Easy Oven Fries with North Idaho Fry Sauce (Vegan+GF)
So those of you who have been following for any amount of time know that I live in Idaho.
It’s still my absolute favorite place that I’ve been to in the States. I mean, I haven’t been to all of them, but I think I’ve had a pretty good taste of most of them. At least enough to be familiar with each area. For example, I know that I could never survive living in certain areas of the mid-west very long without going crazy over the flat boring landscapes. We drove through a lot of that when we moved and I have to say that the isolated feeling in some of the places kind of gave me the creeps.
Don’t get me wrong though, there are so many places that I love as well. I spent a lot of summers in Florida growing up and I’ve also been to the East and West Coasts, but there was just something about the Panhandle (that’s what they call the narrow part of the state) up here in the North that I fell in love with. I loved the wildlife and all of the pine forestry. We see moose and deer all the time and the winter snow was incredible.
I may have been born in the South East but when it comes to geographic locations I think my heart will always be stuck in the North West now. Sorry, I didn’t really plan to make this post some kind of tribute to North Idaho or anything but I guess I kind of did.
Anyway, if you’ve ever been in the North West then you may have discovered the phenomenon known as fry sauce at every food joint you visit. The thing that I find hilarious about it is that most of the recipes have about 3 ingredients with very little variation between them and yet everyone thought that one certain place or another had the best fry sauce and had their loyal favorite. It’s pretty funny.
Fry sauce is seriously the easiest thing ever and hardly counts as a recipe. It does however compliment, you guessed it, french fries perfectly. I made it to go with these oven fries that I made that are almost equally simple to the sauce and so good you’ll forget they’re not technically fried.
Easy Oven Fries with North Idaho Fry Sauce
Ingredients
Fries:
- 3-4 large russet or Idaho potatoes scrubbed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano and/or rosemary optional
Fry sauce:
- 1/3 cup tomato ketchup
- 1/2 cup veganaise
- 2 teaspoons worchestershire *see note
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- cayenne pepper to taste
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 C) and line a baking tray with foil.
-
Chop potatoes into matchsticks and toss with olive oil and seasoning in a large bowl and spread out in an even layer on tray and bake for 15 minutes. Then remove from oven and toss a little bit then return to oven and bake for 15 to 25 more minutes until crispy. I like to start checking them at about 10 minutes to make sure there are none getting burned. Remove from oven and season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Fry sauce:
-
Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl and serve with hot fries.
Recipe Notes
*Be sure to use a brand of worchestershire sauce that you've checked the ingredients because most worchestershires contain anchovy. Annie's makes a good one.
Oh, and before I go….
With all of this talk about Idaho I just have to share something my relatives sent me from their house. They still live in Idaho and apparently are now getting all of the luck. I lived there for 2 years and never saw a bear once, not one time, and now they have a family of them moving in! It’s so unfair!
10 Comments
Deborah @ The Harvest Kitchen
First – the fries look amazing – especially the sauce (I always have to have a sauce (usually ranch) with my fries). Will definitely make these (and the sauce)! And lastly – oh my gosh those baby bears are absolutely adorable – and the video of one climbing over the fence is awesome!! Love it!! Thanks for sharing the pics/video!
Tori
Thanks, Deborah!
Dani @ DaniCaliforniaCooks
I travel to Spokane every week for work and sometimes we head over to Couer D’Alene for dinner…their fries are the best!!
Tori
I love Coeur D’Alene too! Thanks, Dani!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
Oooh yum! I love russet potatoes and that fry sauce looks delicious 🙂
Tori
Thanks Medha!
Dimity
What part of North Idaho? I grew up in the Silver Valley and am always curious when people claim to be from there!
Tori
Coeur d’ Alene. Thanks, Dimity!
Kim
I’m an Australian who lived in Idaho for a year, and one of my favourite things while I was there was fry sauce too. We don’t have it here, and until right now I hadn’t realised it was an Idaho/NW thing – I thought it was just an American thing. So thanks for the recipe. I’m definitely going to try it out!
Tori
So cool to hear from a fellow ex-Idahoan I am so glad you like this recipe. I hope you enjoy it!