Award-winning New York City chef Dan Kluger is known for his farm fresh and seasonally driven American cuisine with his restaurants Loring Place in Greenwich Village, Greywind in Hudson Yards, and others. So, yes, when it comes to sports-related noshing, you know he’s got something special in the works. His go-to vegetarian game-day snack takes the idea of French fries and mayo and kicks it into high gear with super crispy pieces of butternut squash and a rich, tangy lemon-parmesan aioli. While you may mainly think of butternut squash as the basis for a delicious winter soup, if prepared correctly, it makes a nutritious version of fries that you’ll go back to again and again.
The key is to roast the peeled ½-inch squash wedges that have been tossed in olive oil, lemon zest, sage, red and black pepper, and salt before they’re battered and fried. Kluger uses an OXO non-stick cooking and baking rack set on a rimmed baking sheet and roasts the fries for about 20 to 25 minutes in a 375-degree Fahrenheit oven. “We want the fries to basically be tender and start to caramelize a little bit,” Kluger said during a cooking demonstration at the OXO Chefs in Residence Big Game Event held on January 30, 2025 at Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant Metropolis in Manhattan.
Dan Kluger’s secret for an extra crispy crust
One of chef Dan Kluger’s secrets for an extra crispy crust for his butternut squash fries relies on the kind of liquid he uses in the batter. It starts with all-purpose flour and cornstarch to which he adds equal parts sparkling water and vodka. “The vodka is there to add moisture to give the batter the consistency, but the vodka is going to boil off when it’s fried,” Kluger said. “It creates a crispier, lighter batter.” Indeed, the squash fries were incredibly light and crispy.
He cooks the squash fries in small batches in a neutral oil like canola or peanut at between 360 degrees Fahrenheit and 370 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring frequently for around two minutes before setting them on a paper towel and finishing them with salt and chopped parsley. The batter works well with a variety of other vegetables. “You can do this with asparagus, with zucchini, really anything that will fry up well,” Kluger said. If you do happen to try this with asparagus, be sure to treat them like a bouquet of flowers by storing them in the fridge upright in a jar of water until ready for use so that they stay as fresh and crisp as possible.
The surprise ingredient Chef Dan Kluger uses in his aioli
For the accompanying fry dip, which is an aioli as opposed to mayonnaise, since it’s made with olive oil and doesn’t contain eggs (although some aiolis do), chef Dan Kluger uses grated Parmesan cheese, lots of lemon zest, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, champagne vinegar, salt, pepper and white miso. “The miso is for umami, but it’s also going to help blend it, and bind it,” he said. He combines the ingredients in a blender and then slowly adds olive oil.
The trick here is to let everything blend together for a good bit. “If you don’t blend it enough, it won’t emulsify,” Kluger said. “[The aioli] gets creamy from blending it for a long time.” If you’re pressed for time when you’re hosting friends for game day, you can make the aioli up to two days ahead of time and can roast the squash fries several hours before you fry them. Like Kluger’s batter, the aioli is super versatile. And it’s delicious. “It’s really addictive,” he said. “It can be used on anything from a sandwich to a dip to a salad dressing.” Put it all together and you have a nutritious and vegetarian game day snack.
