Baked Zucchini Fries
These fries are amazingly crisp-tender and healthy with just 135.4 calories. And no one would ever believe that these are actually baked!
This recipe was actually posted back in 2011. I had just started this blog two months prior, and needless to say, the photos did not do any kind of justice to them.
Now I surely do not want anyone missing out on these fries so I have updated the photos and recipe to convince you to make these this very second.
Yes, that emergency grocery run may just be necessary. You can pick up some zucchini and some pineapple juice so you can also make these mimosas tomorrow morning.
Now this recipe is similar to one of my most popular recipes – Baked Parmesan Zucchini – except these have a nice crisp Parmesan-herb breading on them, baked completely on top of a cooling rack to help get these babies nice and crisp.
There’s absolutely no hot pot of oil involved here – you just don’t need it. These fries are amazingly crisp right out of the oven – so crisp that no one would ever believe these didn’t hit a single drop of oil.
When ready to serve, you can dunk these in your favorite dipping sauce – Ranch, garlic aioli, marinara – it’s up to you/ Best of all, you can enjoy every bite of these completely guilt-free.
Baked Zucchini Fries
Ingredients
- 1 cup Panko*
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 zucchini, quartered lengthwise
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine Panko, Parmesan and Italian seasoning; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- Working in batches, dredge zucchini in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat.
- Place zucchini onto prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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A delicious part of dinner tonight, served with some feta ranch type dip. Thanks for the great recipe!
Great recipies and your site is very easy to navigate. I’m doing the fries tomorrow for 8 women playing cards and lunch so it will be a good test.
Thanks
Marilyn Whiting
I hate to say it, but these really let me down. They taste like microwaved zucchini slices wrapped in unseasoned toast. I obviously did something wrong, but I can’t figure out what; as far as I can tell, I followed the instructions to the letter. Any thoughts?
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well.
I am not entirely sure what went wrong but perhaps your oven temperature is not calibrated? That may have resulted in the “microwave” texture. I also recommend seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. A little bit of seasoning goes a long way.
Hi, these look totally delicious…can’t wait to try them ! What oven temperature do you use?
The oven should be preheated to 425 degrees F.
I don’t generally post comments about recipe’s but this one is FANTASTIC!. Hard to believe that they are not fried. Even my very picky, wont try anything, husband liked them and asked me to make more! Nice to have a healthy alternative.
I used yellow squash from my brother’s garden in this recipe. The idea of using non-stick spray on cooling racks is a good idea. The fries came out brown and crisp and didn’t stick like fries often do when baked in the oven. I’ll definitely make these again! Thanks!
These are fantastic! I just pulled some extra fat zuchinnis from my garden and made some fat fries. The only thing I did different was I cooked them on my grill on low heat. Excellent!
This may be a dumb question, but is the Italian seasoning the dried herbs only, or the dry Italian seasoning mix used to make dressing?
The Italian seasoning here refers to the dried herbs.
We coat zucchini with unsweetened coconut milk instead of egg to keep them vegan. Costco also carries Panko in two large bags, it is great anytime you would normally use bread crumbs.
Hi there, just wondering if you could help me out on this. Every time I put something that is covered in panko into the oven, it doesn’t seem to become brown and stays white. I checked the temperature of the oven and it is at the correct temperature so I’m not too sure what is going wrong? Thanks so much 🙂
Nina, perhaps your oven rack is set too low? If your oven rack is set a little higher, it might help with the browning process.
I could eat ALL of what is pictured. I love these! Guilt free FRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With or without the dips. I’m easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What kind of dressing is that that your serve with the Zucchini. Made this last night very good. I halved the recipe.
We served these with Ranch dipping sauce.
Can I use corn starch instead of flour?
You can certainly try substituting cornstarch but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. Using a substitution may also result in a mediocre outcome.
Do you really only quarter the zucchini? I must buy larger zucchini than you do.
I tried to cut them smaller than that to be the size the pictures looked like.
Your recipes are wonderful and have improved our menu’s greatly.
Thank you!
Yes, quartering should do the trick but if you have larger zucchini or if you prefer “skinnier” fries, please feel free to cut as needed to suit your preferences.
Can regular breadcrumbs be used if palanko is not available
Yes.
Delicious! Our fav is with garlic aioli!
These look awesome, I also have used crushed croutons that give a nice crispy fry, and no need to add any extra seasonings.
There is an asterisk next to panko in the ingredient list. Is that supposed to be accompanied by a note? Thanks!
Yes, the note has been added – thanks for letting me know!
Oh my goodness. Zucchini fries! YES! There’s a local brew pub near my house that makes fried pickles and peppers, but zucchini fries look even better. I want some of these right now.
These look amazing, and a great way to get kids to love their veggies! Winner 🙂
These take me back….way back! Only I’m certain they are much lighter than the ones I used to eat. Will need to give these a try!
I could not get the panko mixture ti stick to the fries, especially after it got wet coating the first few. Any tips on how to do this?
Stephanie, did you coat them completely with the beaten eggs? If they are well-coated, there should not be any issues with the Panko sticking.