The Best Healthy Fried Food Makeover Recipes

August 27, 2019
Ditch the deep fryer, and instead oven "fry" your favorite foods for much healthier results. Here are EatingWell's best oven-baked recipes, including classic onion rings, crispy chicken nuggets, and avocado-fries.
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Avocado Fries with Sriracha Aioli

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Creamy avocados are a delicious foil to crunchy breading in this healthy oven-fried avocado fries recipe. Dip into spicy Sriracha dipping sauce for a flavor explosion. Save your ripe avocados for guacamole or toast--only firm ones will do when making these fries.

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Oven-Fried Pickles

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These oven-fried pickles get their crispy exterior from a dredge in flour, egg and whole-wheat breadcrumbs. Serve with a creamy herbed sour cream to take this easy app to the next level.

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Soy-Lime Baked Buffalo Wings

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Make this baked Buffalo chicken wing recipe at home to save 138 calories and a whopping 598 milligrams of sodium compared to the same number of deep-fried wings. If your market sells its chicken wings whole, you'll want to separate each into a "wingette" and a "drumette" so they cook evenly. They're easy to split apart with a sharp knife. Serve with carrot sticks, celery and ranch (or blue cheese) dressing.

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Onion Rings

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We couldn't get enough of these crunchy onion rings in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. Try any seasoning blend that you have on hand to add flavor to the breading or substitute 1 teaspoon salt instead. Seasoned whole-wheat breadcrumbs are available in some supermarkets and natural-foods stores. If you can find them, try them in place of the plain breadcrumbs and seasoning blend.

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Oven-Fried Beef Taquitos

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This healthy beef taquitos recipe calls for baking instead of deep-frying, making the taquitos substantially healthier than what you'd get at a restaurant. One order of these little deep-fried, rolled-up tacos at a restaurant can set you back almost 1,000 calories and 60 grams of fat! Don't worry if some of the taquitos crack open while baking--they're still crispy and delicious. Serve with your favorite salsa, guacamole and reduced-fat sour cream.

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Crunchy Popcorn Cauliflower

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A cunchy, savory pretzel-pecan coating turns roasted, caramelized cauliflower into an irresistible appetizer or kids' snack that mimics flavored popcorn. Serve this popcorn cauliflower straight from the oven with a dipping sauce and watch these tasty little bites disappear.

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Sweet Potato Chips

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Make perfectly crunchy veggie chips at home with this healthy recipe. Use a mandoline to slice the sweet potatoes extra-thin for the optimum crunch!

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Oven-Fried Chicken

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Great news--crunchy, flavorful fried chicken can be healthy with this oven-fried chicken recipe. We marinate skinless chicken in buttermilk to keep it juicy. A light coating of flour, sesame seeds and spices, misted with olive oil, forms an appealing crust during baking. And with only 7 grams of fat per serving in this oven-fried chicken recipe--rather than the 20 in typical fried chicken--that is good news.

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Oven-Fried Fish & Chips

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Fish and chips are traditionally sold wrapped in paper to soak up all the grease--not a good sign. To cut the calories in half and reduce the fat, we coat the delicate fish in a crispy cornflake crust and then bake it along with sliced potatoes. Serve with: Coleslaw and malt vinegar or lemon wedges.

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Oven-Fried Zucchini Sticks

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Our oven-baked zucchini sticks taste every bit as good as their deep-fried brethren with only a fraction of the fat and calories. Serve with a side of your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.

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Oven Sweet Potato Fries

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Making oven fries out of sweet potatoes brings out their inherent sweetness.

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Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers

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Instead of batter-dipped, deep-fried nuggets, we coat chicken tenders in a seasoned almond and whole-wheat flour crust and then oven-fry them to perfection. With half the fat of standard breaded chicken tenders, you can enjoy to your (healthy) heart's content.

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Sriracha-Buffalo Cauliflower Bites

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This recipe for spicy Buffalo cauliflower bites is a great vegetarian alternative to Buffalo wings. Roasted cauliflower stands in for chicken and provides more fiber and fewer calories. Serve this easy appetizer with carrot sticks, celery and your favorite ranch or blue cheese dressing.

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Polynesian Glazed Wings

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Serve these baked appetizer wings for a party. The prep is quick: buying frozen chicken wing drumettes saves you having to split the wings yourself.

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Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Blackberry Mustard

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Tossing chicken tenders with cornmeal gives these chicken nuggets great crunch without deep-frying. Blackberries (or raspberries, if you prefer) combined with whole-grain mustard make for a sweet-and-savory dipping sauce. Serve with: Steamed broccoli and carrots.

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Baked Coconut Shrimp with Tangelo Salsa

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A sweet-and-sour tangelo salsa complements the toasty coconut crust on these sassy little coconut shrimp. Serve these healthy baked coconut shrimp as a plated first course with the tangelo salsa or as a passed hors d'oeuvre. Be sure to use unsweetened shredded coconut or this baked coconut shrimp recipe will be too sweet--look for it near other baking supplies or in bulk at natural-foods stores or well-stocked supermarkets.

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