Oven Fried Okra

I am not an expert on okra. Nor am I a true Southerner.

My father-in-law showed up the other day with fresh okra, tomatoes, and squash that he had picked from the garden.

My only memories of okra as a child were not good ones. My grandpa had a huge garden and he grew everything imaginable. I mean everything. The only way he ever served okra was stewed. It was gluey, it was sticky, it was gross. Therefore, okra disappeared from my life for awhile.

Then, I married a Southerner. He loves fried okra. I have learned to like it and have made it a couple of times. Only on special occasions- like his birthday, or when someone is visiting or something like that because I don't like to fry food at home.

So, with all the okra I received, I didn't know what to do. I started looking through cookbooks and found this recipe for Oven Fried Okra from Cooking Light.
It sounded good and I was very curious to see how it would compare to the usual fried kind.

You slice the okra, soak it in buttermilk, then dredge it in cornmeal, which has a hit of cayenne, and oven fry it for about 40 minutes.

I thought it was good. Not as crunchy as fried, but still good. My kids and hubby liked it too.

But, I am not a Southerner, so I didn't mind that it wasn't just like fried okra. Some of the people who reviewed this recipe were not pleased. (you can rate and review recipes on myrecipes)

If you do make this, make sure when you are dredging the okra in the coating, that it doesn't get on there too thick. That happened to some of my pieces and they were a little dry.

I thought this made a good snack and was a nice alternative to fried okra. What do you do with okra? If you have a fave recipe, please share!


Recipe for Oven Fried Okra