Perfect Crispy French fries
you want French fries that stay crispy for a good 15 minutes – even after they've gone cold this is the recipe for you.
Ingredients
- 1 Kg floury potatoes
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1 Litre canola/vegetable oil
SEASONING (CHOOSE)
- ▢ Salt – table salt or sea salt flakes
- ▢ Shaker fries seasoning
- ▢ Rosemary salt
- ▢ Nori salt
Instructions
- Cut: Peel the potatoes. Cut into 6 mm / 1/4" French fries using a serrated knife. (Note 4)
- Keep cut fries submerged in a bowl of water to prevent them from going brown while you cut the remainder. (No need for actual soaking beyond this.)
- Rinse: Transfer potatoes to a colander and rinse under tap water for 15 – 20 seconds.
- Simmer: Place fries in a large pot with 2 litres/quarts of cold tap water, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat then immediately reduce stove to low so the surface is rippling gently (Note 5), not big bubbles. Cook for 10 minutes then carefully remove using a slotted spoon into a colander (do not tip into colander, fries will break).
- Dry 5 min: Spread the fries on 2 tea towel lined trays. Leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.
- Pot: Pour 3 cm / 1.2" of oil in a pot that is at least 10cm/4" high (⚠️for safety, need at least 7 cm / 3" from oil surface to rim of pot, Note 6)
- Separate the fries into 3 Batches (for cooking).
- FRY #1
- Heat oil to 205°C/400°F over medium high heat.
- ⚠️10 sec pause (Note 7): Lower 1/3 of Batch 1 fries into the oil using a slotted spoon. WAIT 10 seconds, add another 1/3 of the fries, wait 10 seconds, then add the remaining Batch 1 fries.
- 50 sec fry: Fry for 50 seconds, moving them around once or twice. Then remove with a slotted spoon onto 2 paper towel lined trays, spread out in a single layer. The fries will still be white and floppy.
- Repeat Fry #1 with Batches 2 and 3, ensuring the oil is back at 205°C/400°F before cooking.
- FRY #2
- 30 min cool: Leaves fries to cool for 30 minutes.
- Line a large bowl with paper towels – for draining and tossing.
- Fry #2: Heat oil to 205°C/400°F. Fry half the French fries for 4 minutes, moving them around twice, or until golden brown and crispy. Drain in the lined bowl, then repeat with remaining fries.
- SEASON & SERVE!
- Sprinkle fries with salt or seasoning or choice. (Note 8) Toss and serve!
- Fries will stay crispy even once cool. See note for large batch cooking tip.
Notes
Potato – the potato type matters! Floury/starchy potatoes make crispy fries with fluffy insides. Waxy potatoes won’t be as crispy. If you aren’t familiar with the potato types listed in the ingredients, google the potato you have – “Are XX potatoes starchy?”. If yes, or it’s an “all-rounder”, it’s fine to use!
2. Vinegar – just plain white distilled vinegar. Keeps the potato from turning into mush with 10 min blanch time required to remove sufficient starch so the fries become crispy. See in post for details!
3. Salt – If you only have table salt, use 2 teaspoons.
4. Serrated knife creates a rougher surface = crispier fries. But not the end of the world if you don’t use one – still super crispy!
Cutting fries: slice the potato into 6 mm / 1/4″ thick slices. Stack 2 or 3, then cut into 6 mm / 1/4″ fries.
5. Simmering for 10 minutes is a key step for ultra crispy fries. This washes away excess sugar from the surface which causes fries to brown too quickly, before they have a chance to become crisp.
You don’t want bubbles because if the water is bubbling too rapidly the fries will cook too much / too fast and break.
6. Pot size – Important to ensure there is sufficient head room to allow for oil bubbling. My pot is 24cm / 10″ wide and 10cm / 4″ deep.
My pot requires 1 litre/quart of oil to have a 3cm/1.2″ depth.
Re-use oil 3 to 4 times. Cool then store in jars. The oil shouldn’t need to be strained after cooking the fries. Browse Fried Recipes collection to choose what you’re making next!
7. 10 second pause between adding more fries into the oil for Fry #1 is important to reduce the amount the oil bubbles up. If you add them all in one go, the oil bubbles up more rapidly and higher.
8. Seasoning – Remember the fries already have some salt, so season then taste and adjust as needed.
9. Large batch – If you scale up the recipe, you can flash-fry earlier batches for 30 seconds to 1 minute to reheat.
10. Freezing – Freezes 100% perfectly! After Fry #1, fully cool the fries then freeze on a tray (you can stack them all on one tray). Once frozen, they can be tipped into a container or ziplock bag for freezing – just like store bought frozen fries! Cook from frozen for 4 1/2 minutes.
11. Nutrition – Impossible to calculate but I know every calorie is worth it. Have salad tomorrow.
This recipe is sponsored by Mediterranean Supermarket