Homemade french fries start the same way here whether you bake them or fry them: cut the potatoes into sticks about 1½ cm thick, rinse the starch off in several changes of cold water, then cook them for 5–8 minutes in water with a splash of vinegar. After that, either bake them at 220 °C for 25–30 minutes with oil, lemon peel and fennel seeds, or deep-fry them twice — 8–10 minutes at 160 °C, then 3–4 minutes at 190 °C.
The oven version takes a little oil and little attention. The deep-fried version is the one to choose if you want them crispier, and it keeps you at the fryer. Both are in the card below.
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Recipe
French Fries
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the potatoes – you can also make them coarser by leaving the skin/peel on and then wash them.
- Cut the potatoes in a bar like shape or shoestring cut – You can decide about the thickness, even I like them in approx. 1½ x 1½ cm.
- Rinse them in several layers of cold water – to rinse as much starch as possible.
- Bring the French fries into a pot of water and vinegar and cook for 5-8 minutes till it has come to boil – giving them the delicious, sour flavor that fries will have.
- Let them drip and cool off – until they are completely cold, but it is not absolutely necessary.
- Turn on the oven at 220 ° C.
- Bring the stuffed, chilled French fries into a pan tray.
- Pour the oil over them and sprinkle with lemon peel and fennel seeds – other spices or flavors according to taste – and mix.
- Put the French fries in the oven and stir them until golden. 25-30 minutes.
- Sprinkle with salt.
- Follow points 1 through 5 in the description of French fries in the oven.
- Heat the oil up to 160 °C in the deep fryer.
- Cook them several times in the oil – as mentioned, do not lay them in layers.
- Take them up after 8-10 minutes and allow them to drizzle and allow to cool down. You can also put them in the refrigerator.
- Heat the oil up to 190 ° C, and cook the fried fries for 3-4 minutes.
- Let them drip again and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step by step, in pictures
Six drawings for the six moves in the card. The first four are the same for both methods.
Peel the potatoes, or leave the skin on.- Cut them into sticks about 1½ cm thick.
- Rinse off the starch in cold water.
- Cook briefly in water with vinegar, then cool.
- Oven: oil, lemon peel and fennel, 220 °C.
- Fryer: 160 °C, rest, then 190 °C.
Oven or deep fryer: which half of the card is which
The card holds two recipes. The first ingredient list and steps 1–10 are the oven fries. The second list and steps 11–16 are the deep-fried fries, which begin with the same preparation (steps 1–5) and then move to the fryer.
Deep-frying asks more of you. You have to stay with the pan the whole time, fry in small batches, and make sure the potatoes are cooked through. The oven version is mostly waiting: toss the fries in oil and seasoning once, then stir them now and then until they are golden.
Which potatoes to use for french fries
Use a floury, starchy potato. The card’s “baked potatoes” means raw baking potatoes — step 1 peels them before anything is cooked. RecipeTinEats, Fifteen Spatulas, A Spicy Perspective and Spend With Pennies all name Russet (sold as Idaho in the US); RecipeTinEats gives Maris Piper or King Edward as the UK equivalents. Fifteen Spatulas explains the choice as a fluffy inside under a crisp outside. For oven fries, Well Plated tried both Russet and Yukon Gold and preferred Yukon Gold.
Do you have to soak potatoes before frying?
No — this recipe rinses instead. Step 3 washes the cut sticks in several changes of cold water to get rid of as much surface starch as possible. Other recipes soak them — Spend With Pennies for at least 30 minutes — for the same reason. Whichever you do, drain them well: after the vinegar bath the recipe lets the fries drip and cool, ideally until completely cold, though it says that is not essential.
The trick to crisp homemade fries
- Rinse off the starch before cooking (step 3).
- Cook them briefly in vinegar water (step 4). The recipe uses it for a mild sour flavour; RecipeTinEats also simmers its fries in vinegar water and counts it among its crispness tips.
- Fry twice when deep-frying: first at 160 °C, then at 190 °C (steps 12–15). Fifteen Spatulas uses the same low-then-high pattern and describes the first fry as the one that cooks the inside.
- Don’t crowd the fryer. Fry in several batches rather than in layers (step 13). Between the two fries the potatoes can rest in the fridge.
Cutting your own fries
A knife works, and it is what this recipe’s author prefers, though a french fry cutter does the job too. Thickness is your call; the card suggests sticks of about 1½ × 1½ cm, and you will need to adjust the frying time if you go much thinner or thicker. For a coarser fry, leave the skin on and just wash the potatoes well. Ready-cut frozen fries from the supermarket are the shortcut.
What to serve with homemade fries
Fries go with fish fillets, chicken or a burger. On this site, try them beside a fish fillet or a homemade burger. For another way with potatoes, see baked potatoes.
Quick answers: oven, coating and frying temperature
Can you make french fries in the oven?
Yes. Prepare them exactly as for deep-frying, then bake at 220 °C for 25–30 minutes with oil, lemon peel and fennel seeds, stirring until golden (steps 6–10).
What is the coating that makes fries crispy?
This recipe uses no coating. Its crispness comes from rinsing, the vinegar bath and, for deep-fried fries, a second fry at 190 °C. Some cooks toss cut potatoes in cornstarch before baking; this one does not.
What temperature do you fry french fries at?
Twice, at two temperatures: 160 °C for 8–10 minutes, then 190 °C for 3–4 minutes after the fries have drained and cooled.
