Oven Fried Zucchini Chips

My bounty of zucchini continues to grow as I continue to try to come up with different ways to use it.  Last night I made some mushroom won tons from my Cooking Light book that came out tasting OK, but not great - especially considering the effort.  The good thing is that the won ton recipe suggested dipping them in marinara sauce, which I also thought would be perfect for this oven fried zucchini chip recipe I found.  So, two birds, one stone.  My only challenge was that Cooking Light called for "fat free marinara sauce."  OK, I thought, how hard could that be?  It's red tomato sauce, not alfredo.  But every single brand had fat in it...except one.  So that's the one I bought.  And it tasted just like any other marinara sauce, so I didn't even miss the fat.  Anyway, on to the recipe.  

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini, cut crosswise, on a slight bias, to 1/4 inch thickness  (my zucchini was so huge, I only needed one)

2 eggs, beaten  (I used about a half cup of Egg Beaters)

1 cup flour

1 cup plain bread crumbs (I used Italian, since my plain bread crumbs were so old)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese  (I only used about 1/4 cup, cuz I'm trying to be healthy and all)

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

cooking spray (I use Canola)
fat free marinara sauce for dipping

Place the zucchini rounds in a single layer on a paper towel. Lightly sprinkle the zucchini with salt, probably no more than 3/4 tsp. Let this sit for about 20 minutes then dab the tops of the zucchini with paper towels to absorb moisture.

This was all one zucchini!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place a wire rack on top of a foil lined baking sheet and spray the rack with cooking spray. Really get that sucker nice and oiled, otherwise your zucchini will stick.

Set up your breading station as follows: on one plate, season the flour with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, mixing it well; next to it, have a shallow bowl with your beaten eggs; and in a second shallow dish, mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Dip the zucchini rounds, a few at a time in the flour making sure to shake off extra flour. Follow this up by dipping the flour coated zucchini into the eggs then tossing them around in the bread crumb mixture. 

Line up the breaded zucchini on the wire rack.Lightly spray the tops of the breaded zucchini with the cooking spray and bake for a total of 20-25 minutes, flipping them over half way through cooking time. Be careful when you flip.  A few of mine tried to stick. A spatula helped get them up. When you flip them, spray the other side with cooking spray.  Serve with the marinara sauce (or if you don't care about being healthy, ranch dressing!)

These turned out quite good.  Next time I may try them with panko instead of regular bread crumbs.

You can see the ones toward the bottom where the breading came off a little when I tried flipping without a spatula.