I know, this seems like a silly post. After all, how difficult can it be to make oven baked French Fries from those frozen bags? In all honesty, it’s not. Heat the oven, dump the frozen sticks of potatoes onto a baking sheet, bake and serve. Simple.
In our house, we like our oven baked fries golden and crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. We like our fries to have a little seasoning without being too salty. Most of all, we like our fries “fried” without the added grease. This is simple to accomplish without sacrificing the convenience of those frozen bags.
First, reduce the heat. Most bags tell you to heat the oven to 450 degrees. At 425, the potatoes still cook through, but the inside is moist while the outside is “crisp”.
Next, spray the baking sheet with a little cooking spray – not much – a light coating is all you need. Spread the fries out in a single layer, then spray the fries themselves lightly with cooking spray such as Pam. The spray will give you that “fried” texture without submerging your taters in oil and it will help the seasonings stay with the frozen spuds.
Yeah, season them. Not just with salt, try using Seasoning Salt. It will give your fries a nice seasoned flavor while adding a hint of golden color.
During the last 5 minutes of cooking, turn the oven off. This serves two purposes – it keeps the fries warm while you finish off whatever else you might be serving, and the fries won’t overcook. That’s all there is to it.
The thing I love about all these “convenient” frozen packages is that the home-cook can always improve them with a few little tweaks of our own.
For those of you who would rather have the tips summed up in a recipe, here ya go:
Perfect Oven French Fries
1/2 Bag Frozen French Fries
Cooking Spray
Seasoning Salt to taste
Heat oven to 425 degrees. While the oven heats, line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lightly spray the foil with cooking spray.
Spread French Fries in a single layer on baking sheet. Spray fries with cooking spray.
Season as desired.
Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Turn oven off, let the fries continue to warm another 5 minutes or so.
Here are a few of our favorite “with fries on the side” recipes that are perfect on the griddle, making them year-round burgers:
BLT Burgers with BBQ Ketchup Sauce
Diner-Style Bacon Burgers
Oklahoma Onion Burgers
Smashburgers
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