Air-Fryer Turnip Fries

Turnip Fries – a healthier twist on a traditional french fry made with nutrient-rich and lower-carb turnips roasted in an air-fryer or convection oven. Plus, I have added a low-fat high protein chipotle dip to make it even tastier!

I don’t know about you but I love french fries! I mean I really love them! But they aren’t exactly the best thing to be eating when you are trying to lose weight. And let’s face it fried food isn’t the best thing to be eating ever really.

Losing weight for me has never been easy so I have recently gone back to my roots and started tracking my calories. Not something I plan to do forever but every once in a while it is good to reset and see where I have fallen off track. When Culinary Tools asked me to partner with them to review their new Weight Loss Calculator I jumped at the chance. I found this tool to be full of great information.

Under the Nutrition Tab, is where you will find your calories per day suggestions by carbs, fat, and proteins. It then clearly breaks out how many calories and the macro split to eat per meal, not just per day which if find super helpful and you can adjust this by how many meals you plan to eat per day. I eat only 4 meals because I usually fast in the morning until about 11:00 so this feature is fantastic!

I learned to love turnip fries first by eating sweet potato fries but they are still quite high in carbohydrates. Then a friend told me that she had fallen in love with turnip fries. At first, I was like hell no. Turnips? To be honest, at the time I had no idea what a turnip tasted like. I just know that most people turn their noses up at them so I went right there. No way!

So What Do Turnips Taste like?

Turnips are actually very similar in my opinion to the flavor and texture of sweet potatoes. When air-fried or baked they become soft and sweet with crispy edges. They do have a slightly spicier taste to them than a sweet potato though which I really like.

When eaten raw they taste like a cross between a cabbage and a radish with a slightly bitter flavor and a texture much like a potato. Eaten this way you can add them to salads or as a crunchy veggie to munch on.

Are turnips lower-Carb than potatoes?

Turnips are much lower-carb than potatoes. One cup of cubed turnip is about 4.2 g of carbohydrates whereas the same size serving of russet potatoes is 13.5 g of carbs. That is about 1/3 less! Click here for a more in-depth comparison of turnips vs. potatoes.

Ingredients you will need for Turnip fries:

• 2 lbs turnips
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Low-Fat Chipotle Salsa Dip ingredients:

• 1/2 cup smooth cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chilli powder

How To make French Fried Turnips

To make the chipotle salsa dip simply add all the ingredients to a small bowl and mix well until combined. Serve alongside the air-fried turnips.

Now I am not going to profess that this turnip fries recipe is as good as actual french fries straight out of a fryer. But as a low-carb substitute or healthy snack idea, they hit the spot. Turnips have higher water content and are much less starchy than an actual potato so they will never get as crispy but the sweet flavor and crispy edges when air-fried are really good.

Some of my other favorite healthy snacks with a twist are:

• Air-Fryer Korean BBQ Cauliflower Wings
• Snickerdoodle Dessert Hummus
• Warm Cherry Greek Yogurt Parfait