Breaded Polenta Fries
These herbed polenta fries are coated in a mixture of breadcrumbs, black pepper, basil and parmesan and shallow-fried until golden brown. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Ingredients
For Polenta:
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal (pre-cooked)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
- 2 tablespoons parmesan powder (or finely grated parmesan)
For Polenta Fries:
- ¼ cup flour (see note 1)
- 1 egg (large, beaten with a little water)
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (see note 2)
- 3 tablespoons parmesan powder (or finely grated)
- 1 tablespoon dried basil (see note 3)
- black pepper (a pinch)
For frying:
- ½ cup oil (for frying, see note 4)
Instructions
For Polenta - Lump Free Version:
- Pour 1 cup of water into a saucepan and add salt. Bring it to a boil. When you see the water boiling, in a bowl or jug mix together the remaining water with cornmeal and pour it into the boiling water, stirring at all times (Don’t let the cornmeal mixture sit at a counter before you add it to the boiling water as it will thicken – you don’t want this!).
- Continue stirring until you see, polenta starts “spitting”. Then, reduce the heat and stir for 10 minutes. Pour the ready polenta into an 8-inch (20-centimetres) square pan lined with aluminum foil and let it cool down. Transfer to the fridge and chill from 1+ hour up to overnight (when making this in stages).
- Take the chilled polenta out from the pan and cut it into half and each half into 1-inch (2.5-centimetre) or thinner sticks.
For Polenta Fries:
- You will need 3 bowls, preferably shallow. One for flour, one for egg and one for a mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, basil and black pepper.
- Coat each stick in flour, then egg and finally in the breadcrumb mixture. In a skillet/frying pan, heat the oil and shallow-fry the sticks for about 3-4 minutes per batch, turning them over about halfway into frying or when the bottoms are nicely golden brown.
- If you can’t fit all of them on the same pan, be careful with the second batch. You might need to lower the temperature as they can turn dark quickly.
- Transfer them onto a plate lined with a paper kitchen towel to get the excess oil.
- Enjoy warm or cold!
Notes
- You don’t need to use flour for a gluten-free version. Just note that the crumbs will not stick as well to polenta (See photos).
- You can use any kind of dry breadcrumbs you want – homemade, store-bought, made either of bread or corn (for gluten-free version).
- Basil can be substituted with oregano or marjoram. You can also add less. 2 tablespoons are plenty too.
- You will be shallow-frying these polenta sticks which means you don’t need that much oil and ½ cup should be plenty for this batch.
- The quantity of polenta fries you get out of this recipe can vary, depending on how thick/thin you cut the sticks. I would not go thicker than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) per stick though. This recipe will yield about 3 portions when enjoyed as a snack.
- Please take the nutritional information as a guide only. The count per stick will be lower than shown here as you will not be using all of the breadcrumb mixture, egg nor oil. Unfortunately, it is not possible to state the exact number.
- If in doubt, please have a look at the post above this recipe card. It contains a ton of useful information, including a simple yet delicious dip that goes so well with these fries.
Nutrition
Calories: 112 kcal (6%), Carbohydrates: 8 g (3%), Protein: 2 g (4%), Fat: 8 g (12%), Saturated Fat: 1 g (6%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5 g, Trans Fat: 0.03 g, Cholesterol: 10 mg (3%), Sodium: 130 mg (6%), Potassium: 39 mg (1%), Fiber: 1 g (4%), Sugar: 0.3 g, Vitamin A: 30 IU (1%), Vitamin C: 0.01 mg, Calcium: 30 mg (3%), Iron: 1 mg (6%)
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