Air Fryer French Fries

April 12, 2022

Air Fryer French Fries

Air fryer french fries are floury baking potatoes — russet in the US, or Maris Piper, King Edward or Bintje in Europe — cut into thin matchsticks, tossed with a little oil and seasoning, and cooked hot and fast in an air fryer until the outside turns golden and crisp. It is the same idea as deep-fried fries, with a fraction of the oil and no pot of hot fat to deal with afterward.

The potatoes get cut into even quarter-inch sticks, about three to four inches long, so they all cook at the same rate. Soaking them in water first pulls out surface starch, which is what lets the outside crisp rather than turn soft and pale; skipping the soak is fine if you are short on time, it just makes the result a little less crackly. Either way, the fries need to be completely dry before they meet any oil or salt, since lingering water steams instead of crisping.

Cooked right, the fries come out deep golden and crackling on the outside with a soft, pale yellow interior underneath. Salt goes on the moment they leave the basket, while the surface is still hot enough for it to stick.

They work as a side to almost anything — burgers, sandwiches, grilled meat — or on their own with ketchup, mayonnaise, or a garlicky dip.

Ingredients

Serves 2–3

450 g floury baking potatoes (russet, Maris Piper, King Edward or Bintje; about 2 large or 3 medium), scrubbed, peeled if you like
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp fine sea salt, plus more to finish
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp black pepper, ground
⅛ tsp paprika, or a pinch of cayenne (optional)
fresh herbs, chopped, to finish (optional)
grated Parmesan, to finish (optional)

Directions

Scrub the potatoes and peel them if you like — the skin is fine to leave on. Slice each potato lengthwise into quarter-inch planks, then cut the planks into quarter-inch matchsticks, roughly three to four inches long. Keeping the sticks a uniform size is what makes them cook evenly; a mandoline makes this easier if you have one.

Cover the cut fries with cold water and let them sit for at least 20 minutes, or use hot tap water and cut that down to about 10 minutes. This pulls surface starch out of the potatoes, which helps them crisp rather than turning soft. It is worth doing if you have the time, but skip it if you do not — the fries will still work.

Drain the fries and pat them completely dry with a clean towel. Surface moisture is the main thing standing between you and crisp fries, so do not rush this step; if the fries were soaked, dry them twice.

Toss the dried fries with the olive oil first, then add the salt, garlic powder, pepper, and any optional paprika or cayenne, and toss again until everything is evenly coated. If the soak was skipped, hold the salt back until just before cooking, since salting too early draws moisture out of the potato and undoes some of the drying.

Preheat the air fryer to 380°F (193°C) for a couple of minutes. Arrange the fries in a single layer in the basket with space between them — crowding is the main reason air-fried fries turn out soggy instead of crisp, so cook in batches rather than piling them all in. Air fry for 12–15 minutes, flipping or shaking the basket once around the halfway point, until deep golden and crisp.

If the fries were cooked in batches, tip them all back into the basket together and run the air fryer for another 2–3 minutes to reheat and re-crisp everything at once. Turn the fries out onto a plate, sprinkle with salt while they are still hot, and add any fresh herbs or grated Parmesan. Serve right away, since fries lose their crispness fast once they sit.

Notes

A floury, starchy potato gives the driest, crispest result and is the standard choice here — russet in the US, or Maris Piper, King Edward or Bintje in Europe. A waxier potato such as Yukon Gold or Charlotte works too, for a creamier interior instead of a fluffy one.

Airflow matters more than anything else in this recipe — an overcrowded basket steams the fries instead of crisping them, no matter how good the seasoning is.

Cook times vary between air fryer models. Start checking near the low end of the range, especially with toaster-oven-style air fryers, which tend to run cooler — closer to 350°F (177°C) — than basket models.

Olive oil works well, but any neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil, works too.