Name: Vegan Polenta Fries with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Ingredients: 4 cups water; Salt and pepper; 1 cup instant polenta; 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or ½ teaspoon dried; 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest; ½ cup vegetable oil; 1 recipe recipe

Why This Recipe Works

If you cook polenta and then chill it until firm, it slices easily into sticks that become crisp when fried and boast a creamy interior. We began our testing using instant polenta, to minimize time on the stove. Stirring oregano and lemon zest into the fully cooked polenta lent an aromatic backbone to our fries and helped brighten the flavor. We then poured our flavored polenta into a straight-sided 13 by 9-inch baking pan and let it set up in the refrigerator before slicing. Once our fries were cut, we looked at methods for cooking them. Deep frying resulted in fries that clumped together and stuck to the bottom of the pot, but pan frying in a skillet resulted in perfectly crisp fries with a tender and fluffy interior. We seasoned the fries lightly with salt as they came out of the pan. It's hard not to like traditional potato French fries, but these delicious polenta fries give them a run for their snack-time money.

Before You Begin

This recipe uses instant polenta, which has a much shorter cooking time than traditional polenta; do not substitute traditional polenta. We had good luck using Pastene Instant Polenta in this recipe. We like to serve these fries with our Creamy Chipotle Sauce, but they also taste good with marinara sauce or ketchup.

Instructions

Line 13 by 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease parchment. Bring water to boil in large saucepan over high heat and add 1 teaspoon salt. Slowly add polenta in steady stream while stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, until polenta is soft and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.

Off heat, stir in oregano and lemon zest and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour polenta into prepared pan. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm and sliceable, about 1 hour. (Polenta can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 1 day.)

Gently flip chilled polenta out onto cutting board and discard parchment. Cut polenta in half lengthwise, then slice each half crosswise into sixteen ¾-inch-wide fries. (You will have 32 fries total.)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering and edge of polenta sizzles when dipped in oil. Working in batches, fry half of polenta until crisp and beginning to brown, 6 to 7 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared rack, season lightly with salt, and keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining polenta and serve warm with chipotle sauce.