Tasty Loaded Carne Asada Fries (Whole 30 Option)

Healthy recipes for Game Day awaits! My Tasty Loaded Carne Asada Fries are a delicious way to enjoy classic Carne Asada Fries without sacrificing flavor or your health goals. 

This healthy Carne Asada Fries recipe still contains a lot of your favorite toppings such as light cheese, sour cream, homemade guacamole and diced roma tomatoes. 

You will love this recipe because the homemade fries are spiced to perfection and baked in the oven. You can top it with leftover carne asada or use the shaved beef in this recipe. 

To make these Carne Asada fries Whole 30 compliant, simply omit the sour cream and cheese. Or for a vegan option, use dairy free toppings and vegan chorizo.

Traditional Carne Asada Fries from your favorite Mexican restaurant normally contain deep fried fries and melty cheese galore. Making your own with baked french fries is a game changer! 

Be sure to check out: Hawaiian Roll Meatball Sliders and my Street Size Crispy Baked Shredded Chicken Tacos

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Ingredients 

• Russet potatoes. Russets are the best choice if you want your fries to be long. Yukon gold is delicious if you cut it into rounds or make sweet potato fries! 
• Extra virgin olive oil.
• Spices such as cumin, black pepper, kosher salt, garlic powder and paprika. Chili powder works too. 
• Shaved beef. Though this recipe is perfect for using leftover carne asada meat, shaved beef is great because it’s thin and cooks fast. Also it is low in fat and high in protein. 
• Sweet onion. White, yellow or red onion can be used as a substitute.
• Green bell pepper 
• Cilantro 
• Taco seasoning. The taco seasoning is for the shaved beef. This can be any taco seasoning of your choice. 
• Optional toppings: cheddar cheese, guacamole, diced roma tomatoes and sour cream. 

How to make Healthier Homemade Carne Asada Fries

1. Start with preheating your oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry the potatoes before cutting. Cut the potatoes vertically on a cutting board, about a 1/4 inch thick. 

2. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with the cumin, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and paprika. Place in the oven for 11 minutes then flip them with a spatula. Place back in the oven and bake for another 11-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

3. While the fries are cooking, start on the shaved beef. (You can skip this step if you are using leftover carne asada. If you are using leftover carne asada, reheat and cut into bite-sized pieces )

4. In a large pan over medium heat, add the remaining olive oil. When ready, add the onions and bell peppers. Let them cook for about 5-7 minutes and season with 1 tablespoon of the taco seasoning. 

5. Then add the shaved beef to the pan. Sear for about 3 minutes and add the rest of the taco seasoning. Let the beef cook for about 10 min or until no longer pink. Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water to the pan and stir. 

6. When it’s done, remove the heat and set aside.  

Assembling the Carne Asada Fries

There is a couple of ways to go about this depending on whether you are serving it on the sheet pan for a crowd versus individually plating. 

If serving for a crowd, keep the fries on the baking tray. Layer with a light spinkle of the cheese. Then place the warm beef on top. Add the remaining ingredients: a dollop of sour cream, guacamole and diced tomatoes and fresh chopped cilantro.

If you are plating individually, start with fries, add light cheese and then the beef. Finish with adding your remaining favorite toppings. 

Tip: If you want more melted cheese on top of your fries, place the fries back in the oven with the cheese on top and let it warm for about 4-5 minutes. 

Tips for making homemade french fries

For best results, follow these tricks for making baked fries at home. 

• Place the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. Make sure not to over crowd the sheet pan because this will cause the potatoes to steam and not roast. 
• After rinsing the potatoes, dry well with a clean kitchen towel.
• I recommend baking the fries in batches. This increases your cooking time but it results in crispy fries and not soggy ones. 
• Olive oil is your friend when preparing baked fries. 
• Be sure to flip the fries over half way through the baking process. 
• Fries can be cooked in an air frier as well. 

Delicious garnishes for Healthy Carne Asada Fries 

There are so many favorite fixings you can add to make these flavors explode such as: 

• Pico de gallo.
• Avocado slices. 
• Homemade nacho cheese or store bought nacho cheese sauce.
• Variety of cheeses such as sharp cheddar cheese, mexican blend cheese, queso fresco, cotija cheese, or pepper jack. 
• Green onion.
• Red salsa. 
• Green salsa. 
• Hot sauce.
• Jalapeños.
• Black beans.
• Lime juice. 
• Other marinated steak or meat. 

Serving suggestions

Healthy Carne Asada fries make a tasty appetizer! These are perfect to enjoy on Cinco de Mayo or big game day parties such as Super Bowl! 

Though the best flavor is when it’s nice and fresh, these delicious carne asada fries are good as meal prep.

You can easily make carne asada nachos by replacing the potatoes with tortilla chips. 

Tip: If you want to keep this low carb , you can omit the potatoes and use roasted cauliflower. 

This recipe makes 4-6 servings. 

If you are serving for a crowd, 4 large potatoes work great.  4 medium sized potatoes are better is you are serving individually as a dinner meal. Consider using only 2 large potatoes if you want to control the serving size a bit and want more protein on it versus carb from the potatoes. 

Storing and reheating

Store the fries and the shaved beef seperately in air tight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat the beef in microwave for about 1 minute 30 seconds and for the fries, heat the oven to 400 and place them on a sheet pan. Heat the potatoes in the oven for about 5 minutes. 

Recipe Inspiration

Some of the best carne asada fries can be found all over Southern California from Los Angeles down to San Diego. But my recipe inspo comes from cheese fries at California Burrito here in Seattle. My daughter got me hooked while I was pregnant. I was determined to create a Whole 30 version for my food blog incorporating baked golden fries and flavor packed toppings. 

Carne asada found in traditional mexican restaurants use flank steak or skirt steak and then they marinate it in orange juice. I found using shaved beef was the easiest way to prepare these Carne Asada Fries if I didn’t have actual carne asada on hand. 

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