A tray of breakfast oven fries

Breakfast Oven Fries

4.50 / 4 votes
These breakfast oven fries are made by slowly roasting potatoes cut into wedges and spiced with paprika, cumin, pepper, and garlic. Certain to lend your morning taters a little (actually, a lotta) huzzah. Actually, they lend taters at any time of day a lovely come hitherness.
David Leite
CourseBreakfast
CuisineAmerican
Servings4 servings
Calories270 kcal
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour

Ingredients 

  • 2 large Russet potatoes
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Cut each potato in half lengthwise and then slice each half lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Fill a large bowl halfway with cold water, toss in the potato wedges, and soak for a couple minutes to remove the excess starch. Drain and repeat 2 or 3 times until the water runs clear.
  • Drain the potato wedges again and then pat the potatoes dry with a clean kitchen towel.
  • In a large bowl, stir together the olive oil, garlic, paprika, salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, and pepper. Add the potato wedges and toss until they’re evenly coated. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet.
  • Bake the potato wedges for 30 minutes.
  • Using a thin metal spatula, flip the fries and continue to bake until crisp to your liking and browned on the other side, 10 to 20 minutes more.
  • Taste and, if desired, season with more salt. Tuck into the fries while they're still steaming hot.

Notes

Sweet Potato Breakfast Oven Fries Variation

One of our dear readers, Fran De Sanctis, as well as our recently thought to mention to us that these would be spectacular made with sweet potatoes rather than russets. We couldn’t agree more, Fran. Thank you. NOTE: We have yet to test this recipe with sweet potatoes. Due to their higher sugar content, we suspect they may roast in less time than regular potatoes. Keep a careful watch on them in the oven.
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Nutrition

Serving: 1 portionCalories: 270 kcalCarbohydrates: 34 gProtein: 4 gFat: 14 gSaturated Fat: 2 gMonounsaturated Fat: 10 gSodium: 301 mgFiber: 3 gSugar: 1 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Mention @leitesculinaria or tag #leitesculinaria!
Recipe © 2012 Joseph Shuldiner. Photo © 2012 Emily Brooke Sandor. All rights reserved.

Recipe Testers’ Reviews

For breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just cause you’re hungry, these are some tasty potatoes. Indeed, these breakfast oven fries are a very nice change from standard potato preparations. They’re smoky and rich with just a touch of heat from the cayenne pepper. Worth making for any meal. I used a bittersweet smoked paprika and a medium-hot cayenne pepper and they were just right for me but I’m sure using hotter or milder peppers would be great, too. Mine were done a few minutes short of an hour.

Don’t let the long cooking time deter you. You can get those potatoes prepped and onto the baking sheet in the time it takes your oven to preheat. Pop them in the oven and move on to making the rest of your breakfast (and maybe even get the kitchen cleaned up, too!). Start checking the potatoes about 15 minutes after you flip them. I baked them for a total of 50 minutes, just long enough to render the potatoes crisp and tender but not long enough to burn the spices. They are indeed richly spiced, but they aren’t slap-you-in-the-face spicy. I don’t see why you couldn’t cut them into thicker fries for a nice side dish.

These crisp, thick-cut fries make an excellent accompaniment to eggs cooked any way. The spicy kick from the cayenne is certainly one way to wake up in the morning, but these would also pair well with a steak at dinner. The smoked paprika adds an additional level of flavor that’s much more intense than standard paprika, and it’s worth buying just for the smell that wafts through the kitchen as these bake. I’d add a sprinkle of coarse sea salt before throwing these into the oven.

These fries were a pleasant surprise. The fries were slightly crisp on the outside, light and tender on the inside.

The process of submerging the potatoes may seem a bit time-consuming, however, the resulting fry had an outstanding texture. I made two batches, one with russet potatoes and the other with sweet potatoes, and both received rave reviews from my guests. I’d recommend keeping them in the oven for at least 45 minutes; the potatoes were finished cooking when I flipped them after 30 minutes, but continued to crisp in the remaining baking time.

I’ve made these twice already. The first time I made them for breakfast and they were delicious with eggs and sausage. I cooked them for 40 minutes and they were crisp on the outside and a bit soft on the inside.

The second time I made them to go with some homemade butter-baked fish. I baked this batch for the whole hour. They were still good and on the crunchy side.

I’ll be making these again.

These “breakfast fries” were very easy to throw together and make for a nice side at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They have a mix of seasonings which creates a good starting point for a nicely flavored potato wedge.

In the future, I think I might increase a couple of the ingredients to make the flavors a bit more pronounced. Because they’re called “breakfast fries” and have some spiciness, I found myself thinking about these as a base for traditional huevos rancheros, a nice twist instead of the usual tortilla. I think that would be really good! I know folks can be a little salt conscious, but these potatoes definitely need salt, as without it they’ll be a little bland.

Also, if you like a little more spiciness, I say go for it, as the small amount of cayenne barely adds any kick, in fact, I might have added just a little extra cayenne pepper. It took about 45 minutes for these to fully cook and they were crisp and cooked perfectly on the inside.

Who doesn’t love good wedge fries? They crisped up nicely and the seasoning had a subtle smokiness that was very appealing.

I usually don’t use russets for oven fries, but these worked very well. I like that they had to soak in water to remove the starch. After that, all you do is season and bake.

They were baked 30 minutes without stirring, and then an additional 15 minutes for a nice brown color.

Very good with soft-boiled eggs, by the way. Bright green chives sprinkled on top would add to the oomph factor.

We enjoyed these breakfast oven fries for dinner, but I don’t think I will ever make them for breakfast. They almost seemed out of place, but they would be great with lunch, dinner, or as a snack. I plan to try these again but cut the fries much smaller to ensure more of the crunchy texture.




About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appรฉtit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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8 Comments

  1. If using Sweet Spuds (Garnets), make `em Romanoff! Brown Sugar and Sour Cream. Or more breakfast-like, Blackstrap and Greek Yogurt.

  2. 5 stars
    I love this simple recipe…we have tweaked it tons of times, each batch is different. The first question to my kids is “Want potatoes tonight? Those spicy ones?” “Oh YES,” is the eager reply. Second question, “How spicy?” The reply varies each time, but we seem to be progressing into ghost chili heat zone!