Burgers and fries are popular dishes during summer’s barbecue season, so spice up the traditional side of fries with a creative variety of flavorful toppings.

You can add a twist to a side of fries with a combination of sauce, vegetables or meat. You can pick a theme for your french fry toppings: pizza, nachos, bacon-macaroni-and-cheese, chili cheese fries or anything you want.

I would suggest chili, marinara, ranch, Alfredo, barbecue, pesto or nacho cheese sauces for some perky flavor. For vegetable and meat toppings, I would suggest diced green onions, jalapenos, bacon, pepperoni, pineapple, garlic or diced chicken.

To replace traditional fries with a creative side dish, you can use sweet potato fries, potato wedges, crinkled fries, tater tots or waffle fries.

Make sure your fries are fully cooked, then add your sauce, meat and vegetables and top with your choice of cheese. These layers will create a toasted base of fries with a saucy center topped with a melting mound of cheese.

Set out assorted toppings if you want to have a fry bar for a party with friends. Cook the fries according to the package, then divide the fries in individual oven-safe bowls. Let your guests prepare their bowl of fries with the toppings and bake for about five minutes or until the cheese is melted.

This recipe was adapted from campellskitchen.com

Pizza Fries

1 bag (2 pounds) frozen french fries

1 cup marinara sauce

1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 package pepperoni, diced

1 can sliced jalapenos, drained

Prepare the fries according to the package directions.

Remove fries from the oven and pour sauce over them. For this recipe, I chose to make pizza fries and I used marinara sauce.

Place your toppings on the fries. To make my own version of these pizza fries, I topped the fries with jalapenos and diced pepperoni. Add your favorite pizza toppings.

Top the layers with shredded mozzarella cheese and garnish with basil flakes.

Bake in the oven for five minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or Tabasco sauce. Careful – you may need a fork for this hot and cheesy dish.

Anna Puccinelli can be reached at [email protected]