The best poutine recipes to try this weekend

Poutine is one dish that’s uniquely Canadian. I’ve had friends in California ask me to wrap some up and bring it with me on my road trips, and although there’s no way it would survive 20 hours in a car without getting soggy, I like to compensate by whipping up a few poutine recipes in their kitchens when I’m visiting. With something this good, it’s nice to share.

That delicious mix of French fries, cheese curds, and gravy is amazing on its own, but when you get creative with poutine recipes, the sky is really the limit. That’s when you can make a dish of poutine the center of an entire meal.

Before I share a few of the best poutine recipes I’ve found, here’s what you’ll need to make poutine in your kitchen.

Mandolin slicer

Making your own home fries is easy with a mandolin slicer.

Fryer

You can bake your fries for poutine, but for that extra touch of crispiness, you can’t go wrong with a fryer.

Cookie sheet       

If you don’t want to deep fry, a heavy duty cookie sheet will bake your French fries to perfection.

The best poutine recipes

Classic poutine

This is the starting point from which all poutines begin, and if you’ve never made it on your own or you’re sharing with someone who has never tried poutine, this is poutine recipe is where you should begin. Recipe and photo from Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

1 quart vegetable oil for frying
1 (10.25 ounce) can beef gravy
5 medium potatoes, cut into fries
2 cups cheese curds

Directions

Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep heavy skillet to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C). While the oil is heating, you can begin to warm your gravy.

Place the fries into the hot oil, and cook until light brown, about 5 minutes. Make the fries in batches if necessary to allow them room to move a little in the oil. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Place the fries on a serving platter, and sprinkle the cheese over them. Ladle gravy over the fries and cheese, and serve immediately.

Sweet potato poutine with turkey bacon and cranberry

Want to lighten up your poutine a bit? You can still enjoy fries, even if you’re trying to cut calories. Just take a look at this photo and try this Sweet Potato Poutine from healthyrecipeectasy.com. It’s got the flavour of Thanksgiving without all the calories.

Sweet Potato Fries:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch long slices, then ¼-wide inch strips
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Cranberry Gravy Sauce:
½ cup cranberries (I used frozen cranberries)
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon honey
¼ cup butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water

Fried Sage Leaves:

2 tablespoons coconut oil
8 fresh sage leaves

Bacon and Cheese Garnish:

4 slices Turkey bacon
1 cup mozzarella

Instructions

Sweet Potato Fries:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on two prepared baking sheets, making sure not to overcrowd. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning over halfway, about 25 minutes. Keep an eye on the sweet potatoes as they can burn fast near the end of cooking time.

Cranberry Gravy Sauce:

In a medium saucepan, heat cranberries, water and honey to boiling. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes or until cranberries start to break down. Cool about 5 minutes. Puree the cranberry mixture in a blender until smooth.

Add butter, chicken broth and pureed cranberries to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Make a slurry by mixing 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water in a small bowl. Slowly add the cornstarch slurry to the simmering sauce. Bring the sauce back up to a boil and then turn down heat again and simmer for another 5 minutes, whisking constantly until thickened a bit. Set aside and keep warm.

Fried Sage Leaves

Heat coconut oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Add sage leaves and fry for 30 seconds or until crisp. Drain on a paper towel.

Bacon and Cheese Garnish:

Cook turkey bacon in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool then crumble.

Preheat broiler to high. Add the fries to a medium cast iron skillet. Top the fries with crumbled turkey bacon, bocconcini and fried sage. Put the skillet in the oven and broil for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to melt. Watch carefully as the fries can burn quickly.

Pour the sauce over the fries and cheese and serve immediately.

Poutine pizza recipe

Although eating healthy is good for you, sometimes you don’t want to count calories or fat. In that case, you need to make yourself a poutine pizza. Just look at the photo and imagine how amazing it would taste on a night in with a movie. Recipe from food.com.

Ingredients

1 package store-bought pizza dough
650 g frozen French fries
½ cup poutine gravy, divided
2 oz New York strip steak, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 ½ cups cheese curds
Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

Special equipment: 12-inch pizza screen
Preheat oven to 550ºF.

Stretch pizza dough to fit 12-inch pizza screen.

Dock dough (randomly pierce the dough with a fork).

Spread ¼ cup gravy across the dough.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese and thinly sliced NY strip.

Bake 8 minutes.

Remove from oven, add French fries, cheese curds and drizzle the remaining gravy on the pizza.

Bake for an additional 3 minutes.

Poutine recipes are the perfect dish to serve on a night in with or without friends. Set yourself up for making poutine recipes by visiting small appliances and bakeware on Best Buy right now.