Healthier Version of Animal Fries
What's in it?
Potatoes, Cheese Sauce (cauliflower, carrot, onion, garlic, cashews, nutritional yeast, sea salt, lemon juice, white wine vinegar), Thousand Island Dressing (cashews, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, salt, dill pickles, onion), Caramelized onions
Want the recipe?
Click here for the Cheese Sauce.
Click here for the Thousand Island Dressing.
Where did I find it?
My sister-in-law was visiting me from Chicago and she loves In & Out's Animal Fries. I had made some Cheese sauce and Thousand Island Dressing for her to try. She loved both and then it hit me...we could hand cut some russet potatoes, bake them without oil, caramelize some onions and top with both sauces to recreate a whole foods plant based treat.
Why do I like it?
This dish ended up tasting fantastic! It really satisfied the cravings for greasy junk food without any oil or animal products. We were both so excited to try it and it exceeded our expectations. If you make the sauces in advance all you need to do is cook the potatoes and when they are in the oven, caramelize the onions.
Directions for fries and onions:
To make the fries - preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use one organic russet or large Yukon gold potato per person. Scrub clean and leave skin on. Hand cut into desired thickness. Place in a bowl of ice water. Let potatoes soak while you prepare the onions.
Cut a large onion into a medium dice. Set aside.
Remove potatoes from ice water bath and drain excess water. Roll in a tea towel to dry. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Change oven setting to convection bake (if you have this option on your oven). Bake for about 40 minutes checking after 20 minutes and toss if necessary. Cook until crisp and browned.
While the potatoes are baking, heat a medium skillet on medium heat until hot (about 2 minutes). Add onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring from time to time until golden, should take at least 30 minutes or longer. If onions start to stick, add a splash of hot water to deglaze the pan.
Once onions and potatoes are done, heat cheesy sauce and assemble. Start with fries on the bottom, place onions in the middle, drizzle with warm cheesy sauce and cold/room temp Thousand Island dressing.