Snapps Green Bean Fries (Dollar Tree)

Ah yes, another of the interesting vegan finds from Dollar Tree. Like just about everything else I have acquired from there, I went into this having no idea what to expect. Green Bean Fries? Let's see how this goes....

To buy your own green bean fries, you'll have to make a trip to your local Dollar Tree (one with a frozen department at that). I'm not aware of any other stores carrying these. One buck gets you 6 oz of battered green beans.

The packaging on these was certainly nothing fancy, no easy tear strip or anything, so you end up shredding apart cardboard to get to the green beans inside, which are then contained in a sealed plastic bag.

Nutritionally, the green beans themselves are fine... but the batter coating isn't. The bulk of the calories in this treat are coming from unhealthy white flour and oil. There's also way too much sodium. It's worth noting this small package contains *two* servings, keep that in mind when reviewing those nutrition facts!

The directions offered give you the choice of big oven, little oven, or deep fry. For such a small amount of green beans, I opted for the small oven. Though I didn't follow the toaster oven directions exactly, I ended up cooking them at 425F with the convection turned on for about 12 minutes total. Why are the directions so different for big vs little oven anyway??

I debated whether or not to spray down the cooking sheet, and the directions didn't mention it so I decided to skip it. I regretted that decision, as the directions say to flip halfway through the cooking time, and that simply was not going to happen. Still, they seemed to come out ok despite not being flipped, though I did have to carefully peel them off the foil.

Time to eat! I added a bit of salt to the "fries" and they were actually pretty tasty! Though as you can see, they weren't quite as evenly coated with the batter as the picture on the box. The coating still had a good crisp-ness to it, and the green beans were pretty good themselves; not at all rubbery. They make me think of tempura, though I don't know enough about tempura to really call these tempura green beans or not. But I do think tempura green beans is a better description than green bean fries.

Would I buy these again? I wouldn't go out of my way just to buy them, but if I happened to be at a Dollar Tree I would gladly grab a pack or 2.

Should you give them a try? If the idea of tempura green beans appeals to you, go for it! They do make for a tasty snack or side dish.