Can you make fried foods healthier? I thought about it.. What if I pulverized high-fiber breakfast cereal in a blender to make a crumb coating? It worked! Not only were the resulting baked onion rings crispy and high in fiber, they were also low in fat and highly delicious. And onion rings aren't the only fried food you can re-create with my "faux-fry" technique. Use it to give a diet-friendly makeover to chicken fingers, popcorn shrimp, jalapeño poppers, and more. Here's everything you need to start faux-frying!
INGREDIENTS
Fat-free liquid egg substitute: This stuff keeps the crumbs on your food! And using egg substitute rather than whole eggs saves you fat and cholesterol. A quarter-cup serving of egg sub (which is generally just real egg whites with added nutrients) has about 30 calories. You can use egg whites, if you'd prefer, but egg substitute generally works best.
High-fiber cereal: Look for twig-shaped cereal, not flakes, with 80 calories or less per 1/2-cup serving. The twigs yield the perfect breadcrumb-like texture. I'm a huge fan of Fiber One Original bran cereal, which has just 60 calories per 1/2 cup, plus 14 grams of fiber. Other good choices? All-Bran Original cereal (which is aspartame-free) and all-natural Nature's Path Organic SmartBran cereal.
Spices and herbs: Season your cereal crumbs to cut some of the sweetness and enhance the savory flavor. For onion rings, I like garlic powder and onion powder. For eggplant Parmesan, Italian seasoning does the trick. Salt and black pepper work well with everything. If you're watching your sodium, salt-free seasoning blends like the kinds by Mrs. Dash are fantastic.
Protein or veggies: Pretty much any food you'd enjoy fried can be faux-fried. Use chicken to make nuggets, chicken Parm, drumsticks, and even boneless Buffalo wings... the trick to that last one is adding hot sauce to the egg bath! I also like shrimp, fish fillets, and calamari rings. When it comes to veggies, onions are an obvious pick -- but try green beans, zucchini slices, and halved jalapeños (stuffed with light cheese!).
Fun extras: Take your cereal coating to the next level by adding crushed baked chips (BBQ flavor works amazingly well for chicken wings), grated Parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs, or coconut (hello, coconut shrimp!). And flavor up your egg substitute with hot sauce, light salad dressing (like honey mustard or ranch), or BBQ sauce. Like I said... fun!
TOOLS
Blender or Food Processor: The easiest way to get uniform crumbs is to use a blender or food processor. I like to grind up a big batch of the cereal at once and store it in an airtight sealable container. If you're going that route and then following a Hungry Girl recipe that calls for the whole cereal, know this: The crumbs measure out to be about half the amount of the cereal itself. So if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup cereal, you'll need about 1/4 cup of the crumbs.
No Blender? No Problem - Just put the cereal into a sealable plastic bag. Pound with a meat mallet or heavy can until it's reduced to crumbs.
Wide Bowls: You'll need two bowls, one for the egg and another for the cereal crumbs. Wide bowls allow you to easily coat the food. If you'd prefer, you can put the seasoned ground cereal in a sealable container and coat your food Shake 'N Bake style.
Baking Sheet: A sheet is great because you can spread out the food to make sure it crisps up nicely. A pan can be used to make layered chicken or eggplant Parm. And, of course, you'll need an oven! It's also helpful to have an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is heating to the right temperature.
Stove-Top Alternative - You can use a skillet for smaller dishes, like a single chicken cutlet. Cook over medium heat, and flip halfway through.
Nonstick Spray: This is the key to making sure your crumb coating sticks where it's supposed to -- the food! Spritz the baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. You can also give a spritz to the top of the food -- this helps the coating get a bit crunchier. Just don't go overboard... even "calorie-free" foods like nonstick spray typically have some calories.
Helpful Extra: Tongs - While these aren't required, they're really helpful when transferring food from the egg wash to the cereal coating, and then to the sheet, pan, or skillet. And they'll keep your fingers from getting coated in eggs and crumbs.
What is Faux Frying? How to do it:
That's right. Fiber One Ceral allows us to whip up swaps for fatty fried favorites. We're gonna break it down into super-simple steps for ya...
1. Place cereal in a blender or food processor and blitz it until reduced to a breadcrumb-like consistency.
2. Season up your crumbs, in a sealable bag or a container with a lid. (Seal and shake to mix!) For something savory, go with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or your favorite seasoning blends. For sweets, try no-calorie sweetener, cinnamon, and/or pumpkin pie spice.
3. Coat your food of choice with fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original). Give it a shake to remove any excess egg sub, and then evenly coat it with the seasoned cereal crumbs.
4. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake at 375 degrees until the insides are cooked through and the coating is crunchy, about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through. Tada!
