You are totally freaking right now about the prospect of making french fries at home, aren’t you? Saaahhhhppp! These homemade french fries are not worth the freak out! Easy and baked. In the oven. Not fried.
Not fried.
There is nothing quite like McDonald’s french fries and I won’t claim these are the same. They aren’t.
Truth: McDonald’s french fries are my thing. The thing when I feel rotten. Or sad. Or happy. Not like an addiction and you need to put me on a TLC show. But gosh…why do they have to be so baaaaddddd for you?
Obviously these aren’t the same.
But hot dang are they good!!
I serve these up alongside my veggie burgers for a meal that my family adores. Straight up…they even clean up afterwards.
The secret to fabulous homemade french fries is
Ice Bath
Really truly. You cannot simply cut potatoes and bake them to get the same crispy results that you love from restaurant french fries. You need this step. The ice bath removes a good part of the starch in the potato and cools them down making for crispy outsides and soft insides.
Dry them after the ice bath. You don’t want them to be wet when they hit the hot pan. I just lay them out on a towel and pat them gently. It works great!
Then you simply bake them up with your favorite seasonings and enjoy!
Okay, truthfully, the trick is to cook them a bit on a lower heat and then crank the heat up to crisp up the outside. See… 2 tricks you didn’t know.
When I make these up they rarely make it onto plates. Usually my family gathers around the stove and eats them off the pan. Like, I turn around for a few moments and turn back… gone!
Which, could be annoying. But isn’t that the purpose? And, in my opinion, there is NOTHING better than seeing the whole family (including my teen) gathered in the kitchen. I’ll gladly keep making french fries!
Homemade Baked French Fries
Ingredients
- 6 russet potatoes, cut into strips
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt
Instructions
- Place the cut russet potatoes in a bowl with cold water and ice to cover the potatoes. Leave for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes from the bowl and place on a towel to dry out. Pat dry.
- On a baking sheet, put a single layer of dry, cut potatoes.
- Drizzle with oil and stir to coat.
- If necessary, use another cookie sheet for remaining potatoes. (usually I have 2 cookie sheets going at the same time)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, flip and stir.
- Turn the oven up to 450 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
