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It’s All About The Portion Size: French Fry Bites

January 14, 2014   26 Comments

Snack Girl’s friend, Jerri, likes potatoes whatever way you serve them. Mashed, chips, baked, scalloped, or roasted he hasn’t met a potato he wouldn’t eat.

French Fry Bites

I am also a fan of potatoes and believe the low-carb diets out there have given them a bad rap. Why? They aren’t the equivalent to wheat bread or cupcakes. A medium potato has 70% of your daily value of vitamin C, 12% of your daily value of magnesium, and 30% of your daily value of vitamin B-6. Yes, potatoes have carbohydrates but they also have nutrients!

Now, French fries are deep-fried and deserve a bad reputation because of their fat content. Seems that when you put potatoes in oil, the potatoes soak it up and you get a fat bomb. (My book has an easy, incredibly tasty, non-fatty fry recipe – see Snack Girl To The Rescue!).

This “French fry bite” recipe is super easy, uses very little oil, and is cooked in a muffin tin:

They are both crunchy and soft (like a real French fry) but you miss the fatty wallop.

The reason why the photo above is only 9 bites is because my children started to eat them before I could photograph the tin. The conditions I work under can be extreme. The food literally disappears before I get a chance to photograph it.

I used shredded hash brown potatoes from the frozen section, and pre-grated part-skim mozzarella cheese. Am I lazy? Yes. The potatoes are already sliced and peeled (nothing is added). They only cost $2 for a 30 ounce bag so I did better than if I bought fresh potatoes.

The cheese is a rip-off but what are you gonna do? Sometimes, I can’t be bothered to get out my grater. Go ahead, flame me.

I made these as a half time snack for the latest round of NFL play-off games. YUM!

French Fry Bites Recipe

1.6 from 24 reviews

Makes 12 bites

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Ingredients

3 ½ cups frozen hash brown potatoes (keep frozen)
½ cup grated part-skim mozzarella
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
non-stick cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine potatoes, mozzarella, salt, and olive oil. Mix until combined and spoon mixture into the 12 cups. The mixture will almost fill each cup (these bake down to ¼ the initial size).

Bake for one hour in the lower third of the oven or until slightly browned on the top (see photo). Using a butter knife, gently loosen the French fry bite from the tin. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Facts

For one bite: 64 calories, 2.7 g fat, 1.1 g saturated fat, 7.1 g carbohydrates, 0.6 g sugar, 3.0 g protein, 1.1 g fiber, 158 mg sodium, 2 Points+

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes

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26 Comments:

Adorable! And few things are pleasing as cute food:)

Looks delicious. Is the 2 points plus for 12 French fry bites? Wasn't sure of the serving size. Thanks

Whats the serving size? This sounds delicious as I'm a potato-aholic myself!

I love your sense of humour, snack girl! And I'd never flame you for anything you did.

Keep it simple and you have more time for other things, like family.

@Judi - the serving size for the nutritional facts is one bite. I would expect that you would eat more than one though.

Thanks for your question!

There are few things in the kitchen worse than grating cheese. I love this idea, I am getting prepared to start my freezer meals and this would be a great addition to breakfast!

These look very good. My only issue is that I do NOT like washing muffin tins. (and I wash A LOT of dishes!) So I will use a large cookie scoop and bake them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.Thank you.

I save many of your recipes to try one day, but this one I will definitely be trying soon. I think my kids would really like it, and the hashbrowns make it so easy. My kids love baked potato wedges, but some days, sadly, I'm too rushed to wash and cut the potatoes. I often use frozen hashbrowns for an easy baked frittata but haven't tried them for something like this.

Oh Snack Girl - you are so funny; I literally laughed out loud as I read this post! This recipe sounds great - will give it a try. Thanks!

I can't wait to try these! I know my kiddos will love them. I suppose I could try different cheeses too like cheddar or pepper jack!

These look delicious and easy to make! My kids will love them. We all love potatoes but I don't seem to make them often. Thanks a bunch!

These sound AMAZING for a night in front of the tv! xo

I will go to the store today and get the frozen hash browns for this recipe! My son does not like any kind of potato unless it is a french fry but I think he would like these. I love the fact that they seem so easy. I am a lazy cook and only try new things if they have few ingredients and little prep time! Thanks for another great recipe!

Is shredded mozz cheese the same as grated??

@Heather - yes, it is the same. I believe you are right that they call the packaged cheese - shredded cheese.

Thanks for your question!

I love that your posts offer healthy alternatives and a touch of wit - you're the best. :)

These look delectable and perfect for entertaining. Like those appetizers you get at chain restuarants only WAY WAY BETTER

These would be tasty with an egg cooked on top of the muffin fries .

If anyone wants a nice brownie recipe to go along with the french fries check this out: http://paindoesnthurt.com/paleo-spicy-brownies/

Dear Snackgirl Ihave just read your lowfat hashbrown and cheese recipe and I thought that I would let you know that here in Europe there is a French manufacturer of kitchen equipment called Tefal. They make an amazing item that cooks chips, roast potatoes and wedges etc and all you add to the potatoes is one teaspoon (is that an American measurement?) of oil and set the times for about 30 minutes (variable to how brown you like the chips (French-fries, not what we call crisps) and the machine beeps at the end and you have really good chips. You can add flavourings to the potatoes before you start cooking, although I have never added cheese. I do not know whether this is available in the US, but it's a real quick and easy and not too messy solution. (One teaspoon is the equivalent of one quarter tablespoon)There are recipes in the manual too.

These look great and I can use a non-dairy mozzarella cheese that I love. Thanks

I love potatoes too but they digest into sugar immediately driving up blood sugar which may lead to a sugar spike then crash unless . . . combined with fats and proteins. Cheese, bacon, hamburger, chorizo, or pepitas will all combine to make this a healthier recipe. The fats and proteins help to slow digestion and keep blood sugar more balanced. Even if one is not diabetic one could still benefit from balanced blood sugar. How about making a couple of these with the mentioned additions a meal? It would be small, filling and stick with ya for awhile!

Love your blog and email updates. Thanks for all your yummy real world ideas. I read somewhere that potatos lose a lot of their nutritional value when frozen and that it's almost like a totally different food. It was in a book my daughter's friend received as a gift. I'll have to find it and send you a link. I'm not sure if it's true, but it would be a reason to use real potatos rather than the frozen prepared stuff. These look awesome!

I have seen several recipes online for sweet potato fries. This recipe could be adapted to be more healthy using sweet potatoes. Here is the percentage of daily value for sweet potatoes. One large sweet potato:

Vitamin A 1281.2%
vitamin C 52.2%
manganese 49.5%
copper 35.5%
pantothenic acid 35.4%
vitamin B6 33.5%
biotin 28.6%
potassium 27.1%
fiber 26.4%
vitamin B3 18.5%
vitamin B1 17.5%
vitamin B2 16.1%
phosphorus 15.4%
One large potato:
Vitamins
Amounts Per Selected Serving%DV
Vitamin A 9.0IU 0%
Vitamin C 22.2mg 37%
Vitamin D~ ~
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol)0.0mg 0%
Vitamin K6 .3mcg 8%
Thiamin 0.3mg 20%
Riboflavin 0.1mg 3%
Niacin 3.9mg 20%
Vitamin B6 0.8mg 40%
Folate 27.0mcg 7%
Vitamin B12 0.0mc 0%
Pantothenic Acid 1.5mg 15%
Choline 39.6mg
Betaine 0.6mg
Potassium 984mg 28%

High in Vitamin C and A, calcium, folate, B6 and beta-carotene.

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?dbid=64&tname=foodspice

Sweet potatoes have it all over white potatoes.

Read More on one white potato:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetabl…

I made these last night and they were great! It was a bit too much salt for us, so I'll cut back next time. And they stuck to the pan, which was no fun to clean up. So I might try Debbie's suggestion and put lumps on a parchment-lined sheet, or even just one big lump that I cut into wedges after baking. Anyway, they were yummy, and a big hit with the kids.

These look great! Could you bake and then freeze them for later?

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