Baked French Fries

Love French fries but don’t like deep frying? Try these Baked French Fries. Only three tablespoons of oil used for two pounds of potatoes.

French fries always seem to taste better at the restaurants. Somehow the dry and crispy texture is hard to replicate at home. The temperature of the oil must be just right or the fries will turn out limp and greasy. Baked French Fries are even more difficult to achieve. Many including myself have tried and the results have been less than satisfactory.

I had read that soaking the potatoes in hot water would make a difference and I was eager to give this technique a try. The soaking did remove some of the starch from the potatoes which helped. There was definitely an improvement in the texture of these Baked French Fries. The edges were golden and crisp but the long center was a little soft probably because of the length of the fries. They were best eaten immediately.

After looking at more recipes, I have come to the conclusion that the shape and size of the fries are important. Wedges and shorter fries tend to fare better. I say this partly because I have had much success with these Baked Spicy Garlic Potato Wedges. They turned out nice and crisp even without the soaking.

For this recipe, I used large longish Rose Gold potatoes and cut the fries about half an inch thick lengthwise. It would probably have been better to cut them crosswise or use smaller potatoes instead. The potatoes were left plain this time without any flavorings. I only seasoned them with Himalayan pink salt when they came out of the oven.

Many of the recipes out there used quite a bit of oil in the tray to crisp up the fries. This in my opinion defeats the purpose of baking. I did only use a total of three tablespoons of oil for two pounds of potatoes.

5 from 2 votes

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Baked French Fries

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

45 mins

 

Love French fries but don't like deep frying? Try these Baked French Fries. Only three tablespoons of oil used for two pounds of potatoes.

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Western

Servings: 4

Calories: 247 kcal

Author: Linda Ooi

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 medium potatoes (scrubbed) (2 lbs/900g)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Cut potatoes lengthwise into 3 thick slices. Then cut each slice into strips.
   
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Remove from heat. Place potato strips in hot water and allow it to soak for 10 to 20 minutes. Drain potatoes. Spread potatoes on layers of paper towels and pat dry with additional paper towels.
3. Wipe dry the empty pot. Toss potatoes in there with 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
   
4. Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C).
5. Coat a large baking tray with the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Arrange potatoes on tray in a single layer. Place tray in oven and bake potatoes for 15 minutes.
6. Remove and flip potatoes with tongs keeping them in a single layer. Continue baking for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.
7. When finished baking, transfer fries to paper lined plate to blot out excess oil.
   
8. Season with salt and serve immediately.

Enjoy…..and have a wonderful day! 😎