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
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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2nd time I made these… OMG!! These are the best oven fries. Crispy outside and creamy inside. These are a keeper!! Thank you.
You’re welcome Michelle! They’re a staple at our house too!
Many home ovens are electric with burners on the top. My LG range is like this. Telling people who have such an oven to turn up the heat to 425 from 400F is likely to broil the potatoes, which might not be a good thing.
This method has worked perfectly for us and many other readers Gene. Give it a try!
These are great. Looking for suggestions to make them the day before? Or freezing…Would I freeze potato after sliced and soaked and spun dry? Then bake frozen and spray with oil? I wasn’t sure what your “you can freeze” meant…at what point, after they are already baked? Thank you
Hi Jules, I would not freeze them. I’d suggest keeping the potatoes covered in water overnight in the fridge, then carry on by spinning dry the next day!
Thank you…I will do that (they are for the next day)…appreciate the prompt reply.
Easy. Turned out great. I’ll make this recipe again.
I followed the timings and temperatures to the letter and these came out perfect. The changes I made are…. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and added garlic salt, white pepper and paprika ( as well as salt & lemon pepper ) when tossing them in ( avocado) oil. I didn’t have any parchment paper, so used tin foil.
I’ve been making oven fries for years but these are possibly the best I’ve ever had. I think the dual temperatures and using a salad spinner to dry off the fries made a massive difference.
I made these fries this past weekend. Goodbye to deep frying. The Fries turned out crispy and flavorful. Thanks for sharing
You are welcome Jill. They’re a staple at our house for sure!
I just made the crispy oven fries today I just try it and it tastes so good.
Followed your recipe and it was a hit with the family! Absolutely delicious; used the lemon pepper seasoning. Thanks for sharing!
Better leave yourself an extra 30 minutes. They are great but the time is way off!
So glad you enjoyed the fries, Steve! We’ve made these dozens and dozens of times, and the timing always works perfectly for us. A couple of reasons it may take longer is if your oven temperature is slightly off, or the fries are cut larger. Hope that helps.
This recipe is delicious! This was my first time making homemade, baked French fries and they turned out great — much crispier than I would have expected from the oven.
Favorite recipe hands down for oven fries! Each time I fix these, there are no leftovers! I hand cut the fries to a uniform size and rinse the starch off til clear as I usually don’t have time to soak. Patting dry and single layer on parchment paper are a must. I toss with olive oil and season with whatever I have on hand…sometimes sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, and my favorite, Trader Joe’s Onion Salt.(I do try to limit the sodium amt) I follow your oven temps and just keep an eye on them as we like them crispy!
Thanks for a great recipe!!
You are very welcome Sarah!
These were without a doubt the best oven fries I’ve ever made. Crispy and delicious. Thank you for the great tips. Soaking and drying the potatoes added time to the process but it was definitely worth it!!!
These were a total disaster. I followed each step exactly. I soaked the fries for 45 minutes and dried each one by hand. They are all soggy, despite two cooking temperatures. Despite cooking longer to try to crisp them up. Super disappointed. I should have read the comments first, I guess.
She said soak for 30 minutes not 45
Crispy oven fries have never worked for me until I tried this method. These were the best I have ever made and so glad I found this recipe. After soaking in cold water I drained in a collander then rolled them up in a clean flour sack towel for about 10 minutes. Then in a large bowl thoroughly coated in canola oil. So so good.
Greetings from Locked Down Southern California,
I am a long time bachelor, a long time Mechanical Engineer and a fairly new Pandemic Cook (lol) and I just made these wonderful baked fries.
I have some tips for those who maybe had some problems making this recipe.
Do NOT skip any annoying details like chilling them in cold water or getting your slices as dry as your available technology allows or keeping distance between each fry in the pan (3/4″ separation minimum for best results).
Coating them in oil is very important but it can be a real difficult assignment for a man, procedurally. I have found the easiest way to do this is with an aerosol oil spray. This is available in many flavors including olive oil. Ignore the picture of the drizzling bottle of olive oil you see in the pictures. This will probably cause a real problem quantity and quality wise.
My solution is to lay the cut potatoes out on the parchment paper with 3/4″ separation -> in the pan you will be putting in the oven -> spray side one. Flip each strip over (180 degrees for you science types) in an orderly way and spray the other side. This generally will coat all four sides sufficiently to consider it satisfactory.
Sprinkle your seasoning on now. Seasoning on one side is enough to do the job and also to eventually avoid causing you to maybe someday require blood pressure medicine (lol). It also avoids the annoying task of flipping everything back over again. If you have an OCD desire to flip again then go ahead and flip them again and season both sides. See you at the pharmacy my friend.
Do NOT assume that your oven is operating at the temperature on it’s dial.
Do NOT assume that your particular size or shape of cut potato is going to bake in the recipe’s stated time.
Try to make your potato’s cut size as uniform as possible. This is more important than making them any particular size. Look at the overall mass of the slice. This will dictate the bake time for a certain oven temperature. Thin areas cook and burn faster than big thick parts. Check you oven often and make your potato cut sizes as uniform as possible even if you have to cut off and discard the slender ends. What’s more important; your happiness or global warming caused by tossed out potato ends? Come On, Man.
Check your fries every few minutes; especially near the end of the recipe’s suggested bake times.
My batch at the 425 F level was ready at 16 minutes, not at the recipe’s 20-25 minutes. My old GE electric oven cycles from 25 above the temperature set point to 25 below. This is what engineer’s call a 50 degree dead band. I wanted to make sure I was at or above 475 so I had my oven set at 500 (475 to 525). This small change resulted in a significant shortening in the bake time. Keep checking your oven.
My last recommendation is to invest in a good digital temperature measuring device and use it to become familiar with your cooking devices. This will save a lot of heart ache and maybe slow down global warming from discarded burnt French Fries.
Thank You Holly !!! I love your smile.
Peace Out,
Ray
Thank you for sharing all of your great tips Ray (and adding a little bit of humor to our day)! So glad you enjoyed these fries as much as we do!
This is the best recipe comment I have ever read.
(The original recipe is great too! Have done it several times)
These fries turned out great… following the recipe. I agree with Ray Kruman, the mechanical engineer’s recommendations . I’ll add this: I soak the potatoes in ice water (it can be more than 30 minutes, just prep in advance). I dry the potatoes between two, rolled towels. To coat the potatoes, put them in a plastic bag. Then, add the oil and seasoning. Shake and massage the potatoes in the bag. They get completely coated and no mess. This recipe is a keeper!
omg. the joy of cooking being slowy drained away by the creepily methodical approach to this recipe. goosebumps! haha. sorry.. totally making fun of this guy.
Oven French fries were delicious. Going to try smoother recipes
Delicious! You would never know they weren’t fried. Easy to make, too.
Made these with russets. Just as good, if not better than deep fried! Nice and crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.
More than satisfies the french fry craving but with way less oil and not too much effort. Love love love!
Now to try different seasonings and share this recipe with friends and family.
Thanks for the recipe! These take a while to make, but are definitely worth it in the end. I am happy that I resisted going to the drive thru for fast food fries!
Should I spread the fries out or can I just put them on top of one another?
As noted in the post Rachel, spread evenly in a single layer on a parchment lined pan. We’ve updated the recipe card to mention this as well!