served without all the fat. Like these herbed fries, or even my friend Sia’s gorgeous Greek lemony roast potatoes!

Carbohydrates are important to us, because they give us energy. The problem is when we eat too many and don’t burn that energy off.

Now, I’m not a nutritionist and the following information is not health advice, but what I’ve read and researched about how carbohydrates fuel our bodies and what happens if we don’t use the carbs.

NOTE: The following information is directly sourced from and credited to Livestrong, with some of my own edits.

When you eat carbohydrates, your digestive system breaks down sugars and starches into glucose, which is used for energy. The energy is what we need to be physically active and helps some basic functions that we need to live, including breathing and maintaining body temperature, says Oklahoma State University. In addition, glucose is the sole source of energy for the brain, nervous system and developing red blood cells.

Interestingly, if we don’t have enough carbohydrate in our diets, protein in muscles is broken down to produce glucose to fuel these body parts. When this happens, the depletion of protein in muscles can result in muscle loss.

How Sugar Turns Into Fat

When high amounts of unhealthy carbohydrates are consumed, they’re converted to triglycerides, a form of fat, and are stored in fat tissue, states the National Council on Strength & Fitness.

So if we become less active, the carbohydrates we eat will eventually convert to sugars, then convert to fat on our bodies.

The lesson? Eat carbohydrates in moderation and do some exercise – even if it’s just going for a walk.

That works for me.