Zucchini Fries are easy to make and delicious to eat, so when you are looking for a low carb version of the traditional potato french fries, try our zucchini fries recipe. When you eat them you will forget that you are eating something low carb because they are so yummy with a crisp texture right out of the oven!

I think that these oven-baked zucchini fries are so delicious that you will make them over and over again and they will be a favorite recipe to make for your friends and family, or even just snacking. If you like our Crispy Jicama Fries or Baked Zucchini Chips then you will love these too!

They are crispy, are easy to make, and only take a few minutes to prepare. So when you are craving french fries, take a few minutes and make some of these healthy zucchini fries…you’ll thank us later!

What are Zucchini Fries?

Zucchini fries are just what they sound like…strips of zucchini cut similar to french fries. But unlike french fries that are high carb made from potatoes, these delicious zucchini fries are made from zucchini and coated with parmesan cheese.

They are so yummy that you will have to keep reminding yourself that they are low carb.

Are Zucchini Fries Healthy?

When you are craving junk food but you want to eat healthily, then reach for some zucchini and make healthy zucchini fries.

As you would imagine zucchini itself, like a lot of other veggies, is low carb, low in calories, high in fiber and water, and full of vitamins and minerals which helps us to gain many health benefits when eating it. 

When you think about eating vegetables in general, they are some of the healthiest things for us to eat because they help with all sorts of things such as

• Weight loss
• lower blood sugar levels
• slow down aging
• support heart health
• improve digestion
• boost our energy and fight fatigue

So eat zucchini and enjoy some of the health benefits it gives you especially when replacing the high carb and high-fat foods with something as natural as a vegetable. It only makes perfect sense!

What Ingredients are in this Recipe?

• Zucchini – This is a low carb vegetable that you can use in a lot of recipes and is of course the main ingredient in zucchini fries.  what makes 
• Parmesan Cheese – This is the best cheese to make the zucchini fries crispy, and since it’s flavorful, it reduces the need for other spices.
• Eggs – You need eggs to help the cheese stick to the squash.
• Garlic Powder – A delicious spice to make the zucchini fries tastier. Who doesn’t love the taste of garlic, and when added to foods it gives them an Italian flavor!! 
• Pepper – A common everyday spice we all use is black pepper. Adds a little bit extra flavor.

Picking Out Zucchini for Fries

When you are getting ready to make this zucchini fries recipe the first thing that you need to do is pick out zucchini. In my opinion, the best zucchini to use for most recipes are small to medium size because they are the most tender ones. 

If you use large or very large zucchini they will make your fries tougher…the bigger the zucchini the more seeds and the tougher the skin is.

Another thing to avoid is zucchini that has soft spots, bruises, cuts…etc on the outer part which will affect the quality of the squash. An inferior zucchini will make inferior fries.

Best Seasonings to Use

I like to keep it simple when making zucchini fries. Salt and Pepper are the basic spices for most recipes…then with a little garlic powder added to them too that’s just enough seasoning to use, and nothing else is needed.

The last thing you want is a bunch of other flavors overpowering the baked zucchini fries. We chose to just add black pepper and garlic powder which allows you to salt the zucchini fries when you eat them. 

Since most people normally like to salt their fries when they eat them, we recommend not adding salt to the preparation as well. That way you won’t get double the salt. Plus parmesan cheese does tend to be salty so you are getting your salt intake from that. If you are like my husband though, you will be adding more salt to your zucchini fries after they are cooked. 

Adding salt before cooking will make your zucchini fries watery and soft, and you won’t get that crunch you are looking for.  Another reason not to salt them beforehand.

Best Cheese to Use

The best cheese to use to coat the baked zucchini fries is grated parmesan. The texture is good, and the flavor is good too. It sticks to the squash and makes a great, low carb coating. 

If for some reason that you don’t have parmesan at home or can’t find it at the store when you are ready to make the oven-baked zucchini fries, then you could substitute it with grated romano cheese. Romano is just a little stronger in taste but it has the same texture which is good for zucchini fries.

Why Make them Without Breadcrumbs?

Breadcrumbs, in general, are high in carbs, 1 cup has 77 carbs….wow that’s a lot! So if you are on a low carb diet you need to have an alternative to breadcrumbs on the zucchini fries. Hence the reason we use the parmesan cheese. It makes crispy oven-baked zucchini fries just as much as breadcrumbs do.

How to Make Zucchini Fries

Now that we have shown you how to buy the zucchini and what to use to make the best zucchini fries, now we can show you how easy it is to make them from the first step all the way to your plate.

Preparing the Zucchini

1. The first step in preparing the zucchini is to wash them off.
2. Next, thoroughly dry off the zucchini with paper towels.
3. Grab your favorite knife and a cutting board and prepare for the next step which is to cut the zucchini.

Cutting Zucchini Fries

1. The next step is to cut off the ends of the squash.
2. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise.
3. Place a paper towel over the top to absorb any excess water that may come out of the zucchini.
4. Lastly, cut the zucchini into equal “french fry size” strips.

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Coating the Zucchini

Put the egg into one bowl and beat it up by hand with a fork.

Put the parmesan cheese into another bowl and add the garlic powder and black pepper and thoroughly blend it all together.

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Dip the zucchini strips into the egg and coat thoroughly.

Next, dip them into the grated cheese and coat completely.

Baking

Now that the zucchini sticks are prepared, it’s time to bake them.

1. Get a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper and start to place the coated zucchini fries evenly on the tray.
2. Spray the top with a fine mist of cooking spray.
3. Bake the zucchini fries at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes which will depend on the thickness of the zucchini strips.
4. When done baking, place the zucchini fries on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up any moisture.

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Best Tips for Zucchini Fries

So that you can have great success in making the best zucchini fries here are a few tips to help you.

• Before coating the zucchini pieces with cheese, or any other coating, make sure that the squash is dry first.
• Every oven cooks differently so keep your eye on the zucchini fries to make sure that they don’t burn. 
• You will get more crispy results if you flip the zucchini pieces over halfway through the cooking process.
• Eat them while they are piping hot right from the oven because they will have the best texture at that time.  Our zucchini fries recipe calls for using parmesan cheese to coat the squash, but you could substitute it for asiago or romano.
• If you don’t want to use the whole egg to coat these healthy zucchini fries, you could just use the whites and discard the yolks.
• When you are making baked zucchini fries if they are not browning up enough then you could always spray the tops with cooking spray to achieve a crispy texture.
• For best crispy results making zucchini sticks, spread them out enough on the baking sheet so that they have plenty of space in between them to help them crisp up better.
• To ensure that you get the best zucchini fries, use small zucchini instead of large. the larger, the more water along with large seeds.

Keeping Zucchini Fries Crispy

To ensure that you end up with crispy zucchini fries make sure that if the raw zucchini shows any sign of having the slightest bit of water on them, make sure to dry them off with a paper towel first before you coat it with cheese or almond flour.

Make sure to use smaller zucchini when making healthy zucchini sticks to avoid excess moisture. The larger the zucchini the more water content and large seeds.

Some people say that if you salt zucchini before making zucchini fries it pulls out the water but I would not recommend this step at all. It never fails that you end up with salty tasting zucchini that has a very mushy texture, so not what you want to make the best zucchini fries.

You could put the zucchini fries under the broiler for the last couple minutes if they aren’t as crispy as you would like them to be. So now you know how to make the best zucchini fries.

Different Variations of Zucchini Fries

When we made up our zucchini fries recipe, we chose to use the parmesan cheese as the coating for our zucchini, because after trying a few ways, we loved the results that came from just using parmesan cheese to coat the fries.  That is how the best zucchini fries recipe was formed!

However, if you don’t have Parmesan cheese, Asiago or Romano cheese can be a substitute.

Yellow squash can also be used instead of green zucchini for a slight variation of baked zucchini fries.

Breaded Zucchini Fries

If you want to replace the grated parmesan cheese with some breading, then my suggestion would be almond flour. Just put the same spices into the almond flour that you would have put into the cheese. Then coat the zucchini strips and bake in the oven.

Other good choices that you can use to coat the squash are almond flour, coconut flour, and pork rinds. They are all low carb and as a result, are good choices to maintain the claim of being healthy zucchini fries.

We have also had experience using these ingredients for coating things like fried zucchini, fried eggplant, chicken nuggets…etc.

No Egg

If for some reason you can’t eat eggs, you may be wondering how you are going to make these oven-baked zucchini fries without it. It’s easy. 

Just coat the zucchini with a little milk first and then dip it in the parmesan cheese. If you are trying to keep the zucchini fries as low carb as possible then don’t use cow’s milk, it has too much sugar in it. Instead, use almond milk which is light and also low carb.

Baking vs. Pan-Frying

For anything to be more healthy, baking in the oven is always a great idea. There’s no doubt about it. Baking zucchini fries in the oven requires a lot less oil than frying on the stove, and they come out lighter and not heavy-tasting.

When you fry foods you also use a significant amount of oil which adds more calories and fat to your food. We all love fried foods because, for the most part, they come out more crispy. But if you follow this zucchini fries recipe and bake them, they come out just as good as if you fried them without all the extra oil and calories.

Air Fryer Zucchini Fries

If you have an air fryer you could easily make zucchini fries in it instead of in the oven.

1. Prepare the zucchini the same as you would do to make it in the oven as far as washing them and slicing them. 
2. The next step is to coat the squash with your choice of eggs, spices, and grated cheese.
3. Place the zucchini fries on the racks in the air fryer, spaced evenly apart so that they can crisp up.
4. Spray the zucchini sticks with oil and air fry for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. There is no need to turn them over during the cooking process because they cook on both sides at the same time.
5. Take them out and place them on a plate lined with paper towels, serve hot.

Are Zucchini Fries Low Carb?

If you are wondering about the carbs in your zucchini fries, they are low in carbs for sure. Zucchini itself is a low carb veggie and can be eaten on a low carb/keto diet plan. Plus eggs and cheese are not considered carb foods, they are also a main staple for people on a low carb diet. 

So to sum it up, enjoy the best zucchini fries guilt-free!  For just one serving of keto zucchini fries, it’s only 2.3 NET CARBS.

Other Diets This Recipe is Good For

• Gluten-Free – By using cheese to coat the zucchini fries it makes these zucchini sticks a perfect snack without gluten.
• Vegetarian – A good veggie choice along with cheese is perfect for vegetarians.
• Nut-Free – These low carb zucchini fries are coated with cheese instead of almond flour.
• Vegan – You can make this zucchini fries vegan by omitting the egg and using almond milk instead and then vomiting the parmesan cheese and replacing it with almond flour.
• Dairy-Free – If you need to be dairy-free then you can omit the cheese and substitute it with almond flour or a combo of almond flour and coconut flour to coat the zucchini sticks.

What to Serve with Zucchini Fries

What would you serve french fries with? Whatever your answer is to that question, that’s exactly what you would serve oven-baked zucchini fries with. Burgers would be my first choice, followed by many other yummy things like:

• Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
• Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Garlic Pork Chops
• Chicken Nuggets 
• Fried Chicken
• Meatloaf
• Ham
• BBQ Ribs

Dipping Sauces

There are a lot of choices as far as dipping sauces are concerned. It’s a personal choice in taste, but In my opinion, the best dipping sauce to use with zucchini fries is tomato sauce. It’s a perfect combination with the cheesiness of the fries.

I also think making garlic aioli is great with so many things and one way is to make it spicy by adding some cayenne pepper.

If you are looking for something creamy, try one of the many types of sauces that you can make out of sour cream, greek yogurt or mayo along with some different flavors such as sriracha, chipotle, avocado cilantro…and the list goes on and on.

How to Store

If you are like me, you love it when you work so hard to make yummy foods and then have some leftover for the next day. 

Like most leftover foods, the best way to store these zucchini fries is to put them in a plastic, or any other airtight container and put them in the refrigerator. You can store your zucchini sticks for 3-4 days so that you will enjoy them a second time around.

How to Reheat

When you have leftover zucchini fries, I think that the best way to reheat them to resemble, as close as possible, to the original oven-baked zucchini fries is to spread them out on a baking tray and heat them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

You could also stick them under the broiler for just a few minutes to crisp them back up. 

Another way is to reheat the zucchini fries in the microwave just as you do with a lot of other foods. The microwave is quicker and sometimes you are in a place, like work, where an oven is not available to heat up the zucchini sticks. In that case, the microwave will have to do the job.

They will heat up in the microwave to be really hot and still very tasty but they will not be as crispy as they were the day before.

Can You Freeze Zucchini Fries?

If you want to freeze the zucchini fries just be sure to bake them first before freezing them. 

Place them on parchment paper and freeze it until it’s solid and then transfer them into a freezer bag. Once you take them out of the freezer, don’t thaw them, or else they will become mushy and will not crisp up too well. So just take them from the freezer and place them in the oven right away.

As instructed before, if you want the zucchini strips to be crispier then put the broiler on for a couple of minutes. Or if you would prefer, you could fry them in a pan on the stove.

More Zucchini Recipes

If you’re in the mood for some other Zucchini Recipes to go with your meal, then try our:

• Stuffed Zucchini Boats
• How to Make Zucchini Noodles
• Keto Zucchini Bread
• Crispy Low Carb Fried Zucchini

More Keto Appetizer Recipes

If you’re in the mood for some other Low Carb Appetizers then try our:

• Keto Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• Low Carb Mozzarella Sticks
• Low Carb Pepperoni Pizza Dip
• Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus

They all are Keto-friendly and low carb, and will be a hit at your next party!

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