These baked French fries are surprisingly crisp yet tender potato-y awesomeness that’ll ease your craving, each and every time, yet are still healthful. A final toss with chopped parsley and garlic gives them a French bistro feel. Although that final flourish isn’t even necessary. Not at all.–Renee Schettler Rossi
Baked French Fries
Ingredients
- Nonstick baking spray, (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or mild vegetable oil, plus more for the baking sheet
- 3 cloves (about 1 tablespoon) garlic, minced
- 3 large baking (Russet) potatoes, scrubbed or peeled
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230 °C). Coat a rimmed baking sheet with baking spray or oil.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil and garlic for 2 minutes. Strain the garlic from the oil with a small strainer. Reserve both the garlic and the oil.
- Slice the potatoes into matchsticks about 1/4 inch thick. In a large bowl, toss together the oil, potatoes, and salt.
- Spread the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast until golden and crisp, flipping them once with a thin metal spatula if desired, until crisp at the edges and tender in the center, 25 to 35 minutes.
☞ TESTER TIP: Watch the fries carefully toward the end of baking as they can go from perfectly golden and crisp at the edges to really rather burnt in mere seconds.
- Immediately transfer the potatoes to a large platter or serving bowl using that thin metal spatula.
- Sprinkle the fries with the parsley, reserved garlic, and salt to taste. Serve immediately.
Notes
*What You Need To Know About Doubling This Baked French Fries Recipe
We’re over the moon for these skinny little frites. So much so that we’ve taken to always making a double batch, spreading them on a second baking sheet, seeing as they disappear so quickly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Not only did this baked french fries recipe appear wonderful on paper, it exceeded our expectations. You infuse oil with garlic for roasting the “fries” and use the resulting crispy garlic to sprinkle on top. What a clever idea! As the potatoes were cut only 1/4 inch thick, they became brilliantly crisp.
I flipped the “fries” over once.The platter of crisp potatoes with crisp garlic and parsley sprinkled on top looked so gorgeous but tasted even better than it looked. I sprinkled them with fleur de sel for a perfect crunch.
One could certainly add further seasoning as desired, such as finely minced rosemary, but it isn’t necessary as the mellowed garlic flavor really shone. This was one of the best batch of “fries” I’ve ever had. They were that great. We are making them again this week, in fact. Munching on a plate of these should make you very, very happy.
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I was very skeptical when trying this recipe. Baked French fries that taste like real fries? Please. I think you have to experience the magnificence of these yourself to truly understand how magnificently they work.
I intentionally cut the potatoes a little unevenly so that some parts of each fry would be more slender so that they’d crisp better while leaving other parts fatter and denser and more potato-y. I personally loved that. They turned a gorgeous mottled brown in the oven and didn’t last long. In fact, they didn’t even make it from the counter to the table, we stood there and devoured them at the countertop. That’s how amazing they were.
I confess, on subsequent times that I’ve made these, I’ve omitted the garlic and loved them just as much. This recipe is a new mainstay in my house, even (especially?!) on weekend mornings alongside eggs. They make magnificent dippers into runny yolks.
This recipe was easy to make and the taste exceeded my expectations. They were delicious! Thank you for this recipe.
You’re welcome, Janie! Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
Beware the fries sticking! Even with ample oil, on a non-stick sheet, if you take them out too soon, the fries will break, half-stuck to the pan. Also note that the 2 tbsp oil is only half of it – if you don’t have spray grease, drizzle a second 2 tbsp oil with the parsley over the fries around 15 mins into baking.
Thanks, Sid! Appreciate the tip.
Perfect. Next time I need to spread it out more a bit. I sprinkled a bit of baking soda over it before cooking so it crisped up a bit.
Thanks, Emma!