Egg-Free Baked Avocado Fries
Have you tried deep-fried avocados before? It’s been a trend popping up over the last few years that tends to show up at bars and burger joints. To be honest, I never heard of this way of cooking avocados until recently. I’ve put avocados in smoothies, as a pasta sauce, and as a sandwich spread to swap instead of mayo. I’ll eat it in sushi, as guacamole, or in a protein bowl.
In the country where we deep fry everything, it seems like a no-brainer. As I get closer to 30, my stomach can’t digest fried food anymore. I experience symptoms of Leaky Gut. It isn’t talked about much in Western Medicine because the majority of those doctors are trained to prescribe medicine to cure symptoms. Instead, I’ve looked closer at my diet in order to minimize or eliminate trigger foods. The pain of bloating and constant trips to the bathroom isn’t worth it for the few minutes I get to enjoy the fried food.
Many times, it feels like I’m alone while I’m watching my friends enjoy fried foods in front of me. I experience the sensation of what the food would taste like in my mouth as well as the placebo feeling of eating the food. Seeing the fried food in front of me makes it more tempting to want to eat it. I ask myself if the benefits of eating fried foods outweigh the costs before putting anything in my mouth. Most of my friends don’t watch their diets nearly as much as I do. However, my healthy food is always a hit when I bring it around. Every time someone enjoys my food and reflects on their own eating habits, it means that I’ve succeeded in promoting the RAD brand.
The inspiration for this dish came out of thin air. I had a bunch of avocados I needed to use and I was sick of eating guacamole for the millionth time. Plus, that leads to eating a lot of potato chips (another trigger food). I thought, why not bake it? I found that vegenaise is a fantastic swap for having eggs. It also serves as the flour because I dip it straight to the bread crumbs. To my surprise, this formula sticks to the avocado and is a much lighter alternative to the traditional breading method. My one piece of advice before eating these is to make sure not to eat too many. They are still high in fat and too much of a good thing can become a recipe for more inflammation. 1/2 an avocado would be a proper serving size. With a hint of sriracha aioli, this can be served on almost anything. Or you can eat them standalone as an appetizer. Whatever you choose will be delicious. Feel free to share your creations in the comments.
Ingredients:
For the Avocadoes:
3 ripe avocadoes, peeled and cut into slices
1 cup panko bread crumbs (preferably gluten-free)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (** see notes below)
½ cup veganaise
1 Tbsp. garlic salt
2 tsp Italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
For Sriracha Aioli
¼ cup vegeneise
3 tsp sriracha
1 tsp garlic salt
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Cut avocadoes in half. Core and cut them into 4-5 slices per half. Peel the skin off and set aside.
3) In 2 separate bowls, put the veganaise and dry ingredients for breadcrumb mixture. Take one slice of avocado, dip to coat in the veganaise, and then get a generous coat of breadcrumbs. Shake to coat excess breadcrumbs.
4) On a prepared baking sheet, place the breaded avocadoes. Cook for 20 minutes rotating the tray after 10 minutes. Cook extra for a bit more of a brown crust.
5) Combine ingredients for sriracha aioli and serve.
** Alternatively, you can air fry these at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, flipping after 5 minutes.
** This dish can be made completely vegan if you omit the parmesan cheese. You can use this recipe instead if you want to make a vegan parmesan cheese
