Crispy Oven Baked French Fries

 by scoochmaroo
Featured
02.jpg
Sound impossible?  You no longer have to decide between soggy oven baked potatoes or heating up a huge pot of stinky oil to enjoy French fries at home.  This technique turns ordinary potatoes into extraordinary crispy fries with little effort, little oil, and no mess or residual oil stank to deal with!

We know from the past that it takes two cooking sessions to create fries that are perfectly crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside. This time, instead of two quick fries in a deep pot of oil, we're going to eliminate the mess altogether (and most of the oil while we're at it!)  and subject our potatoes to a brief stint in the microwave followed by an extra hot session in the oven.  Tossing the potatoes with cornstarch and preheating the oil in the oven is the secret to ending dense, limp fries forever.

You'll never think about French fries the same way again after this.  This technique is so easy, and the resulting fries are so surprisingly delicious, you just may consign your deep fryer to the curb for good.


 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Ingredients

ingredients.jpg
Russet potatoes are the best choice for a classic French fry taste and texture.

This recipe uses:
  • 4 russet potatoes
  • 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
spike3579 says: Mar 27, 2012. 2:27 PM
I just found a cool french fry cutter in a dumpster 20 minutes ago! Guess I know what's for dinner...
ff cutter front.jpgff cutter back.jpg
scoochmaroo (author) in reply to spike3579Mar 27, 2012. 3:56 PM
That is amazing! I love that it says french fry cutter right on it!
Mike73 says: Apr 8, 2012. 11:06 AM
Awesome. We tried it yesterday night. Anna wanted to do the cooking (meatballs whith spaghetti), and then decided she doesn't want to.
So I ended up doing the cooking.
Like in my first comment on this instructable, I used a plate to cover the bowl of potatoes. Maybe not as funny as the bubbling plastic wrap, but it worked.
To cover the potatoes, I did as instructed, but it seemed to little oil being in the cornstarch. So I added more....
....DON'T.
The fries were a little to "oily" afterwards, but otherwise they were great.
Now I just have to get a fry cutter. I had to cut all my fries with a knife :-)

I also made pictures to prove that I really tried. I think you can see that they are indeed a little oily. The soon to be meatballs ended up as patties.
IMG_1948.JPGIMG_1949.JPG
supergirl500 says: Apr 21, 2012. 6:24 PM
I made these today, and they were AMAZING!!! Very tasty too!
001.JPG
scoochmaroo (author) in reply to supergirl500Apr 22, 2012. 8:41 AM
I'm so glad you had success! I LOVE this recipe. I'm always amazed at how great the fries are. I hope you spread the word!
sctirvn687 says: Apr 25, 2012. 2:04 AM
Thanks for the great recipe. My wife said: "They don't need any ketchup". That is a very good complement because I have tried other methods and they definitely needed help from condiments. I put the cut potatoes in a 2 quart Corning Ware glass lidded square casserole dish instead of the bowl with the plastic wrap and that seemed to work well too.
DSC01337.JPG
zurichko says: Jun 5, 2012. 12:34 AM
So yeah, these came out so perfect! I added garlic powder and then sprinkled Parmesan cheese as soon as I took them out of the oven. SO GOOD!
oven fries.jpg
sesquipedalian says: Mar 30, 2013. 10:53 PM
Would a crumpled up sheet of foil do the same thing? Let me think - you'd have to heat the oil on it, toss the fries, then crumple it with a spatula or something, but you wouldn't have to wash anything. This recipe is groundbreaking!
Takelababy says: Mar 24, 2012. 11:33 AM
I wish someone would invent an oven pan for flipping fries.
allen in reply to TakelababyMar 25, 2012. 7:36 PM
I've taken to using a stainless steel cooling rack and putting it in a cookie pan. The rack holds to fries off the cookie pan allowing them to cook on both sides without needing to be flipped. The down side is now I've got two things to clean instead of just the cookie pan. Still, you don't have to horse with fries half way through and they're a snap to get off the cooling rack since there's so little area of contact.
Hermaniac in reply to allenMar 21, 2013. 7:47 AM
You're a god damn genius.
Great Wight Ninja says: Feb 24, 2013. 2:44 PM
I assume you microwave on HIGH, but that might be worth mentioning.
vincent7520 says: Feb 17, 2013. 12:48 PM
How strange ! … You don't peel potatoes before frying them ??…
You recipe made my day as it reminded me the fighting over the "pommes de terre frites" recipes my grandmother and one of my aunt (one of her daughters) had when I was a child a long, long time ago.
My grandmother was all for the double fry in oil method. My aunt, being the youngest and more modernistic of all, was for oven baking.
Kids never complained as "les frites" was the treat of the week anyway !!!…
Thank you for reviving past memories !…
But please tell me why you don't peel your potatoes before frying them ?…
Because of the taste ? For vitamins or other dietary reason ? Or simply out of laziness ? Or ?…
Cheers and thank you for sharing. :D
scoochmaroo (author) in reply to vincent7520Feb 18, 2013. 7:54 AM
I do it strictly for the taste, but it's true that most of the potato's vitamins are in its skin. My mother thinks it's downright disgusting though, so I don't blame you if you want to peel them :D
vincent7520 in reply to scoochmarooFeb 18, 2013. 8:13 AM
Poor Mama : he daughter is so talented and so disgusting !!!!… LOL

Anyway you passed the test : to me taste and laziness were the only valid answer !…

As for taste I'll give it a try some day : you may open to me a whole new dimension to french fries. :D

Wish you a pleasant week.
Tamaresque says: Feb 10, 2013. 6:07 PM
What does the cornstarch do? I had to Google it to find out what it was, so not sure if I can find that locally. Is it essential?
scoochmaroo (author) in reply to TamaresqueFeb 18, 2013. 7:56 AM
The cornstarch absorbs some of the potato's liquid and makes the fries crisper. Perhaps corn flour would work?
ggeiger says: Jan 30, 2013. 4:51 PM
I made these tonight and they were delicious. Very crispy. I used a baking stone instead of a cookie sheet and had to cook just slightly longer than what the recipe suggested to get the right color and consistency. Next time, I will try to use a little less oil. There seemed to be enough of an excess, so I will be curious to experiment. My husband and I both enjoyed them. I will be making these again.
canucksgirl says: Mar 22, 2012. 9:40 AM
They look great.

How does the cornstarch work in this recipe? Does it just make the fries more crispy? (I thought they would absorb more oil that way)...
13blue in reply to canucksgirlJun 28, 2012. 12:50 PM
I wondered the same thing.
craftknowitall says: May 30, 2012. 4:20 PM
Next time I make oven fries, I will try out this method. Sounds wonderful.
vincent7520 says: Apr 28, 2012. 10:54 AM
Excellent.

No ketchup needed, let me tell ya ! …
Mike73 says: Apr 6, 2012. 5:54 AM
Looks awesome. I think we do it similarly already. I think we never precooked in the microwave and have to get a slicer.
My wife recommended not using plastic in the microwave at all and suggested using a plate on top of the bowl to keep the steam in.
Anyway, I guess I'll try it. Just need to remember to precook in the microwave and cover with cornstarch (never tried that one before). Thanks.
stevephillips131 says: Apr 1, 2012. 12:22 PM
its regular plastic wrap. it does that with spagetthios too. lol
Paperduck says: Mar 21, 2012. 1:02 AM
That's not some kind of special microwaveable plastic wrap, is it? I'm just asking because I don't think I've ever used plastic wrap in the microwave before.
dchall8 in reply to PaperduckMar 22, 2012. 8:13 PM
I absolutely rely on plastic wrap to hold the steam in.
bowow0807 says: Mar 21, 2012. 4:34 AM
do you absolutely need a microwave? because i dont have one D:
ashbegash says: Mar 20, 2012. 6:23 PM
These look AMAZING!!!!!!!!!
chefsea says: Mar 20, 2012. 3:04 PM
Nice recipe. I'm gonna try it.
Pichu47 says: Mar 20, 2012. 1:58 PM
ooooooooooooh, these look so good. Does it taste good even without covering it with salt?
Jayefuu says: Mar 20, 2012. 1:36 PM
These were excellent :)
Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

PDF Downloads
As a Pro member, you will gain access to download any Instructable in the PDF format. You also have the ability to customize your PDF download.

Upgrade to Pro today!