These eggplant fries are coated in breadcrumbs and parmesan with lots of flavorful Italian spices. Baked until crispy, they make a perfect vegetable dipper!
*This post is sponsored by Sabra. All content and opinions are my own.
I’ll be the first to admit eggplant is not on the list of my favorite foods. It’s just usually a mushy, blah food to me.
Although, I really do love this eggplant pizza. It could just be the whipped garlic feta clouding my judgment though and making eggplant noodles is also pretty fun.
Recently, however, I’ve been seeing recipes where it’s the main ingredient and finding myself actually wanting to make the dish.
I’m chalking it up to the hormones that seem to be ravaging my 36 year old body. They’re doing some freaky stuff lately…
Whatever the reason though, I found myself head on with a bin of end of summer eggplant in the store recently.
They were perfect – all purple and pretty, no weird blemishes or soft spots and weirdly calling to me.
So, I put one in the cart along with every other ripe looking summer vegetable I could find determined to make the best of it and savor the season as long as possible.
With some of my favorite Sabra hummus flavors at the center as the perfect dipper (they pretty much cover every dietary niche there is being vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, nonGMO, and kosher) the result was this summer vegetable board.
When seemingly every vegetable in the produce department is fresh, local and ripe, it’s just what you do.
It also obviously means since pretty much all your hummus dippers are vegetables, you can eat as much as you want.
It’s science.
The eggplant fries did not disappoint.
Fresh out of the oven, the Italian herb flavor really shines and makes them a great choice for dipping in one of my favorite hummus go-to flavors: roasted garlic.
It’s the hummus I pick when there’s a crowd because who doesn’t love roasted garlic?!
With the baked parmesan cheese in the breadcrumb mixture, these eggplant fries are slightly reminiscent of a cheesy eggplant parm sub just in a much healthier way.
I’m not mad about it.
Try these eggplant chips too if you have a dehydrator! Or this air fried eggplant if you have an air fryer!
There’s a couple of tricks to getting these eggplant fries crispy and avoiding the usual mush downfall of most eggplant.
- Don’t crowd the sheet pan – make sure the eggplant is in a single layer with plenty of space to flip each over as they bake.
- Flip ’em! – giving each side a chance to brown up every 5 minutes while they cook. Tedious but definitely worthwhile.
- High temp – If you have a convection setting, feel free to use it too.
All the same tips that apply to jicama fries, another amazing veggie fry option!
Alternatively, you could try making the eggplant fries in the air fryer. I give that option for these baked asparagus fries too.
Just like this air fried tofu and air fryer okra, the air fryer does a great job of getting them super crispy!
Maybe it’s one of those weird instances of tastes changing as you get older, maybe it’s just my unwavering need to see summer through to the very end and get my fill of every possible ripe vegetable there is but I feel like eggplant and I are turning a corner…
Love this Italian Spiced Eggplant Fries recipe? Try one of these:
Curry roasted eggplant hummus burgers
Chipotle hummus fundido <– absolutely LOVE this one for any game day snack.
Bruschetta hummus stuffed zucchini – BECAUSE IT’S STILL ZUCCHINI SEASON!
Portobello fries – battered and pan-fried with a healthier, gluten-free twist.
Italian Spiced Eggplant Fries
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Trim eggplant ends and cut into about 3/4-1 inch thick sticks.
- Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan and spices in a large resealable plastic bag.
- Whisk egg white in a shallow bowl until foamy.
- Dip each eggplant stick in the egg white then place in the bag and shake until well coated.
- Place the coated eggplant sticks evenly on the baking sheet in a single layer and spray lightly with cooking spray.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping the fries every 5 minutes until golden brown on the edges.
- Best served warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Mmmmmm…..yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just starring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
I LOVE eggplant – why didn’t I think of this brilliance myself? Love this idea, Gina!
I need to try these immediately!! Love that you dip them in hummus!
These look so good! I have to try a gluten free version of this before eggplant is out of season!
Love the idea of eggplant fries! And using the hummus as a dip is genius.
Eggplant fries? That sounds like a dream! Cannot wait to chow down!
Looks like a delicious way to eat eggplant for sure! :)