How To Deep Fry Frozen French Fries At Home (Even If They Should Be Oven Baked)

How To Deep Fry Frozen French Fries

Frozen french fries are a delicious, easy-to-make snack that hits all the right spots when you’re in the mood for something inexpensive with just the right amount of carby goodness, they also go great with a burger.

The package will tell you to oven cook the french fries, but we’re here to tell you that is the wrong way to cook them. If you’re going to treat yourself, you may as well do it right, right?

Deep-frying your french fries (try saying that 10 times fast!) is a great way to enjoy restaurant-ready french fries in the comfort of your own home.

Today we’re going to look into how you’d go about deep-frying your own portion of french fries (or the entire bag) to either enjoy yourself or impress the family with.

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Step One: Choose an oil

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, we need to find the perfect oil to deep fry the French fries.

Everyone has different opinions and taste buds, but there are some types of oil that are just undoubtedly better than the rest.

You will need to find an oil that can withstand high heat well without altering the taste of the fries. If you’ve put seasoning on your French fries, you won’t want the chosen oil to overpower it all completely.

It might also be worth finding an inexpensive oil because deep-frying can take a lot of oil.

So, by a process of elimination, we can immediately say goodbye to olive oil. It’s too flavorful and you’re better off saving that for something that you can appreciate its goodness.

Coconut oil is also out, due to its high price point and overpowering flavor.

In our opinion, the best oil to use would be one of the following: canola oil, refined sunflower, refined peanut oil, or refined corn oil.

These oils have an impressive smoke point of at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit with less flavor and lower price points. So, go out and purchase a couple of bottles of your chosen oil and get ready for some delicious french fries.

How To Deep Fry Frozen French Fries

Mixing oils together

Some people prefer to mix oils together to get the desired flavor. We think that this is a little overkill, but if you want to recreate restaurant-worthy fries you can certainly put the effort into your fries and oil concoction.

A great example of this is McDonald’s. McDonald’s had to switch the way they cooked their fries in 1990 when people feared for their health when it came out that McDonald’s fried their fries in beef tallow.

So, instead, they use a mixture of three different oils – soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, and canola oil.

Unfortunately, the website does not tell us how much of which oil to add to the deep fryer, so you might not get the recipe just right.

However, using a method of trial and error can help you at least get close to the infamous McDonald’s french fries.

Step Two: Find a deep-frying method

The obvious deep-frying method is to use a deep fryer with a basket that has been designed to deep fry foods. However, not everyone has one of these machines, so you can also deep fry on the stovetop in a deep pot.

Just as you would prepare a deep fryer, add the oil into the deep pot and wait for it to heat up to the correct temperature.

Make sure that the pot is wide enough for the food to float to the top once the fries are done and deep enough that the hot oil doesn’t splash.

It would also be beneficial for you to purchase a spider strainer to help you fish the fries out of the oil.

Step Three: Make and enjoy!

Now onto the step that we’ve all been waiting for – how to deep fry frozen fries!

Be warned, the method is very straightforward, quick, and easy.

  1. Preheat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Place as many French fries as you want in the basket. Don’t fill it more than halfway – you might need to fry more than one batch.
  3. Lower the basket into the oil carefully as not to splash any onto yourself.
  4. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden.

See? We said it was super quick and easy!

How To Make Crispy French Fries

Many people are let down by deep-frying their French fries because they were expecting them to be crispier than they were.

It’s true that not every French fry is going to be crispy after being in the deep fryer.

However, there are some ways that you can prevent being left with a soggy fry. For starters, don’t leave the fries out of the freezer for too long. Secondly, the oil needs to be hot enough, yet not too hot.

Finally, don’t fry them for too long! Ask any deep-frying fan and they will tell you their horror story of overcooking their French fries.

Overcooking will leave you with one out of two outcomes – soggy fries like you get at McDonald’s, or overdone veggie straws.

To avoid these two outcomes and maximize your chances of making award-winning fries, make sure you stick to the method above and never stand over your fries until they’re done.

In Summary

And that concludes our article on how to deep fry frozen french fries. This snack is quick and easy, and won’t cost too much to make either.

Gone are the days of having to plan a meal out just to get your hands on some crispy french fries – you can make them from the comfort of your own kitchen!

Choose your favorite oil (ours is refined peanut oil, like Five Guys use) and get your deep fryer ready. You can also use a deep pan on the stovetop, but a deep fryer is always the best man for this job.

Deep-frying frozen fries is very simple – heat the oil, add the frozen fries, and fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden. Be careful with the preparation to ensure that they remain crispy and don’t overcook them!

All that’s left now is to enjoy your french fries!