Roasted Crispy French Fries (Oven Fries)

Crispy roasted oven fries are a healthier alternative to fried potatoes and much easier to make!

Even though you need to set aside a bit of time for the process (soaking the potatoes and baking time in the oven), most of this is hands-off time, making these oven fries an easy addition to your dinner menu.

Ingredients

This recipe uses just a few very basic ingredients. I like to keep things simple. But good quality ingredients make all the difference when it comes to taste.

Potatoes

Russet potatoes are the easiest to cut into traditional “french fry” shaped slices. They also have a thicker skin that crisps up very nicely when roasted.

But don’t limit yourself! I also like to use red or yellow potatoes for a more colorful plate. These potatoes tend to yield smaller fries, which is not necessarily a bad thing since thinner fries are easier to get nice and crispy.

You can use whatever potatoes you happen to have in your pantry or, in my case, whatever grew best in the garden this year.

Olive oil

I like to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. The darker color and more robust flavor are a plus in my book. Make sure the oil smells fresh and drizzle generously!

Sea salt and black pepper

A coarse salt gives the most satisfactory result in terms of crispiness and texture. I use a sea salt grinder for extra coarse salt. You could also sprinkle on Himalayan pink salt, kosher salt, or, for that matter, any other salt you have on hand.

Black pepper is the best when freshly ground and in big-ish chunks. I almost never use standard black pepper. Always fresh from the grinder. Way fresher and a punchier flavor.

Making the Oven Fries

There are two stages of prep time to make the perfect crispy oven fries. The first stage is scrubbing, slicing, and soaking the potatoes. Don’t skip the soaking part, as your fries will turn out noticeably less crispy.

The second stage is drying, adding oil and salt, and baking the potatoes.

Let’s break it down.

Scrub the potatoes under running water and remove eyes and any bad spots. This is especially important if you’re not going to be peeling the potatoes. If you do want to peel the potatoes, skip the scrubbing part, just rinse them off after you’ve peeled them.

Cut the potatoes into thin, french fry-shaped slices of about 1/2 inch width or less. The thinner your potato pieces, the easier it will be to get them crispy. There are special tools available to slice your potatoes into perfect fry shapes, but I don’t have one, so I can’t say whether they’re any good or not.

Rinse the sliced potatoes in cold running water and drain the water off several times. This and soaking the potatoes are very important steps to making crispy fries in the oven. Rinsing with cold water will wash off some of the starch naturally occurring in the potatoes.

Leave the sliced potatoes to soak in a bowl of cold water for at least 30 minutes to remove extra starchiness. Rinse again with cold water. If you’re really pressed for time and don’t have time for the soak treatment, at the very least, rinse those potatoes several times with cold water.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Start the oven about 15 minutes before you’re ready to pop the fries in. Hitting a hot blast will help them form a crispy outer crust.

Pat the potato slices dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel. You want to remove as much of the water as possible so that your potatoes aren’t steaming instead of roasting. All of this in the quest for crispy fries!

Spread the dried-off potatoes on a parchment-lined baking tray, leaving some space between slices. You don’t want to over-crowd the slices on the tray or, once again, you’ll have trouble getting them crispy. I don’t take the time to arrange them carefully, just dump and shuffle.

Drizzle generously with olive oil, and stir to make sure all the slices have some oil on them. In addition to adding fantastic flavor, the oil also helps, you guessed it, make the potatoes brown and crisp.

Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. If you’re adding other seasonings such as garlic salt, paprika, rosemary or thyme, now is the time to do it.

Bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 35 minutes. Remove the tray to stir the fries, then return to the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes, for a total bake time of 45-50 minutes. Depending on the precise amount of potatoes on your tray or how closely they’re squeezed in, you may want to leave them in even longer.

Note: Don’t try to stir them too soon into the baking time, as they are more likely to stick to the parchment paper and break into pieces. As they brown on the paper, they get a firm, crispy crust that holds them together when you stir to make sure everything is baking evenly. You’ll hear a lot of sizzling, but that’s just the magic working.

Remove. Look for fries that are turning golden and crispy around the edges. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Storing Leftovers

If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

These don’t keep their crisp texture as leftovers especially well (do any fries?!), but for best results, reheat any leftovers in a toaster oven.

Serving Suggestions

Crispy oven fries are the perfect accompaniment to hamburgers with homemade buns, fish, and Greek-style souvlaki with homemade pita.

Serve with classic ketchup or with a garlic mayonnaise sauce. We even love them with tzatziki!