Learn to make homemade french fries at home, the easy way! We’re using just two ingredients to create rustic, crispy, hand cut fries that are better than anything you’ve had at a restaurant. Homemade french fries are simple to make, inexpensive, and totally worth the few steps that they take.
There might be nothing better than a hot, salty plate of homemade french fries. Yes, there are many ways to make french fries without deep frying, but there’s something about cooking potatoes in hot oil that just makes them totally perfect.
These russet french fries are soft and fluffy in the center, crispy on the outside, and include the potato peels for extra flavor and delicious texture.
Enjoy homemade french fries with your favorite meals. I particularly love french fries with fried chicken. Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders, Nashville Style Hot Chicken Sandwiches and Copycat Chick-fil-A Sandwiches are all made better with a side of fries.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Two Ingredients: Russet potatoes and oil are all that you need to create crispy homemade fries. Season them however you like or with my homemade French Fry Seasoning.
- No Deep Fryer Needed: We’re frying these on the stove in a dutch oven. I like using this because the thick walls of this type of pan hold the temperature of the oil steady.
- Adjustable Recipe: You can make more or less fries depending on how much time you have to cook them. My recipe calls for 4 pounds of potatoes, but you can fry more for a larger crowd.
Ingredients in Homemade French Fries
Just two ingredients are required!
- Russet Potatoes: these are by far my favorite for making french fries. The texture of the finished fries is fluffy and soft on the inside and super crispy on the outside.
- Oil: You can use your favorite oil for frying. I prefer peanut oil for most deep frying, but vegetable, safflower, or canola will work too.
That’s it! French fries really aren’t that complicated, right?
How to Cut Fries
Cutting fries by hand takes a few minutes, but it’s pretty easy! Simply cut each potato into ½ inch wide planks. Then cut each plank into ½ inch wide slices. It’s important to try to keep them all the same width so that they’ll cook at the same rate.
If you plan to cook french fries often, you may want to invest in a french fry cutter. This gadget turns whole potatoes into perfectly portioned fries.
How to Make French Fries
- Cut Potatoes: Slice potatoes into ½ inch thick sticks, without removing the peel. Soak them in cold water for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. This helps to get rid of the starch and gives you crispy fries as a result.
- Rinse and Dry: Rinse the potatoes with cold water and dry them really well on paper towels. You want to make sure that they are completely dry, or they will splatter when you add them to the frying oil.
- First Fry: Heat oil in a large dutch oven to 300°F/150°C. Fry the potatoes in batches for 5 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels while you fry the other batches.
- Second Fry: Increase the heat of the oil to 400°F/205°C and fry each batch of fries for 5 more minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy but not too dark. With a slotted spoon, remove the fries from the oil and drain on a paper towel.
Tip!
To season the fries, sprinkle with salt and any other desired seasonings while the fries are still hot. Try my French Fry Seasoning, it’s the best!
Tips for Making Perfect Homemade French Fries
- Soaking is very important. We want to remove much of the natural potato starch before we cook them. If you skip this step you’ll end up with dense, soggy fries rather than fluffy, crispy ones.
- Fry them twice. You might notice that we are frying the potatoes two times. This is also very important! The first fry at a lower temperature cooks the potatoes. The second fry is at a higher temp to make the outsides crispy.
Dipping Sauces for Homemade French Fries
The only thing better than fresh, homemade fries is having something really delicious to dip them in! What’s really fun is to have multiple dipping sauces to enjoy with your fries. Try some of these flavorful homemade dipping sauces.
- Homemade Fry Sauce
- Homemade Ketchup
- Brown Gravy – you can even make Poutine!
- Homemade Chick-fil-A sauce
- Homemade Yum Yum sauce
- Homemade Ranch Dressing
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally you need about 4 medium potatoes or 6-7 ounces of potato per person. I would always plan for a little bit extra though, because people really love these homemade fries.
Russet potatoes are your best choice for homemade fries due to their low moisture content. Yukon gold potatoes have a firmer texture but are also delicious using this method.
This is what makes them extra good! Double frying gives our fries the soft in the inside, crispy on the outside perfection that we want.
French fries are almost never as good leftover as they are when they’re fresh, but there is hope if you need to reheat some later. The best method is to fry them again in a shallow layer in a pan. I’ve had success reheating fries in the air fryer too.
Other French Fries Recipes
- Oven Baked French Fries
- Air Fryer French Fries
- Rutabaga Fries (a low carb option)
- Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
Baked French Fries
Not interested in deep frying today? No worries, I’ve got you! You can bake your fries on a sheet pan in the oven at 350°F for about 30 minutes. For a full baked french fries tutorial, check out my Oven Baked Fries recipe.
I can’t wait to hear about your adventures in french fries! Make sure to pin this recipe for more people to enjoy.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Homemade French Fries
Ingredients
- 4 pounds russet potatoes
- oil for frying
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Slice potatoes into ½ inch thick sticks, without removing the peel. Soak them in cold water for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. This helps to get rid of the starch and gives you crispy fries as a result.
- Rinse the potatoes with cold water and dry them really well on paper towels. You want to make sure that they are completely dry, or they will splatter when you add them to the frying oil.
- Heat oil in a large dutch oven to 300°F/150°C. Fry the potatoes in batches for 5 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels while you fry the other batches.
- Increase the heat of the oil to 400°F/205°C and fry each batch of fries for 5 more minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy but not too dark. With a slotted spoon, remove the fries from the oil and drain on a paper towel.
- Sprinkle with salt and any other desired seasonings while the fries are still hot.
Notes:
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Rick van Heijningen says
Second fry is 190 degrees Celsius more than good !