Breaded Parsnips

I haven’t posted much because I’ve been on single-parent duty all week while my husband was out of town for work, plus I had knitting classes with the middle schoolers at my daughter’s school, so there have been a lot of meals comprised of leftovers and other easy things.

Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be fish sticks and oven fries, but at the last minute I realized we were low on fish sticks. I get them from Costco which closes fairly early so I decided to supplement with something else instead. I started cutting up a parsnip from the fridge, intending first just to roast as I’ve done before, but then decided to experiment with them. I grabbed a box of panko bread crumbs from the pantry and went to town!

Breaded Parsnips Recipe

This is for a small amount. Increase as necessary.

1 medium-large parsnip, peeled
1 tblsp butter
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/8 tsp kosher salt (use less if using regular salt, kosher crystals are large and take up more room)

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Cut the parsnip into thin, long pieces.

Melt the butter in the microwave for about 20 seconds until it’s about half-melted, then stir it around to break up most of the lumps. You want it liquified but not runny because it’ll stick to the parsnips better if it’s closer to being solid.

Panko crumbs are bigger and crunchier than regular crumbs.

Mix the crumbs and salt in another bowl. Dredge the parsnips thoroughly in the butter, then the crumb mix, pressing down into the crumb mix to stick lots on. Don’t forget the ends too!

Place on a canola-spritzed, foiled sheet. Mine are beside the frozen fish sticks, which should usually be done at 475°F but I do them at 450°F for slightly longer because that’s the right temperature for the oven fries (which are HEB’s house brand, very not healthy but meh).

I tried mixing the small amount of leftover crumbs in the butter and tossing it all on top, hoping some would stick, but it didn’t. That works with an egg dredge better, I think, but I had so little parsnips that I didn’t want to waste most of an egg. I might try it again another time with egg instead of butter if my husband was home to make doubling the recipe worthwhile.

Ready for the oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes. I didn’t turn them because I didn’t want the breading to fall off, so the undersides got nice and toasty.

They crisped up quite nicely.

Result: quite nice! Nothing fancy, but tasty, easy, and at least slightly healthy, especially when compared to the fries!

The thickest one was ever so slightly underdone right in the middle, so be sure to cut them no more than about 1 cm thick in any direction.

Crunchy on the outside, firm but cooked on the inside.

I offered them to Peo as a special new treat, so she was willing to try one. She ate it and declared, “Mmm, tasty!” But that happens to be a quotation from Charlie and Lola that she uses for things she wants to be tasty but she’s really not terribly fond of. She later confessed that she really only liked the breading.

Test Subject Peo McCutieBraids.

Still, she was willing to try it, which is a win. And I thought they were delicious.

Breaded parsnips consumed, nom nom nom!