5 Foods That Will Crush Your Craving for French Fries
And fill you up to boot.
by The Candidly Team
We don’t have a problem eating healthy food. But we do have a problem not eating French fries.
It isn’t just French fries. But then again, isn’t it?
French fries are the epitome of salty, greasy, happiness-releasing, bad-for-you foods. And only eating 6 at a time as one Harvard medical professor recently recommended just depresses us.
When it comes to our “health goals,” temptations to eat copious amounts of things that we know are terrible for us are everywhere. But the solution to our cravings is not to give up the ability to freely enjoy our food. It’s something else.
Satiation.
And guess what. Back in 1995, when Australian researchers set out to measure which foods would make people feel the fullest, what was at the very top of the list? Potatoes!
Granted, they were boiled potatoes but unlike sugary, processed, junky things like cakes, candy, and donuts that ranked at the bottom of the list, potatoes are far from the empty carbs and calories people mistake them for.
All of this leads us to the question we aim to answer in this article, how can we squeeze all the very specific pleasure of eating fried potatoes into eating something that’s both filling and not atrocious for our health?
We have 3 ideas. They are all absolutely delicious. AND they satisfy us in a way that doesn’t make us want to spend the rest of our afternoon ransacking every salty thing in the pantry.
1. Good Old-Fashioned Potatoes
Revolutionary we know. But the main problem with fries is not the potato. It’s the grease. Potatoes are not interchangeable with bread or pasta or rice. They’re their own category entirely with their own health rewards.
A medium potato has about 40% more potassium than a banana, and a diet rich in potassium is associated with lower blood pressure and lower risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in women. It’s also a good source of fiber which keep you full, vitamin C, and plenty of antioxidants.
Ok, now to the point. You can really, truly avoid most of the trouble just by baking your “fries” at home. Here are our top 3 foolproof methods.
The Baked “Fry” Method: Chop your potatoes to your preferred fry formation. You can also use a tool like THIS to get the just-right, traditional shape and size. Spray on a bit of avocado oil, THIS salt, and a dusting of garlic powder, then bake away at 400 to your preferred color of goldenness. You can also do this with sweet potatoes. They taste is literal heaven. And they’re so filling — they just aren’t actually fried. Especially once you’ve mastered the sauces - more on that later.
The Smashed Method: Buy a medley of baby potatoes (purple in particular has their own plethora of health benefits). Wash and boil them until tender when poked with a fork. Drain them and once they’ve cooled, smash them flat. We use the bottom of a metal measuring cup but any flat and non-breakable kitchen item will do. Drizzle them with your preferred cooking oil and bake until crisp. There’s no version of reality where this won’t feel like you’re scarfing down fries.
The Best Roast Potatoes Method: Everyone knows how to roast a potato but there is one method that makes them addictive. Just chop an ordinary Russet potato into the most pointy triangular shapes possible. Boil them until a fork goes through easily. Next, dump them into a metal colander and shake like mad so the outsides get roughed up, which makes them incredibly crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside when baked.
2. Acorn Squash
We tend to think of squash as this almost sweet, autumnal food you need an enormous chef’s knife to carve, but an acorn squash is something different. Unbelievable in terms of texture and taste, and so fry-like when baked, we feel like they cannot possibly be good for us. It’s also full of fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium.
All you do is chop them into their natural ring shape. Use skinny slices if you want them extra crisp. Drizzle on oil with the same dusting of salt and garlic powder.
Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, and they should come out looking something like this:
If you want more of a chefy, step-by-step recipe, go HERE.
3) The Packaged Version
We get it. After a long, laborious day when chopping just isn’t in the cards and your salt craving is deep, you want something quick, easy, and ready-made. We recently discovered this in the frozen food section and will never buy plain old frozen fries again.
Each serving has 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber and they bake to a texture similar to that of a French-fry-shaped tater tot or an extra crunchy hash brown. Here’s a little visual of the ingredients:
BONUS: The Sauces
Aside from the salt, the grease, and the texture, what do we actually want from fries but the snacky dipping experience? But then, of course, a sugary, oily sauce can ruin all our hard work. So here are some of the healthier options that top our list:
Our Editor-in-Chief’s No-Longer Secret Sauce: Mix no-sugar ketchup with light mayo, mustard, your fave hot sauce, and a dash of onion powder. It’s a full dream.
G Hughes Sugar-Free Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce: Unreal on sweet potato fries.
Greek Yogurt Ranch: Unreal on every breed of potato or fry.
Chipotle Sauce With Light Mayo And Greek Yogurt: To die on smashed potatoes.
Tzatziki: Season your potatoes with oregano for an even more Mediterranean spin.
Low Sugar Ketchup: The obvious choice.
Truff Black Truffle Salt: Ok, it’s not a sauce but if you dream of truffle fries, this salt will change your life.
So there you have it. Three very simple things that satisfy on a French fry level and all the glorious things we dip them in.
Try one the next time you’re in need. Though if you’re craving happens to be for a burger and not the fries, go HERE immediately.
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