French fries are allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes, originating from either Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting the potato into even strips, then drying and frying it, usually in a deep fryer.
French fries are one of the most common and testiest side dishes, but one of its challenges is how long to fry frozen french fries. Here are the essential tips to know about frozen French fries with step-by-step instructions on how to fry them and how long it should take.
These french fries are readily available in most grocery markets and even farmer’s markets. You can have them as fresh potatoes and cut them into wedges or get the frozen ones from the grocery store and cook to perfection. But, how do you fry frozen french fries?
French Fries Facts
French fries first appeared in Belgium during the 18th century. During that period Belgians began to replace their traditional fresh fried potato chips with fried potato strips. Further, with time it’s a popular side dish found in many fast-food chains and casual restaurants, pubs, and bars.
French fries are fried potatoes that have been cut into long pieces and served with ketchup, mayonnaise, or other dipping sauce. The color of french fries varies depending on the potato variety used, the type of starch used to fry them, and how much salt is added.
Common varieties of french fries include shoestring, curly, waffle cut, steak cut, wedge, straight batonnet (or sticks), and traditional chips.
Frying Frozen French Fries
Here’s an easy step-by-step guide on frying your French Fries.
1. Deep Fry Method
The best way to cook frozen french fries is when it’s deep-fried. When the frozen french fries touches the smoking hot cooking oil it turns crispy. Try this method instead if you feel like treating yourself to a good old traditional deep-fried french fries.
- Fill your deep fryer with oil and let it heat up until it reaches a temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then take the fryer basket and add your frozen french fries.
- Spread the french fries evenly and do not add too much to the basket. If you add too much to the basket, it won’t cook really well and will result in sloppy fries.
- Just fill it with at least ¼ of the frying basket to ensure that it’s going to be crispy on the outside and cooked on the inside.
- Slowly lower the frying basket onto the deep fryer with caution.
- Fry for at least 4 minutes per batch until the french fries turn into a lovely golden brown color.
- Once the fries are cooked, set them aside on a paper towel so it absorbs all the excess grease from the oil. Repeat the same steps with the rest of the frozen french fries batches.
- Serve it with your favorite dip or drizzle with stretchy cheese.
2. Using Air Fryer
If you don’t want to use the oil and want to go with a healthy way then you can use the air fryer.
- Take the air fryer basket and rub some olive oil on it. Alternatively, you can use a cooking spray, this is way faster. Just spray it onto the surface to grease the fryer basket.
- Then add the frozen french fries to the fryer basket evenly. Just be careful not to overpopulate your fryer basket. Just add the french fries as long as it’s still not overcrowding the basket.
- Air fry the french fries for about 18 minutes over a temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Randomly shake the fryer basket just to flip the fries a little bit and spread the heat evenly on them.
- Take it out and check if it’s golden fried and crispy to perfection. If it needs more cooking then add it back to cook some more.
- Repeat the same steps to fry more. Serve it with ketchup or make your own homemade dip.
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3. Using Oven
If you are one of those individuals who just love to stay away from oil and prefer healthy french fries, then the oven will do the job easily for you. Just follow these steps and you will have a crispy exterior and mealy interior of the french fries.
- You will need to preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. While your oven is preheating, it’s best to keep the french fries in the fridge first.
- While waiting for the oven to heat up, prepare a non-stick baking sheet. If you don’t have a non-stick, just spray your baking pan with cooking spray or rub with a little bit of butter or olive oil.
- Once the oven is well heated, take out your frozen french fries and spread them evenly onto the baking sheet.
- Bake all the french fries in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
- Once the first side is golden brown, flip the french fries to bake the other side for another 10 minutes.
- Take it out from the oven and let it rest for just 2-3 minutes. Serve with your favorite dip.