Potato Chip Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce [Sponsored Post]

These easy & tasty Potato Chip Zucchini Sticks are perfect for entertaining. The trick is using LAY’S Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Potato Chips! (Jump directly to the recipe.)

This post was sponsored by Frito-Lay. I’m teaming up with Frito-Lay this summer to bring you recipes using LAY’S potato chips. I was compensated for this post and for developing the recipe. However all opinions below are completely my own and not endorsed by Frito-Lay.

It seems like all my friends are having a love affair with zucchini at the moment. I occasionally flirt with the green squash. But all of a sudden this vegetable, one that I never really gave much thought to, is all over the place. Zucchini pasta. Zucchini tots. Zucchini noodles. Zucchini casseroles, fries, and bread. This little summer vegetable really gets around and I for one decided it was time for me to give it another look at it. So when LAY’S potato chips asked me to come up with one more perfect for summer recipe, I figured I’d take another look at zucchini. Turns out zucchini sticks with marinara sauce was an easy appetizer that made me re-exam that summer squash everyone loves so much. And low and behold, I found that I too was smitten.

I have fond memories of the first time I had a zucchini stick. I was in high school and the appetizer was breaded, deep fried and served with red marinara sauce on a cheap red and white checkerboard vinyl tablecloth at one of those chain Italian-American restaurants that we all know and love. My tablemates were surprised that I had never had this ubiquitous starter but my parent’s rarely frequented this sort of place. In fact, whenever we ate out, it was mostly at Chinese-American restaurants (my parents were never the adventurous type). So my friends were highly amused when I went to town on the deep fried vegetable, finishing the basket of them and ordering a second basket.

But strangely, it never occurred to me to actually make zucchini sticks at home. Maybe it was the deep-frying. I’m not fearful of deep-frying (in fact making fried chicken is actually one of my all time favorite things to do, even if it does make my tiny one-bed room apartment smell like a fast food joint). But the idea of using up all that oil for mere zucchini sticks just seemed like a lot of effort. Enter the genius idea of using potato chips, specifically LAY’S Kettle Cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper flavored chips. Not only are the chips already kettle cooked with an irresistible crunch but they were seasoned with salt and pepper. All of sudden I didn’t have any excuses not to make zucchini sticks at home. And just like that, I found myself falling in love with zucchini like my friends. I hope my partner AJ doesn’t get too jealous of my new love affair.

A special thanks to Frito-Lay for sponsoring this post. Check out more great summer recipes at Frito-Lay’s Summer Hack Pinterest Board!