I love French fries, however, fried food and healthy living don’t quite go hand and hand. When I started making changes to my lifestyle a few years ago I gave up fried food, including fries. However these crispy baked fries are just as good as the original!
Fries was one of the few foods I missed with my new healthy diet. Once I got fit I brought the fries back, but in moderation.
I really wanted to find a way to make fries at home in the oven that tasted as good as some of my favorite fried restaurant fries.
After trying a few different recipes I wasn’t able to get the fries crispy enough. I couldn’t get the texture right they were always a little mushy and didn’t taste great.
For me French fries have two requirements. They must be salty and they must be crispy. I’ll eat them thin, thick, waffle, or seasoned, but if they are mushy and lacking salt I’ll skip them altogether.
Last week I decided to try again (since I had a 10 pound bag of potatoes sitting in my kitchen) and spent a few days working on my fry recipe. (Tough job but someone has to do it!)
Then it hit me… I needed to soak the fries before cooking! Soaking potatoes helps get rid of the starch, and too much starch was making my fries mushy in the oven.
I tried it and the baked fries were absolutely perfect! They were crispy and tasted just like the fried version.
They are so easy to make and you can even do most of the prep work ahead of time if you wanted to make these for a a party or pot luck.
Crispy Baked French Fries
Ingredients
- 4 large white potatoes
- 1 Tablespoon canola oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic powder
- Paprika Chili Power, Cayenne Pepper (use your favorite spices)
Instructions
- Wash potatoes.
- Cut the potatoes into large fry shaped strips, keeping the skin on.
- Soak potatoes in water for at least an hour. They can soak overnight in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Drain water and dry potatoes thoroughly. Do not skip this step!
- In a large bowl mix together fries and the canola oil until the fries are covered.
- Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Add additional seasonings if you like spicier fries.
- Place fries side by side on a cookie sheet, making sure they are not piled on top of each other.
- Sprinkle with additional seasoning.
- Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your fries.
- Serve.
Once you try these crispy baked fries you’ll probably be able to give up regular fries! They are a healthier version, so try these instead next time you have a craving for French fries.
Toni Ketrick says
What is the nutritional info?
Elaine says
Here you go:
http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-fresh-or-dried-vegetables-russet-potatoes-baked-flesh-skin_f-ZmlkPTEzODEwNQ.html
Ann E Bulman says
This story on your soaking the potatoes in cold water ,hit a memory button in my head. When i first worked in a cafe as a dish washer and doing some prep work, I was 15 in 1960, we did not have at that time frozen fries or a lot of frozen things. As the dish washer and prep person,I would peel by hand all the potatoes , we did have a fry cutter so that did save some of the hard work. After I peeled and cut them we would soak them and keep them in the fridge until ready to use . We would lay them on cotton towels to drain and then deep fry them .
Kasie says
Can you use a different oil besides canola. I never have that oil on hand. TIA 🙂
Elaine says
Olive oil. I usually toss my veggies with that before baking them.
Kyara says
When baking them in the oven, do you cover the dish with foil paper? Or no need to cover?
Toni Anderson says
You can cover the pan with foil, but not necessary.