Carrot Fries Count as a Vegetable
When you can’t in good conscience serve french fries yet again, or when you seemingly can’t crack the code on getting your kiddo to eat this-or-that vegetable, I have two words for you: carrot fries. Carrots. In fry form. Think about it: in stick form they’re thin like french fries; they’re naturally sweet; and, yes, they look like sweet potato fries. Carrot fries.
Now, life–and especially raising small children–is never as simple as putting something in fry form, so we’ve taken a few steps to make your child want to eat carrots. Garlic butter would probably help, right? In there. Making the fries both crispy and creamy? Yeah, we did that. And the best part, at least for you: they are incredibly easy to make. So you can keep on making them until your child likes them. (Took the author six tries himself.)
- 2 large Carrots (or 8 baby carrots)
- Cornstarch
- neutral Cooking Oil (i.e., avocado, canola)
- 2 TBSP Butter
- 3 cloves Garlic
- Chicken Broth (or stock)
- Paprika
- Parsley
- Lime
Peel and dice the garlic cloves until finely minced. Chop your butter into two pieces.
- If using whole carrots, clean and peel and run them through a french fry/potato slicer to get them in stick form; alternatively, you can cut the carrots into form yourself. If using baby carrots, slice any thick pieces in half lengthwise.
In a small bowl, sprinkle cornstarch all over the carrot slices, then drizzle with oil; toss carrot slices until all are coated in oil.
- Using an air fryer, cook the carrots at 400 for 12 minutes, stopping heating at roughly 8 minutes to turn the carrot pieces over.
- While carrots cook, heat a small pan to Medium. Place a small amount of oil in the pan and swirl it around to ensure the base of the pan is coated.
- When the pan is hot, throw in chopped garlic and cook until it begins to brown, roughly 15-20 seconds. Add a splash of chicken broth and allow it to sizzle and reduce down for about 15 seconds.
- Add butter one piece at a time, swirling and mixing the piece until it melts; pull the pan from heat as soon as all the butter is melted.
- Sprinkle in paprika and parsley; mix to integrate. Squeeze lime all around the pan and mix together.
- Pour sauce over fries.
When you first serve this, go light on the sauce: wait and see how your child responds to the initial serving before dousing the rest (or not including altogether). If your child is skeptical and/or reticent when these are put before him or her, be honest about what they are but also encouraging and enthusiastic (because they taste really good)–for instance, we call them “surprise fries” in our house. Also: these can serve as a side dish for pretty much anything–burgers and sandwiches, pasta, a hunk of meat or fish–so keep putting them on the table until it clicks (or your child relents).
The same technique, with a few tweaks, can be applied to broccoli, too. Cut the stalks off, then boil the broccoli florets until slightly soft, about 1-2 minutes; cool until room temperature. With a flattener/tenderizer, spatula, or a strong palm, flatten the broccoli until it lays pretty flat; toss broccoli in oil and cornstarch, just like you did with the carrots. (I recommend adding grated parmesan to the mix, too.) Heat at 425 for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through the cook.
Brad (the Dad) is the founder and Chief Recipe Officer of New Dad's Kitchen. His own cooking/feeding journey started humbly during his son's infancy, preparing and managing his son's bottle intake in order to support his wife; it has since blossomed into a full-on passion to feed his child and family delicious and healthy meals that can satisfy both a toddler and his very tired parents.
