On September 12, 2025 I made french fries by slicing up a leftover baked baked potato. That impulse resulted in a fry like no other. Baked potato fries stunned me.
Of course, as is often the case when I experiment with food, I thought I invented baked potato fries. 15 years ago I also thought I invented the quesadilla.
According to Google there's evidence of a few other people making these. Once I tell you how I did it, how easy it is and how good they are I predict within 2 months crispy baked potato fries will be at the top of the search results for the best french fries.
🥔 Have a leftover baked potato? You've got instant frozen fries. 🍟
It won't be my post at the top of the results, it'll be an AI generated blurb, but still.
Table of Contents
The Video
I thought I knew fries. YOU thought I knew fries.
Over the years I've shown you Heston Blumenthal's method for triple cooked french fries. In general, I slack a bit with that method and just double cook my fries (fry at a lower temp until softened, then fry them at a hot temp). I turn older, wrinkled potatoes into frozen french fries. I eat them at every flea market or antique show I go to.
This is not a drill. This is not a hysterical blogger overhyping something. I'm as stunned as you are about this development.
What to Do With Leftover Baked Potatoes
(the photos below are the OG, the original fries I impulsively made with baked potatoes.
You could microwave them and they'd be terrible. You could mash them, but that's just more dishes. Or - you could cut, freeze, and fry them into the best potato fries you've ever eaten. Seriously.
Ingredients
All you need are baked potatoes. I'll show you how I make my baked potatoes.
- Baking potatoes
- Olive Oil
- Salt
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Instructions
If you already have some cooked baked potatoes you can skip directly to step 3.
- Step 1: Pierce potatoes with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil all over your baking potatoes and rub it so it covers all of the skin. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt. Any salt.
- Step 2: Bake at 400F until potatoes are cooked through. About 45 minutes.
- Step 3: Let the potatoes cool so they firm up. Then you can cut them into french fry shapes. Not too thin!
- Step 4: Freeze on parchment for later use or fry in oil immediately. (I use a deep fryer cranked to the hottest temp) until outside is golden. It will take 2-4 minutes.
HINT: Do not overcrowd the oil and make sure it's hot. Too many fries in the basket will ruin them. They cook incredibly quickly so if you have to, do 2 batches with less fries. The first batch will still be blindingly hot by the time your second batch is done.
Why This Works So Well
- Baking dries out the potatoes first.
- The potatoes don't slice cleanly which means they have roughness around each cut. This rough texture helps with crispiness a lot.
- Freezing dries them even more.
- Frying creates the crunch.
Turns out, when potatoes bake, they dry out enough to make them perfect for frying later. What comes out of the deep fryer isn't just fries, they are crispy in a way fries don't normally get. The outside turns into a light shatteringly crisp exterior - like potato glass. The inside stays light, fuffy and hot. Honestly, they were unlike any fry I've ever had.
You Can Make the Crispiest French Fries by Using Leftover Baked Potatoes
I know, it took us long enough to figure this out. Baking potatoes dries them out which is exactly what you want when you're making french fries. Dry potatoes. Best of all you can cut up leftover baked potatoes, stick them in the freezer and cook them to french fry perfection whenever you want, in about 3 minutes.
Ingredients
- Baking Potatoes
- Olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Coat your baking potatoes in oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Bake on a baking sheet at 400F until cooked. About 45 minutes.
- Let the potatoes cool. Either overnight in the fridge or just on the counter.
- Once they're cooled the potatoes will have firmed up enough to cut into french fries. Don't try shoestring, just regular or thick cut fries.
- Place the fries on a parchment lined sheet or plate and freeze. Once frozen transfer to a glass container or freezer bag.
- To cook, heat oil (I use a deep fryer) to its hottest temperature then drop the fries in. Do not overcrowd them. This is important.
- Fry until they're cooked and crisped to your liking. This will only take a few minutes because the potatoes are already cooked. You're just heating and crisping at this point.*
Notes
- * You can cook the fries as long as you want and they'll get crispier and crispier. 2-3 minutes and you have a light crispy coating. More than that and the crispieness gets thicker and thicker into the fry.
- Make sure your oil temp is hot so your fries almost instantly start to crisp. Low temp oil = soggy, grease drenched fries.
- If you're using a dark baking sheet you can flip the potatoes halfway through cooking so the one side doesn't get too dark or burned. If you have a light coloured baking sheet you probaby won't need to flip the potatoes.
- Be gentle.
Seasoning & Serving
Start with salt. After that, go wild: paprika, garlic powder, Parmesan, cajun seasoning. They're perfect with sour cream, aioli, or of course ketchup and vinegar.
Freezing & Reheating
- After slicing into fry shapes, lay them on a parchment lined plate or sheet and freeze them. Once frozen pop them in a freezer bag or glass freezer container.
- Cook from frozen exactly the same. At hottest deep fryer temperature (375F/190C)
- To reheat leftover fries (if you somehow have leftovers), use a hot oven or air fryer. Never the microwave - that way leads to despair.
I would very much like you to try making these in the next week if you get the chance. Mainly because I want to know if my fries were an anomoly.
I tested them over and over again, frying from frozen and without freezing. They were all excellent fries. The longer you cook, the further into the fry the crispiness gets.
So no, I didn't invent baked potato fries. But if history repeats itself, in 15 years I'll invent nachos.
Comments
No Comments