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How to Keep French Fries Crispy? #1 Best Tips&Tricks

How to Keep French Fries Crispy? #1 Best Tips&Tricks

How to Keep French Fries Crispy? When French fries are properly cooked, they have a perfectly crispy crust. However, if you don’t cook your fries the right way, they could wind up brown, greasy, or soggy.

On top of that, fries don’t always stay crispy once they’re cooked. If you don’t eat them quickly enough, you could be left with cold, limp fries. Thankfully, with the right cooking methods, you can consistently enjoy crispy fries.

How Do You Keep French Fries Crispy

To keep French fries crispy reduce the water content of the fries. To do this, fry the fries until they are fully cooked, but remove them from heat before they start to crisp. Allow the fries to cool, and then fry them again until crispy.

How to Keep French Fries Crispy
How to Keep French Fries Crispy

You can also keep fries crispy for longer by soaking fries in cold water before they’re cooked. This will help to reduce the starch content of the fries.

Soak the fries for a minimum of ten minutes and then rinse the starchy water away. Pat the fries dry with a towel before cooking them using the method above.

How to Cook Crispy French Fries

Not everyone has a deep fryer at home. Thankfully, you can make French fries crispy no matter what cooking method you use.

Cooking Crispy Fries On the Stovetop

When you’re making fries on the stove, you’ll get better results if you start with cold oil rather than hot oil. Using cold oil will allow the inside of the fries to cook before the outside starts crisping up, keeping the fries from overcooking.

Place your fries in a skillet and add enough cold oil to cover the fries. Cook the fries at medium heat for about 15 minutes, giving them the occasional stir.

Eventually, the oil will start to boil, making the outside of the fries nice and crispy. When you remove the fries from heat, absorb any access oil with a paper towel to keep the fries from getting soggy.

French fries can be cooked on the stovetop
French fries can be cooked on the stovetop

Making Crispy Oven Fries

Oven-baked fries tend to be softer, but you can get a perfect crispy texture even when you prepare fries in the oven.

Make sure you soak the fries for at least 10 minutes before you prepare them for the oven.

After the fries have been soaked, dried, and seasoned, you should place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet before tossing them in the oven.

Once the fries have baked for 20 minutes, flip them and allow them to cook for about 10 minutes more to ensure that both sides are nice and crispy.

It’s best to cook oven fries in small batches. That way, you can make sure that none of the fries are touching as they cook.

You can make crispy French fries in the oven
You can make crispy French fries in the oven

Cooking Crispy Air Fryer Fries

In spite of its name, an air fryer doesn’t actually fry food. Instead, this appliance is a convection oven that’s designed to fit on a countertop.

Because of this, the techniques you’ll use for crispy air fryer fries are similar to the methods you’ll use for oven fries. Soak the fries before you cook them and make sure they’re placed in a single, even layer.

Cook times will vary based on the model of air fryer you’re using, but a cook time of fewer than 10 minutes is usually best.

Check on your fries near the end of the cooking time to make sure they haven’t started to burn.

To keep French fries crispy reduce the water content
To keep French fries crispy reduce the water content

How to Prevent Soggy French Fries

One of the most common issues that people encounter when making fries at home is soggy fries. Even fries that initially seem to be perfectly looking can become soggy after a few minutes.

Rinsing and double-frying French fries can help to reduce the risk of sogginess.

You can also avoid a soggy texture by using a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil on your fries after they’ve cooked.

Another easy way to avoid sogginess is to use less oil. If you’re using a deep fryer or a skillet, you can cut down on oil by cooking your fries in smaller batches.

How to Keep French Fries Crispy
How to Keep French Fries Crispy

How to Make Leftover French Fries Crispy Again

French fries are delicious, but they can also be filling. If you have leftover French fries that you weren’t able to eat, there are a few ways to bring your fries back to life and give them a nice crispy texture again.

Reheating Fries In a Pan

While it’s easy to refresh fries on the stovetop, you’ll have to watch out for grease. Don’t use more than a few tablespoons of oil to heat up your fries.

Add the oil to a pan along with your fries and cook at medium-high heat for about 15 minutes. Make sure you flip your fries as they cook so that they’re able to cook evenly.

Heat fries a second time until they are crispy
Heat fries a second time until they are crispy

Reheating Fries In the Oven

Since you won’t have to add any extra oil, your oven can be an excellent way to heat up cooked fries. For best results, line your baking pan with aluminum foil before you cook your fries.

You should let your fries cook at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Make sure you allow the oven to fully pre-heat before you start cooking your fries.

Reheating Fries In the Deep Fryer

It’s incredibly easy to heat up fries in the air fryer, but you’ll want to make sure your fries don’t get too crispy. With most air fryers, you’ll only need a few minutes to fully cook your fries.

Give your air fryer a chance to pre-heat and heat the fries at a lower temperature to prevent burning. Check on your fries every few minutes and remove them from the air fryer once they’re golden brown.

Frozen or Fresh?

You can get a great crispy texture on your French fries whether you use frozen fries or make them from scratch. However, you may find it easier to get great results when you start with frozen fries.

When you heat fries that are fully frozen, the outer layer of the fries will be sealed as they cook. This can help you to make fries that are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

If you’re making your own fries, and you want them to be as crispy as possible, make sure that your fries are sliced nice and thin. Using a fry cutter can help you get the perfect shape for your fries.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Keep French Fries Crispy

How Long Can French Fries Sit Out?

French Fries should not sit out for more than 2 hours. It’s best to throw away French fries if they’ve been left out at room temperature for three hours or more. When fries sit out, they can attract bacteria that can make them unsafe to eat.

Can French Fries Be Refrozen?

You can safely re-freeze frozen fries as long as there are still ice crystals on the fries. If fries have been cooked, they cannot be frozen again.

Conclusion On How to Keep French Fries Crispy

French fries taste best when they’re crispy. If you change the way you cook fries, you can get the perfect crispy temperature when you make fresh fries and even revitalize fries that are cold or have started to go soggy.