I was intrigued with this recipe when I saw The Healthy Librarian had posted it on her facebook page. I have never had Chili Cheese Fries – in fact I don’t think I have ever seen them on a menu or seen a recipe for them before! Since I always enjoy the same recipes and foods that Deb The Healthy Librarian posts I knew I had to give this recipe a try.
Nutrition per serving (based on 4 portions): 308.7 calories, .675 g fat, 15.9 g protein, 62.5 carbs, 5.7 g sugar – See the recipe here.
Yesterday afternoon I prepped all of the ingredients for this recipe so come dinner time all we had to do was assemble our plates. This meal was so simple but delicious and hearty.
This recipe comes from Brandi who runs The Vegan 8 blog – where you can see her recipe for Low Fat Chili Cheese Fries.
Instead of using Brandi’s recipe for fries I made my own favorite oven fries using Jeff Novick’s method which is simple and results in perfect fries every time. Go ahead and bake your potatoes whole as you normally do. Let them cool and then refrigerate. Once they are completely cold you can easily slice them into wedges for “fries” and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Season with salt and pepper or no-salt seasoning and broil them until they are lightly browned – turning as needed. Perfect Fries! You can do this with sweet potatoes too and they are to die for!
I made Brandi’s chili recipe but I added an extra can of beans – pinto as that is what I had and I also added a 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin because we love that flavor in our chili. My vegan “cheese’ sauce was a little too runny so I added a couple tablespoons of cashews to it and it was really creamy and thick. A generous sprinkle of chopped cilantro over the top was all it needed. Hubby Tom and I both give it a two thumbs up! He remarked about how filling it was – guys love that!
Happy Healthy Plant Based Eating!
Tami
The Vegan 8
Thank you so much for making my recipe Tami! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! The cheese sauce is fairly thick, because you are blending up all the beans, so you may have just had a little extra broth. It should be a thick, but still pourable drizzle kind of cheese sauce, but I didn’t make it thick like a Mac ‘n’ cheese sauce for example, but you can certainly adjust it to your liking! Glad the cashews made it extra thick for you
Tami
Hi Brandi – I may have had too much broth because my sauce wasn’t thick at all but the cashews too care of that. It was a wonderful meal and hearty enough to fill up my hubby!
The Vegan 8
I just realized my comment got cut off! That keeps happening when I type comments on blogs from my phone! Anyways, I ended it saying thank you very much for making it and I really appreciate it 🙂 (Didn’t want you to think I just stopped mid sentence, haha)
Tami
I have a terrible time trying to comment from my phone! No worries – have a great day! 🙂
Jody - Fit at 57
I am so trying your method for oven fries. I hate the slicing part & if that makes it easier – I am going for it! 🙂
Tami
Jody this method makes the best fries! Once the potatoes are cold they hold together pretty good so you can slice them into fries. The broiler can get them nicely browned and it works well for both white and sweet potatoes! Enjoy!