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Chili Cheese Fries Made Guilt-Free (Taco Style)

 

Chili Cheese Fries Made Guilt-Free (Taco Style)
Chili cheese fries are such a fun creation. They are a fast food favorite and are simply delicious. But, they are usually very fattening. No worries…Here’s my skinny version to the rescue! Terrific to serve for dinner or for gathering around the TV while watching sports. Each hearty, skinny serving has 334 calories and 8 grams of fat.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook and Bake Time: 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 334kcal

Ingredients

Ingredients for Chili:

  • 1 cup onions, chopped
  • 1 (1.25 pound) package 99% fat free ground turkey breast
  • 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • ¾ cup water
  • 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning, I used Lawry’s

Ingredients for Fries:

  • 12 ounces frozen French fries, I used Alexia 98% fat free frozen fries, see shopping tips
  • ¾ cup (3 ounces) reduced-fat cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup salsa, I used Pace Medium Chunky
  • ¼ cup  skinny ranch dressing or fat-free sour cream for each serving

Instructions

  • To Make Chili: Cook onions in microwave for 1 minute to soften. In a large, nonstick pan, brown turkey. Stir often and break up turkey into a crumble. Stir in onions, tomatoes, beans, water and taco seasonings. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  You will only use ½ of this chili recipe (3 cups chili) for the 4 servings.
  • To Bake Fries: While chili is cooking, bake the fries. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil and coat all over with cooking spray. Spread the frozen fries evenly over the pan. Bake as directed.
  • To Assemble Each Serving: Line each plate with 12-15 baked fries. Pour ¾ cup chili on top of fries. Dollop a little salsa around the top of chili. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons cheese. Zap in microwave for 1 minute. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon skinny ranch dressing or fat-free sour cream and serve. Repeat for the 3 other servings.

Notes

Makes 4 serving. Each serving of chili cheese fries includes ¾ cup chili, 12-15 fries, cheese, salsa and ranch.
*This chili makes 6 cups total. You’ll only use 3 cups for this chili cheese fries recipe. You can freeze the rest for another use. 

Food Facts

The origin of chili cheese fries is not really clear. Many want to take credit for creating this tasty dish so tracking down the actual origin is hard. There are a few different origin stories. What is known is that Chili Cheese Fries were being offered frozen as early as 1975.

Shopping Tips
I recently discovered Alexia 98% fat-free frozen fries and they are amazing. You can find them in most supermarkets in the freezer section with the other frozen fries. Heath food markets such as Whole Foods, sell them too. Nutrition Facts: for 3 ounce serving, 100 cal, 1.5g fat, 0mg chol, 2g prot, 20g carbs, 260mg sod, 2g fiber, 1g sugar
If you can’t find these, look for the lowest calorie and fat frozen fries available. Or, make my scratch recipe for Skinny Fries.

Storage and Serving Tips

Freeze the remaining 3 cups of chili, if desired. You could use the remaining chili to stuff a baked potato, create a taco salad, or enjoy in a bowl topped with chopped tomato, onions and little ranch dressing and salsa.

WW Freestyle SmartPoints
8Blue
WW SmartPoints
8-Green
WW POINTS PLUS
8
 
SKINNY FACTS: for 1 serving (¾ cup chili, 3 oz. fries, cheese, salsa and ranch dressing)
334 calories, 8g fat, 2g sat. fat, 17mg chol, 30g protein, 39g carbs, 7g fiber, 978mg sod, 5g sugar
 

Skinny Facts

Serving: 1servingCalories: 334kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 30gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 978mgFiber: 7gSugar: 5gBlue Smart Points: 8Green Smart Points: 8Plus Points: 8

If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it. Leave me a comment below or give it a rating. Thanks so much. Happy Skinny Cooking!

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