How to Make French Fries at Home the Easy Way
So what Makes the Best Homemade French Fries
Homemade French fries are guaranteed to make your mouth water. They taste so much nicer than anything you can buy from the store, and they are easy to make too. If you have avoided making your French fries because you thought they would be difficult, it might surprise you to learn just how simple they are.
Making your fries will save you money, and they also have a fantastic flavor and texture. Once you have tasted them, you will never buy frozen fries again. Your family will be impressed too, and they are sure to notice the difference.
Different Types of French Fries
There are different recipes for fries too, depending what you are in the mood for. Of course, the best homemade French fries might be the classic ones that we all know and love, or you might like to try oven-baked French fries or even sweet potato French fries. These are just as simple as the standard ones, so why not experiment with some different types, and see which you like best?
What to Serve With Them
Serve your delicious homemade fries with ketchup, mayonnaise or your favorite sauce, or melt some cheese over them for the most wonderful comfort food. Serve them with hamburgers, stews, or with your favorite meat.
Steak with fries is a romantic meal idea, or you could win the kids over by presenting sliders with your homemade chips, or just serve them as a snack anytime comfort food is required. Make your fries once and you will never buy the frozen kind again, guaranteed.
Have You Ever Made Homemade French Fries?
Best Homemade French Fries
How to Make French Fries
Even though a basic French fry recipe simply calls for potatoes and oil, there is more to learn if you want to make the best homemade French fries. Simply chopping the potatoes up and throwing them into hot oil will produce fries, but not the very best ones, so keep reading for the very best tips.
Use Russet, Idaho or Kennebec potatoes to make these. The reason they are cut into a ¼ inch baton is that you will want them to be crispy, and if you cut them any thicker than that, they will lose crispiness. Use your favorite oil for frying. Anything with a high smoking point will work, so try canola oil, vegetable oil or peanut oil. Corn oil will give you extra-crispy fries, but you will notice the flavor of corn on them. Some people use olive oil. Just use whichever oil you happen to have and prefer.
Making these takes more time than ripping open a package of frozen fries, but the difference is phenomenal. Cutting them into even ¼ inch thick batons and soaking them in cold water for an hour does make them super-crispy. Blanching the potatoes, cooling them and then finishing them off in the hot oil also finishes them to perfection, making them crunchy on the outside yet soft in the center.
How to Make the Best Fries Ever
Ingredients
- 4 large potatoes
- 2 quarts oil for deep frying (Canola Oil),Sea Salt
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into ¼ inch by ¼ inch thick batons.
- Rinse them under running cold water until the water is clear.
- Cover the potato batons with ice water and refrigerate for at least half an hour (or up to 2 days).
- Heat the oil in a large pot to 325 degrees F.
- The pot should be over a low-medium heat.
- The oil will bubble up when you add the fries, so keep the oil at least 3 inches from the top of the pot.
- Drain the ice water off the potato pieces and pat them dry with a clean cloth.
- Turn the heat up to medium-high, then add the fries to the hot oil.
- Add them a handful at a time, to limit spattering.
- Fry them until they are limp and soft, and a pale blond.
- This will take about 7 minutes.
- Remove the fries with a slotted spoon or skimmer and drain on paper towels.
- You can leave them for up to 2 hours, but at least 10 minutes.
- Reheat the oil to 350 degrees F and put the blanched potatoes back in there.
- Fry them for a minute, or until they are puffy and golden brown.
- Drain them, sprinkle with salt and serve piping hot.
Making Your Own Fries Is Never A Waste Of Time, Because Homemade Fries Are The Absolute Best You Can Get
Sweet Potato French Fries
Another Way of How to Make French Fries
This is a fantastic recipe, and the fries are so tasty. Sweet potatoes are flavored with salt, cinnamon, and garlic and then baked in a hot oven until they are soft inside and golden brown on the outside. A little cornstarch is used to get them crispy. You can omit the cornstarch if you do not have any, but it does give the fries extra crunch.
These make a wonderful snack, or you can serve them alongside your favorite meat or fish. Try them with chili con carne as an alternative to rice, or serve them with a creamy dipping sauce. Ranch dressing or mayonnaise work well with these, or anything else you like.
The salt, cinnamon, and garlic add a nice flavor, but if you fancy something different, use a ¼ envelope of taco seasoning instead. You will get a different result but still a very tasty one. You can even experiment with other flavors, but because sweet potatoes are naturally sweet, you can either use garlic, salt, and other savory seasonings to contrast, or cinnamon and even a pinch of sugar to enhance the sweet flavor even more.
Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
- 6 large sweet potatoes
- Olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Pinch of garlic powder
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into batons.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Put the batons in a Ziploc bag with enough olive oil to coat them.
- Add the salt, cinnamon and garlic powder.
- Shake the bag well to coat the fries.
- Add the cornstarch and shake again.
- Arrange them on a baking sheet, leaving space between them, and bake for 10 minutes.
- Flip them over and cook for another 10 minutes or until they are tender inside and browned on the outside
So How do You Make French Fries at Home the Easy Way
How to Make the Best Homemade French Fries Like a Pro
There is nothing difficult about making your own fries, and once you have done it a couple of times, you will wonder why you never make your own before. Your family will thank you for serving them wonderful homemade fries, and they also work out cheaper too, since you are paying for potatoes (which are reasonably cheap) instead of frozen fries.
So if you think about it, making fries yourself is a win-win situation. They are more economical, they are easy, they taste incredible, and they go with everything.
Once you have decided to make your homemade French fries, you might want to make one of the recipes on this lens. We have deliberately chosen some simple yet tasty recipes which any newbie in the kitchen can prepare with ease. Before you start though, learn a few handy tips and tricks.
7 Tips for Perfect Homemade French Fries
- Choose the right type of potato for making fries. Some potatoes are labeled ‘for making fries’ which simplifies things, but if not then look out for Idaho, Russet, Maris Piper, or Kennebec varieties.
- Slice the fries into even shapes, even by using a French fry cutter or by trying to get them all the same size, so you do not have some cooked before others.
- Rinse the sliced potatoes well before you cook them. The water will rinse off the excess starch, and this will give you a crisper, better fry.
- It is up to you whether you soak the potatoes in water or not. The results will not be much different if you do, but you should do this if you plan to cook them later, else the potatoes will discolor.
- Keep an eye on the French fries while they cook. You do not want to burn them and ruin all your hard work accidentally!
- If your first batch is not as successful as you had hoped, try one of the other recipes. Practice makes perfect, and once you master making your French fries, you will find it easy every time after that.
- Do not be afraid to use old potatoes, even if they have gone a bit soft. Some of the starch in them will have converted into sugar, and this makes the fries even crispier.
If you use these tips and make one of our recipes, you should have a lot of success with your fries. The hardest part about the recipes is deciding what to serve with the fries. Everything else is fairly straightforward.
Oven Baked French Fries
How to Make French Fries in the Oven
Oven-baked fries can be just as crispy and delicious as the ones cooked in hot oil, but you barely need to use any oil, so they have fewer calories and a lower fat content. These delicious oven-baked fries are flavored with paprika, black pepper, parmesan, salt, and garlic, but feel free to adjust these seasonings. They are simply for flavor, and the fries will come out just as golden brown and crispy whichever seasonings you want to use.
Although the recipe tells you to peel the potatoes, you do not have to peel them if you do not want to. You can give them a good scrub instead if you prefer, and leave the skin on for extra nutrition and texture. That is completely up to you. Some people like the skin on, others do not.
These oven baked fries are just as excellent as fries made the conventional way, so unless you tell your family they are baked they will not know! Garnish them with a fresh herb sprig for an elegant look, and serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. This could be ketchup, BBQ sauce or equal measures of ketchup with mayonnaise for a wonderful fries sauce.
How to Make Oven Baked French Fries
Ingredients
- 2 large Russet potatoes
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them in to batons or wedges.
- Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Toss the potatoes with the paprika, black pepper, parmesan, salt, and garlic powder.
- Drizzle over the oil and toss again to coat.
- Arrange them on a baking sheet in one layer.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
How to Make the Best French Fries at Home
How to Make Curly Fries
How to Make Best Homemade French Fries
Curly fries might have the same flavor as regular fries, but they are more fun! You can get a twin curl cutter to cut them, and this looks a little like a knitting needle with a turnkey attachment. Sometimes you get these as part of a garnishing set, but you can also buy them individually. Another way of making them is to use a spiral vegetable slicer, and that is handy because you can make all kinds of curled vegetable dishes and garnishes with one of those, not just curly fries.
The following recipe shows you how to make curly fries which look good and taste delicious. They are spiced up with garlic, onion, paprika and cayenne pepper, although you can leave out any of those seasonings if you want them plainer. Serve them with mayonnaise or ketchup for dipping, perhaps with some onion rings, garlic mushrooms and your choice of meat.
Learning how to make homemade fries is always worthwhile because they taste so much nicer than store-bought ones, plus you can experiment with different shapes such as curly fries, and you can also experiment with the seasonings, to get exactly the result you are looking for.
Curly Fries Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 peeled Russet potatoes
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
- 2½ tablespoons egg substitute
- 1¾ teaspoons salt
- 1½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Cooking oil spray
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil over a high heat and add a teaspoon of salt.
- Cut the potatoes into curls using a twin curl cutter or spiral vegetable slicers.
- Cover them with water and refrigerate any scraps for another recipe.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Spray some cooking oil spray over a nonstick baking sheet.
- Put the potato curls into the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes.
- Do not cook them longer else they will break.
- Drain them through a colander, then let them cool for 5 minutes.
- Combine the flour, egg substitute, onion powder, garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, and remaining salt.
- Use a fork to blend this mixture well.
- Add the potatoes and toss with your fingers until well coated.
- Arrange them in one layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Spritz some cooking spray over them and bake for 10 minutes.
- Turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes or until they are cooked through and crispy.
Weston Restaurant Quality French Fry Cutter
French fries cook evenly if they are all of equal size, but just imagine how long it would take to cut a hundred fries by hand and have them all identical in size! For that reason, a lot of home cooks use a French fry cutter. Simply push the potato through the cutting blade, and equal thickness fries will come out on the other side. Cleanup is perhaps not as straightforward as you might think, and you will need to use a stiff brush to remove all the bits of potato from the holes, but it does not take that long. Forget the cheap fry cutters and get this one. It is made from sturdy cast iron and has stainless steel blades to cut through your potatoes effortlessly.
Cheese French Fries
How to Make French Fries with Cheese
What could be better than homemade fries? Homemade fries with cheese of course. The following recipe shows you how to make twice-cooked fries (or you can just use the other fries recipe further up this page if you prefer) and the cheese sauce is also homemade. The secret of excellent fries is to cook them twice, using 2 different temperatures. For the following recipe, you will need a thermometer and a deep pan.
If you want, you can simply use a slice of American cheese or cheddar cheese, or anything else you fancy. This is your recipe. But the following hot cheese sauce recipe is especially good. It is tangy and gooey. You can even swap half the cheddar for pepper jack and throw in some jalapenos for a spicier kick. If the sauce cools down, simply pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat as needed.
This recipe makes an excellent lunch, or a nice side dish to serve alongside hot dogs or burgers. Homemade fries are already amazing but making a cheese sauce to serve with them just elevates this dish to a gourmet level. Once you taste this, you will want to make it again and again.
Twice-Cooked Fries with Thick Cheese Sauce
Summary: The secret to crispy fries is cooking them twice. This might take a little longer than the traditional method, but it is worth it if you want double the crunch.
Ingredients
- 8 large Idaho or Russet potatoes
- Oil for deep frying
For the Cheese Sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 8 oz grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 12 oz evaporated milk
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into ½ inch wide slices.
- Rinse them in a colander under cold water to remove the excess starch.
- At this point, you can soak them in a bowl of cold water for several hours (this will help remove the excess starch) but you do not have to.
- Pat them dry with paper towels.
- Half fill a heavy pan with oil and heat it to 270 degrees F.
- Gently lower half the fries into the hot oil, using a slotted metal spoon.
- Fry them for 10 minutes or until they are tender but not browned.
- Remove them with the slotted spoon.
- Repeat with the remaining fries.
- You can now finish off the fries or keep them for several hours in the refrigerator.
- Stir the cheese and cornstarch together in a bowl.
- Transfer the mixture into a saucepan.
- Add a cup of the evaporated milk and the hot sauce.
- Cook over a low heat, whisking continuously for 5 minutes or until thick, bubbly and melted.
- It might look grainy but it will become smoother at is cooks.
- Add more evaporated milk if you want it thinner.
- When you are ready to finish the fries, heat the oil to 375 degrees F.
- Lower all the fries into the pan using the slotted spoon, and cook them for 4 minutes or until they are golden-brown and crisp.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Serve the fries with the hot cheese on top.
Sportsman FFCD Stainless Steel Commercial Quality 6-Inch French Fry Cutter
This fry cutter is advertised as being commercial quality, and according to reviewers, it works like one too. You can cut enough fries for a crowd in just a few minutes using this great gadget. Mount it on a wall, tabletop or counter and cup your potatoes up to 6 inches long into 1/2 or 3/8 inch wide strips. You get a pair of stainless steel cutting attachments – one for thin and one for thick fries. Try regular potatoes or sweet potatoes. You could even try zucchini, pineapple, sweet peppers, carrots or cucumber if you want to make tasty little strips to snack on raw. You will not be disappointed with this fry cutter because it works as advertised and will cut lots of perfect fries in just a few minutes. If you want to make a lot of fries, then consider investing in this time-saving device.
How to Make the Best Homemade French Fries Video Guide
How to Make Steak Fries at Home
Nothing goes as nicely with a juicy steak as a portion of home-cooked steak fries. These hot, thick and chunky fries are beautifully served with the steak of your choice. Because they are thicker than shoestring fries, steak fries are different in looks and texture. Shoestring fries are very crunchy while steak fries are fluffy inside, a bit like a baked potato. Steak fries can be deep-fried or baked.
The following recipe shows you how to bake them, but if you would prefer to fry them deeply, you can do that instead. To deep-fry them, parboil the potato wedges until almost tender then deep-fry them for a couple of minutes or until they are golden brown. Oven-baking them still yields delicious results and of course, this is a healthier method.
The following recipe flavors the fries with cumin, chili, salt and black pepper. These seasonings are optional, but they do give the steak fries a wonderful flavor. If you prefer, swap the cumin and chili for some dried parsley. Perhaps you want to serve a rich, flavorful sauce with your steak and fries, in which case you do not need to season them at all. It is your choice whether or not to peel the potatoes.
Sensational Steak Fries Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Russet potatoes
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Combine the spices in a small bowl.
- Add the olive oil and mix well.
- Cut each potato into 8 wedges.
- Toss the wedges in the seasoning mixture until coated.
- Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray.
- Omit the aluminum foil if you do not have any (cleanup is easier if you use it though).
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until done.
Herbed Potato Wedges Recipe
Another Type of Good Homemade French Fries
These tasty potato wedges are simple to prepare and if you fancy something a little different from French fries they are sure to please your palate. Another name for potato wedges is steak fries. This recipe features garlic as well as herbs and spices, so you can imagine how incredible the wedges are going to be. They are bursting with flavor and using potatoes to make these by hand means they will be much nice than frozen steak fries or anything ready-made.
You will need 4 medium size russet potatoes for this recipe as well as various herbs and spices. Feel free to change the herbs and spices, using whatever you have in the cupboard to add flavor. Serve the cooked wedges hot from the oven, perhaps sprinkling a little extra salt over them if needed.
Serve these as a snack with sour cream and snipped chives for dipping, or present them alongside a perfectly grilled steak or with chicken or fish. It is worth adding this easy potato wedges recipe to your repertoire because they are so delicious. The wedges are tender inside but browned on the outside with nice crusty edges.
How to Make the Best Potato Wedges
Ingredients
- 4 scrubbed russet potatoes
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon finely crushed dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 4 wedges so you end up with 32 wedges.
- Toss the wedges with the thyme, garlic, rosemary, paprika, oregano, oil, salt and black pepper in a bowl.
- Arrange the wedges skin side down on the prepared baking sheet, leaving some space between then.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until they are tender on the inside and golden brown on the outside.
- Serve piping hot
Feel Free To Mix And Match The Spice…
How to Make Spicy Fries
Homemade French Fries with a Zing
The following recipe makes delicious crispy fries which are not just flavorful already but seasoned with all the best spices for a vibrant flavor. If you enjoy the spicy food, you will love these fries! You will need 4 potatoes, some oil for deep-frying and various spices.
Feel free to mix and match the spices. The recipe calls for 2 kinds of pepper, chili, paprika, and salt but you could try garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, garlic salt, dried chives, curry powder or anything else you have on hand. Take care not to add too much of any one item, else that will overpower the whole flavor. More salt can be added at the table, so go easy with that. Spicy fries are lovely served by themselves as a snack, or you can serve them as a side dish with any meat, fish, poultry or vegetarian meal.
If you want to oven-fry these, add the seasoning before you cook them. For oven-fried spicy fries, spray them with cooking spray after rinsing and drying the potato batons, roll them in the spice mixture, arrange them on a baking sheet and cook at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
Easy Spicy Fries Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large peeled potatoes
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon hot chili powder
- 2 quarts canola oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Cut the potatoes into batons and rinse them under running water.
- Dry them on paper towels.
- Bring the canola oil to 325 degrees F in a big pot over a moderately low heat.
- Add the fries (gently because the oil will bubble up) and cook for 7 minutes or until they are tender but still pale.
- Drain and let them cool.
- Bring the oil to 375 degrees F and gently add the fries, a batch at a time.
- Cook for a couple of minutes or until they are crispy and golden brown.
- Drain them.
- Combine the black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika and salt in a large bowl.
- Toss the fries in this mixture then serve right away, perhaps with some mayonnaise or a cooling creamy dip on the side for dipping.
Cheesy Chili Fries are Fantastic Comfort Food, and Smothering Homemade Fries in Spicy Chili is…
Ultimate Chili Fries Recipe
Cheesy chili fries are fantastic comfort food and smothering homemade fries in spicy chili, and your favorite kind of cheese means you are going to have a full-flavored meal which will leave you feeling completely satisfied. This meal is made in two stages. First, you need to prepare the chili, and then while that is simmering gently, you can make the fries. Have the grated cheese ready to finish off the dish as soon as it is ready, so it can start to melt.
The chili can simmer gently for as long as you need so that everything will be ready at the same time. Although you can use frozen fries and a can of chili to make this dish, taking the time to prepare it from scratch will result in a far better meal. Make extra chili if you wish, because it freezes well. You can swap the ground beef for ground chicken if you want a lighter flavor or even for vegetables if you want a vegetarian dish.
Although the recipe calls for grated cheddar cheese, you can use whatever cheese you want. Just shred or grate it if it is in block form. Perhaps you want to use a grated cheese blend or even swap the cheese for a dollop of sour cream. This is your chili fries recipe so personalize it and make it exactly as you wish. For some wonderful chili recipes check out this very comprehensive lens.
Easy Homemade Chili Fries
Summary: Chili fries make a fantastic meal. The fries are smothered with a homemade chili as well as plenty of cheese, and this is comfort food at its absolute finest.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 1½ tablespoons instant gravy powder
- ½ chopped red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ can kidney beans
- 1 large onion
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 4 large potatoes
- 2 quarts canola oil
- Salt to taste
- Large handful grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- First prepare the chili.
- Chop the onion and garlic and fry with the ground beef until browned.
- Rinse the kidney beans and stir these into the mixture with the tomatoes and bell pepper.
- Add the chili and cumin and let the mixture simmer gently for half an hour.
- Keep the heat as low as possible. The chili should not be bubbling away.
- Stir the chili every 5 minutes or so.
- Stir in the gravy powder to thicken the chili 5 minutes before serving.
- While the chili is simmering, peel the potatoes and cut them into ¼ inch by ¼ inch sticks.
- Rinse them under cold running water and then pat dry.
- Bring the canola oil to 325 degrees F in a large pot.
- Add the fries a handful at a time and fry them for 7 minutes or until they are pale yellow.
- Drain on paper towels and leave for 10 minutes.
- Bring the oil to 350 degrees F and return the fries to the pot.
- Fry them for another minute or until they are golden brown and crispy.
- Drain them, sprinkle with salt and divide between 4 serving dishes.
- Ladle the chili on top and add the grated cheese.