Baked French Fries are one of my family’s all-time favorites. My kids love oven fries even more than the store bought fries. Plus, oven baked fries are so much better for them.
These oven baked fries are perfect alongside jalapeño cheddar burgers, served up with oven fried chicken, as chili cheese fries, or as loaded cheese fries!
Oven Baked French Fries
Russet potatoes are the gold standard for French fries in general. They especially suitable for baked fries, because the skins are thicker and dryer than the skins of other potatoes, so they crisp up nicely in the oven.
Have you ever tried fries in the oven, and found they lack crispiness? Here are two great tips to avoid that problem forever!
How to Make Oven French Fries Crispy
As deep fried french fries are often double fried (once at a lower temp, once at a higher temp to crisp) I’ve found the same thing works magically for oven fries! You can make oven french fries so good and crispy!
- SOAK: Soak the potatoes in cold water after cutting for at least 30 minutes. This step removes a lot of starch (you will see it in the bowl after you remove them) resulting in a crispier French fry!
- DRY: This is really important. Make sure you dry them well so they don’t steam and get soft when they bake! I spin them in my salad spinner and then dap in a kitchen towel.
- OIL & SEASON: Use parchment paper to keep them from sticking and oil to make them crisp! While these are a version of healthy fries, if you want them to crisp, you will still need to be generous with the oil.
- TWO TEMP COOKING: This easy technique allows the fries to bake perfectly crispy! Simply bake at 375°F for a little bit to cook and then turn up the heat to really crisp them up!
How to Cut Potatoes into Fries
I always leave the skin on because it adds a little bit extra fiber (and personally I like the way it tastes… and it’s easier). If you prefer you can peel the potatoes first!
You can cut french fries by hand or save time using a French Fry cutter. I use a cutter for perfectly even fries.
To Cut into Steak Fries:
- Steak fries are typically thicker than french fries. To make baked steak fries, you’ll want to find potatoes that are a little bit smaller. Steak fries should be cut into small wedges about 3/4″ to 1″ thick.
- You will follow the same cooking method below but for a longer period of time.
How to Bake French Fries
To achieve maximum crispiness in your homemade French fries, I do a 2 temperature cook:
- Be sure to preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Dry the fries thoroughly after soaking and before seasoning.
- Generously oil and season the oven fries. Spread evenly in a single layer on a parchment line pan.
- Cook 20 minutes (25 for thicker fries).
- Turn the heat up to 425°F and continue baking until crisp, about 20 minutes.
How Long to Bake French Fries: Remember, thicker fries will take longer and if your fries are too thin, they’ll just burn without crisping.
The length of time for baked French fries will vary, depending on how thick you cut them and of course personal preference. My family likes them more tender crisp, I like them extra crispy!
How to Reheat Fries
You can easily reheat your leftover oven baked fries, either in the oven, or on the stovetop.
- Stovetop Reheating: Add a tablespoon or two of oil in non-stick pan. Reheat over medium heat for a few minutes and enjoy!
- Oven Reheating: Baked fries can be reheated in the oven. Spread them in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 5-10 minutes in a preheated 400°F oven.
- Microwave Reheating: This is less ideal as they can come out soft or soggy! 20-40 seconds should be plenty of time.
How to Freeze Oven Baked French Fries
Your leftover oven baked fries can also be frozen for up to four months in a freezer bag. To reheat, just follow the steps above.
Frozen fries are great reheated but also perfect added to soups, stews and casseroles!
What to Serve With Fries
We love fries with anything with gravy in place of our favorite Mashed Potatoes and with our favorite sandwiches and burgers! Here are a few that we love:
- Mushroom Salisbury Steak – serve with fries instead of mashed potatoes
- Meatball Subs
- Barbecue Ribs in the Oven
- Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
- Dr. Pepper Crock Pot Pulled Pork
Baked French Fries (Oven Fries)
Ingredients
- 4 large baking potatoes
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt or lemon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Wash potatoes leaving skin on (you can peel them if you prefer). Cut potatoes into desired size fries.
- Let potatoes soak in cold water in the sink or in a bowl for at least 30 minutes. Remove from water and dry very well.
- Toss with oil and seasonings. Spread evenly in a single layer on a parchment-lined pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven up to 425° and cook fries until golden, about 20-25 minutes more.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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that seems like waaay too long to cook.. 45 minutes total?
Hi Luke, this recipe is correct as written.
I’m sorry I haven’t reviewed this recipe sooner. I’ve made it multiple times over the past couple of years.
Of course it’s best with white potatoes but I made it tonight with red potatoes because that’s all I had on hand. It still came out great.
I did fiddle with the seasoning a bit but the method is spot on. I highly recommend this recipe.
I am so happy to hear you love this recipe Kristina!
Delicious! I’ve been searching for the best oven baked “fries” for quite a while.
This one is the winner!
Amazing & Easy – Found these last minute, choosing it because it seemed easy compared to other recipes. I went with steak fries (less wear on my wrists and less prep time). I was time-crunched so shorted the soak and both cook stages; to compensate I adjusted the soak by changing the water half-way through and agitating a few times, and I increased the temp a few degrees (385 then 440)
I used plenty of oil on the parchment paper and plenty on the fries. Love that I didn’t have to flip them. They were delicious. All my picky eaters loved them, so this is “a keeper”.
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a win Jen!
Perfect fries!!! Making them for the second time this month already. Thank you! :)
These look really good. But the recipe doesn’t call for anything green like what the picture shows. Anybody know what that is?
Parsley for garnish.
This is one of the best french fry recipe that I’ve made. I added one extra ingredient. A few tsps of cornstarch to help with the crispiness.
I used a Vidalia chopper to get some fat fries and they turned out so crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I think we’ve already made this 5 times over. The last time with added a bit of ground rosemary and they were amazing!
When did you add the cornstarch? With the seasoning or as an extra step?
I am torn between 4 and 5 stars. If you’re a total cooking noob, you could screw this up. Check on your potatoes! Don’t just leave them for the full time and expect perfection.
I cut mine into French fry-ish size. As one brilliant reviewer mentioned: salad spinner – wow is this a great hack for drying them!! Mine went on parchment in a large aluminum pan, then on 2 stacking cooling racks, inside the large pan. so I had 3 layers baking. I also tossed mine with avocado oil and an absurd amount of seasoning: seasoned salt, garlic, smoked paprika, some kind of con carne seasoning, onion powder, and black pepper. I probably cut about 5 minutes off the time at 375 and 5-10 minutes off the 425 time. They were like perfect fair fries. Some were starting to get dark. i probably could’ve rotated them and left them in a few more minutes, but I didn’t want to burn them. I think everyone enjoyed them.
Thanks for this great recipe. I will keep experimenting, but this is a good baseline. I would be happy to make them again just like last night. Yum!
I tend to be eclectic when finding recipes online. One of my best friends in SCal adores your site and now has a cookbook from you. So, when I ran across this method for making oven fries, I had to try it. Have made them twice now and learned something very interesting, which is why I’m commenting! The first time they were ok, but I’d not washed or dried the potatoes. I also make oven potato bites often, so I thought fries were not going to be much different. Silly me! The second time I made these, I cut way too many taters of various sizes (and put way too much salt on them, but I digress) and ended up using 3 different pans to cook them on. Followed most of the recipe exactly. (not the salt..) The first cooking, I popped two pans in the oven side by side. One was my double layered jelly roll pan and the other was a very aged sheet pan. The jelly roll pan had squishy fries, the other pan fries were hard and dry. (This wasn’t a bad thing, my son and I love hard fries and the husband likes them squishy.) Oddly, the third pan was in the oven by itself and was also an old pan. Those turned out fairly perfect-I also didn’t cook the last pan quite as long, because just wanted them done! So, that might be why some of your followers are having trouble with hard and dry potatoes. The amount in the oven and the pan.
I saw this recipe and have been making them on my Traeger since…
My family loves the flavor and texture.
Also, I add a little liquid smoke and Tabasco in some ketchup for a bit of a kick!
First oven baked fry recipe that actually works with no gimmicks! Other recipes call for baking soda or cornstarch n stuff like that…
Makes big thick 3/4 inch fries that you can actually eat the next day also because they’ve got body…
Brilliantly Simple Recipe
Easy..no spices,just salt
I will never buy frozen precut French fries again!!