Potatoes are a nutritious but bland vegetable, but turning the starchy veggies into french fries or curly fries turns a nutritious vegetable into a snack that’s bad for your health.

If you’re missing salty curly fries, you can try a healthier alternative: Butternut squash curly fries.

Fast food curly fries are bad for you

Curly fries are junk food or processed foods with little to no nutritional value. Other junk foods can also contain harmful ingredients.

That said, many people enjoy junk food because compared to organic ingredients, the former is delicious, more widely available and cheaper. But health experts warn that a diet full of junk food can cause food addiction, overeating and obesity.

French fries are very popular, along with other kinds of fried potato-based foods like curly fries. But like other junk foods, deep-fried potatoes are very bad for you.

Research suggests that the consumption of deep-fried foods like curly fries is linked to “inflammation, heart disease and impaired artery function,” along with other health problems.

Fried potatoes are also full of calories and fast-digesting carbs. For example, one large order of Arby’s Curly Fries contains 650 calories, 35 grams of fat and 77 grams of carbs, with only seven grams of dietary fiber.

Butternut squash, a vitamin-rich superfood

The recipe below uses butternut squash, a nutritious superfood that can help boost your eye health and promote weight loss.

It can improve your eye health

Butternut squash is rich in beta carotene that your body turns into vitamin A. Beta carotene can help prevent eye problems like dry eyes and night blindness.

Butternut squash also contains vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin, all of which can help prevent cataracts or macular degeneration.

It can help prevent blood pressure

Butternut squash is rich in potassium, a mineral that helps lower your blood pressure. It can also help counteract the effects of sodium.

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, consuming foods full of potassium can help lower your blood pressure if your diet contains too much sodium. Following a balanced diet and managing your blood pressure so it stays within the ideal range helps lower heart disease risk.

It can promote weight loss

Healthy snacks like butternut squash curly fries have low energy density, meaning they provide a lot of nutrients without containing a lot of calories.

Eating right and choosing low energy density snacks can help promote weight loss because their high water and fiber contents make you feel full longer.

How to spiralize butternut squash

To make guilt-free curly fries, you need to spiralize butternut squash.

1. Get a large butternut squash that is more cylindrical than round. The long part needs to be as long and straight as possible.
2. Place the butternut squash lengthwise on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to carefully chop the bottom bulbous part off. Save it for another recipe because the rounded end contains seeds and innards that don’t do well for spiralization.
3. Peel the butternut squash using a julienne peeler or potato peeler. Remove the white layer underneath the tough cream-colored skin of the vegetable.
4. Chop the long part in half until you have butternut chunks that are about three to four inches long.
5. Place one of the butternut chunks in the corer of the spiralizer. Start processing the butternut squash until you have enough.
6. If you don’t have a spiralizer, use a mandoline slicer or a V-slicer fitted with a 1/8-inch julienne attachment. Position the vegetable on the mandoline vertically so the strands are as long as possible.

Guilt-free curly fries

Curly fries are a tasty snack, but this version substitutes nutrient-rich butternut squash for potatoes. This recipe is from Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough’s “The Essential Air Fryer Cookbook.”

And instead of being deep-fried, guilt-free curly fries are air fried, which helps reduce your intake of unhealthy fats. Eat the curly fries on their own, or use your dipping sauce of choice.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound of spiralized butternut squash strands (This is for a 2-quart fryer. If you own a 3.5-quart or 5.25-quart fryer, make more spiralized squash.)
• Olive oil, as needed
• Coarse sea salt or kosher salt, to taste

Preparation:

1. Place the basket (or basket attachment) in the air fryer and heat it to 375 F or 370 F or 360F, if either is the closest setting.
2. Place the spiralized squash in a big bowl. Coat the strands with olive spray, toss well and coat again. Toss the veggies several times to evenly coat all the strands with olive oil.
3. When the machine is at temperature, pour the strands into the basket then spread them out into an even layer. Air-fry for 16 minutes. Toss and rearrange the strands every four minutes or until lightly browned and crisp.
4. Pour the curly fries into a serving bowl. Add salt to taste, toss well before serving hot.

Ditch the chips and regular potato curly fries. For a healthier snack, try making guilt-free butternut squash curly fries.

Sources:

MindBodyGreen.com

Healthline.com

HealthyEating.SFGate.com

TheRoastedRoot.net

AmericasTestKitchen.com