How to Make Restaurant-Style French Fries

It’s no secret that French fries are one of the most popular side dishes of all time. After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find a meal that doesn’t include fries when visiting the majority of restaurants within the United States. They make the perfect accompaniment to sandwiches, burgers, chicken tenders, and plenty of other dishes.

Unfortunately, you might’ve noticed that restaurant-style fries aren’t quite as easy to make as most people believe. Fortunately, we have a fried food recipe that rivals commercial cooking.

Let’s get started.

What Do I Need to Make Them?

Our homemade, restaurant-style fries are simple to make. They’re made with the most basic ingredients that you can easily find at your local grocery store. You’ll need just a few supplies before beginning, too.

Those include cooking oil of your preference (we recommend peanut or corn), potatoes, salt, and pepper. That’s all you need! You can opt to prepare your fries with ketchup, ranch dressing, or hot sauce – the choice is yours.

What Kind of Potatoes Work Best?

We recommend using russet potatoes, as those are the most common type used to make fries. However, you can use any potato that you want.

Just be sure that your potatoes are cut into thick strips and then soaked in cool water for a half-hour before cooking them on a frying pan.

How Do I Make Them?

The directions for making restaurant-style French fries couldn’t be simpler.

First, you should peel those potatoes. After doing so, cut them up into thin, French fry-sized pieces. Place them into cold water to remove any excess starch, then pat them dry with a paper towel.

Add your cooking oil of choice to your deep fryer (or pan if you’re stove frying), and set it up to cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, add your fries in batches; don’t overcrowd them. Cook them for around four minutes, then remove your fries and let them cool on a paper towel to absorb excess grease.

Continue this process until all of your French fries are done. Make sure you use a splatter screen if deep-frying, as it minimizes the mess!

How Should I Season Them?

Homemade French fries are amazing on their own, but feel free to add your own seasoning. For starters, try adding some salt and pepper for taste — be generous!

You can also turn these into chili-cheese or parmesan fries, just by adding your spices to taste. Feel free to experiment with other seasonings that might work.

For example, you can add garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, ground cumin… the list is almost endless!

What Are Some Tips For Making Them?

There are a few useful tips that you might find helpful when making your own restaurant-style French fries for the first time.

First, you should remember not to overcook them. They’re ready to take out of the fryer when they begin to turn golden-brown in color.

Second, use cold water on them after cutting up your potatoes — this is also to remove excess starch. We do not recommend rinsing them, as that’s just a waste of water and time!

Although it might seem complicated at first, you will quickly find as you begin cooking that the process is much easier than you initially believed.

What Variations of Fries Can I Make?

Believe it or not, there are dozens of different types of French fries. If you’re tired of the typical restaurant style, try some other varieties.

For example, you could try:

Cheese fries (seasoned with salt and pepper)
Chili cheese fries (combined with your spices listed above)
Poutine (fries topped with gravy and cheese curds)
Buffalo fries (seasoned with hot sauce and served with ranch dressing)

You can make any one of these based on your preference! If you’re feeling a little wilder, try something like disco fries, which are seasoned fries topped with melted cheese and gravy.

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What Other Foods Can I Use to Top My French Fries?

Your imagination is the limit here!

You can top your French fries with just about any type of food that you prefer. We recommend melted cheese (nacho style), chili, bacon bits, tomatoes, onions, mayonnaise — whatever sounds good to you!

Just make sure that you’re using high-quality ingredients and that your toppings are flavorful enough to enhance your fries.

What Else Should I Know?

Keep in mind that it might take a few tries for you to get the recipe right.

After all, most people don’t make this type of fries on a regular basis. If you find that your first dish isn’t quite up to your standards, don’t be discouraged.

You can simply try again in the future. You will likely notice that you quickly improve and are able to obtain the quality you desire. It’s also recommended to try making different types of fries in order to see which ones you like best.

After enough time has passed, you might even prefer your own dish to the fries you would find at a restaurant!

Making Restaurant-style French Fries Is Easier Than You Think

The above guide has all the information you need to know to ensure that your meal turns out spectacular. The next time you decide to make French fries at home, be sure that you try the above methods!

Want to learn more cooking tips? You can check out our blog for other useful information.