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Air fryer parmesan truffle polenta fries make a tasty side dish or appetizer. This elegant take on regular or cornmeal French fries pairs beautifully with the truffle mayo dipping sauce. Serve crispy baked polenta fries at your next gathering and I guarantee everyone will want the recipe!
With the popularity of air frying and the versatility of polenta, it was only a matter of time before air fried polenta became a thing! And this air fryer polenta fries recipe shows you how to bring out the amazing flavor of polenta.
If you want more side dish ideas, how about making mushroom focaccia bread? These steak nachos are also really good, or you might like rainbow roasted carrots.
Air Fryer Polenta Fries Ingredients
You need quick-cooking polenta to make crispy baked polenta fries. Chicken stock (bouillon), garlic, butter, truffle salt, parsley, and truffle oil add plenty of flavour. The recipe also calls for both mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
The truffle mayo dipping sauce is made with sour cream, mayonnaise, truffle oil, truffle salt, and garlic paste. You can get truffle salt online if your grocery store doesn’t carry it. The same is true of truffle oil. You will find plenty of uses for both of these, including salad recipes and even gourmet mac and cheese.
How to Make Crispy Baked Polenta Fries
You’ll see there are more ingredients in air fryer parmesan truffle polenta fries than most recipes for fries. But trust me – this is well worth making!
The first thing to do is bring the chicken stock and garlic to a boil and then add butter. Turn down the heat and stir in the mozzarella, polenta, truffle salt, and pepper. Simmer the mixture until thick.
Pour the mixture into a parchment paper-lined baking dish and add parsley on top. Freeze for 2 hours. Cut the now-frozen polenta mixture into strips and brush them with oil. Sprinkle salt and parmesan cheese on top and air fry for 10 minutes.
To make the truffle mayo dipping sauce, simply stir the ingredients together. When the cornmeal French fries are done, toss them with a little more parmesan and truffle oil and serve with the sauce and a parsley garnish. A hot honey sauce would also be tasty with them.
How to Serve Air Fried Polenta Fries
It’s your choice whether to enjoy air fryer parmesan truffle polenta fries as a side dish or appetizer. They’d also make a great snack. You need to plan this dish ahead since there is a 2-hour freezing time involved.
As a side dish air fryer polenta fries would be great with steak, air fryer ranch chicken, a fried chicken sandwich, fish, or even a smash burger recipe. Maybe finish off your meal with a cold brew espresso martini and Olympic Village chocolate muffins.
They’re also perfect as an appetizer. If you love cornmeal French fries, I bet you’d also like chicken mozzarella sticks, another easy air fryer recipe. Polenta fries, along with jicama fries and air fryer carrot fries are a unique alternative to classic french fries.
Air Fryer Polenta Fry Recipe FAQs
There are various types of polenta to choose from. Polenta, which is basically ground cornmeal, is popular in Italy, especially in the north. It is usually made with corn yellow cornmeal although fine-ground white or yellow cornmeal are sometimes used.
These days there are more types to choose from, including pre-cooked and instant polenta. The finer the grind, the creamier the finished recipe will be. For air fryer parmesan truffle polenta fries, use quick-cooking or instant polenta, not the fine-ground traditional type which is soft and creamy.
You can with a couple of substitutions. Switch the chicken stock for vegetable stock for a vegetarian result. If you want to make it vegan, simply use vegan-friendly cheese alternatives rather than the mozzarella and parmesan. You can also use a vegan sour cream alternative for the truffle mayo dipping sauce, as well as a vegan mayonnaise alternative.
Store air fried polenta for up to 2 days. They reheat well in the air fryer at 400 degrees F and should take about 5 minutes.
Although potato fries don’t freeze well after cooking them, polenta is freezer-friendly. Put the polenta fries on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and freeze until completely frozen. Then you can transfer them into a Ziploc freezer bag. They will be good for about 2 months. Reheat them in the air fryer until piping hot. You can cook them from thawed or frozen. Of course they will take longer to heat through from frozen.
Air Fryer Polenta Fries Recipe
Air Fryer Parmesan Truffle Polenta Fries with Dipping Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Cup polenta, quick cook
- 3 Cups chicken stock
- 2 Teaspoon garlic, minced
- ¼ Cup salted butter
- 4 Ounces mozzarella cheese, black
- 2 Teaspoon truffle salt
- ¼ Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon parsley, minced, fresh Italian
- 1 Teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 4 Ounces parmesan cheese, block
- 1 ½ Tablespoon truffle oil
Truffle Mayo:
- ½ Cup sour cream
- 1 Cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp truffle oil
- 1 Teaspoon truffle salt
- 1 Teaspoon garlic paste
Instructions
- Add chicken stock and minced garlic to a medium saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the butter. Lower to a simmer and stir in the polenta, grated mozzarella, truffle salt, and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened.
- Line a 10×8” baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour polenta into the baking sheet. Sprinkle parsley over the top. Smooth polenta to cover the baking sheet entirely. Let cool, then place into the freezer for 2 hours.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking tray from the freezer. Carefully pull the parchment paper up to lift the polenta out of the tray. Use a sharp knife and cut into 1” thick x 4” long rectangles.
- Brush each polenta fry with truffle oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese and sea salt flakes over the tops. There should be truffle oil and parmesan cheese left over after this step
- Place fries into the air fryer basket in a single layer with ½” spacing. Cook for 10 minutes. Flip after 7 minutes. Work in batches to prevent overcrowding as this may affect the cooking time. Check to be sure the fries are golden brown.
- Meanwhile, prepare truffle mayo. Combine all ingredients into a small bowl and whisk well.
- Toss fries with remaining truffle oil and parmesan cheese. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with truffle mayo dip.
Nutrition
If you want an elegant side dish or appetizer, you can’t go wrong with polenta fries made in the air fryer. These irresistible polenta fries are perfect with homemade truffle mayo dipping sauce.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
I love this recipe, it’s so easy and it was so fantastic! My kids loved it too!
The perfect fries. Tastes so good and the texture is divine.
Recipes like this make me happy I have an air fryer. These are so more-ish!
Polenta is quite new to me but this recipe makes it so accessible. I love making this, every week!!
I love trying different kinds of fries to change things up. These came out perfect in the Air Fryer.
These look so good. Adding it to what I need to try with my new air fryer.
I love polenta! I just got on air fryer and excited to try these