Recipe for making French fries at home. All the secrets to perfect French fries. How to cook in an air fryer at home

Fast food has become so firmly established in the life of modern people that many simply cannot imagine their diet without such products. Almost everyone knows how such dishes are prepared in famous establishments, but how to fry French fries in a frying pan at home is a mystery to many? This is exactly what we will talk about today, and we will also tell you about another very popular side dish made from your favorite potatoes.

How to cook French fries in a frying pan

Ingredients

— 2-3 medium sized tubers + -
— 0.5 l + -
- taste + -

How and how much to fry French fries in a frying pan

The first thing to do is choose the right potatoes. We will need elongated tubers that are approximately the same size.

This will ensure that our French fries are equally long and thick.

Preparing potatoes for frying

We thoroughly wash the tubers under running water, after which we carefully cut off the top layer with the peel.
Place each tuber on a board and carefully cut off the side edges. We should end up with a sort of rectangle.
Now cut the potatoes lengthwise into layers. Their thickness should be 5 millimeters.
We cut each layer into strips of similar width.
Place the potato strips in a pan of cool water for a few minutes to get rid of any excess starch on the surface.
Place the slices on several layers of paper towels or a regular cloth towel. Remove excess moisture from the surface of the straw.

Fry potatoes in oil in a frying pan

Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and set the heat to slightly above medium.
We check the temperature of the oil using a special device or simply throw in a bread crumb: if it starts to hiss, it means it has reached the desired temperature.
Carefully place some of the potatoes into the hot oil; the easiest way to do this is with a dry slotted spoon.

Make sure that the potatoes are laid out in one layer, otherwise the temperature of the oil will drop significantly and the cooking process will become more difficult.

Fry the potatoes for 7-10 minutes until they acquire a light golden hue. It is important here not to overcook the potatoes, otherwise they will start to burn.

Removing remaining oil from French fries

Using a slotted spoon, remove the French fries, shake off the remaining oil a little and place them on a previously prepared paper towel - it will absorb all the excess fat. Sprinkle with salt.

Load the next batch and repeat the process again.

It is better to eat these fries right away, because after a few minutes they will lose their taste and will no longer be crispy. For this reason, it is recommended to prepare this dish in portions.

How to fry frozen French fries

In modern supermarkets you can easily find frozen French fries. The process of preparing it is in many ways simpler than that described above, but there are a number of subtleties that simply need to be mentioned.

When choosing a product, pay attention to the presence of crushed ice in the package. If it is present inside the bag, it means that the potatoes have been defrosted and frozen again. The taste of these fries leaves much to be desired.
There are two types of frozen fries: pre-cooked and uncooked. The first type is more similar to products from fast food chains and cooks faster, while the second is, in fact, regular chopped and frozen potatoes.
Frozen fries do not need to be thawed before cooking.

When cooking such potatoes in a frying pan, pay attention to the amount of oil - there should be enough, otherwise a lot of splashes will form, and the quality of the final product will be low.
Please note that the temperature of a frozen product is much lower than that of regular potatoes, and therefore such potatoes should be loaded into the oil in very small portions so that the oil does not cool down too much.

Country-style potatoes in a frying pan

In the past, well-known fast food establishments only served French fries as a side dish. However, in the last few years, a relatively new dish has appeared in the assortment of such chains - country-style potatoes. Usually this dish is prepared in the oven, but we will make it in a frying pan.

Ingredients

New potatoes – 6 tubers;
Garlic – 3-4 cloves;
Yellow onion – 1 pc.;
Vegetable oil - for frying;
Salt and pepper - to taste;
Mixture of dried herbs – 1 tsp.

How to cook country-style potatoes in a frying pan

We wash the potatoes very well under running water, since we will be cooking them directly in the peels. It is best to use a sponge and soap to remove dirt from all uneven surfaces.
Cut each tuber in half and then cut into slices about 1 centimeter wide. Blot with a paper towel.
Remove the skin from the onion and the skin from the garlic cloves.
Cut the onion into half rings, crush the garlic cloves with the flat side of the knife.
Pour oil into a frying pan and heat it over medium heat. Fry the onion and garlic until golden brown.

Remove them from the pan and set them aside. Place potato wedges in one layer and fry on each side until golden brown.
Place the finished slices on a paper towel to absorb excess fat. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with a mixture of dry herbs.

What sauces to serve french fries with?

Every French fry lover knows that this dish becomes several times tastier if served with some kind of sauce.

Undoubtedly, the best choice would be various variations of tomato sauce and ketchup. Due to the fact that they themselves are low-fat, such additives will perfectly complement the aroma of fried potatoes. You can also use homemade adjika.
Garlic lovers will appreciate the fries served with garlic sauce. Preparing it couldn’t be easier: mix mayonnaise and sour cream in equal proportions, and then pass 1-2 cloves of garlic through a press. Mix all this well and serve.
If you like creamy sauces, but want something light, then chop a bunch of fresh herbs (parsley, dill, green onions) using a blender and mix the resulting mass with 15% sour cream.

Overall, knowing how to fry French fries in a frying pan makes it easy to experiment with different sauces to find a combination that works for you.

Do not forget that such potatoes are not only an independent dish, but also an addition to meat, so nothing prevents you from diversifying your everyday menu by replacing the usual side dish with such a tasty, albeit high-calorie, dish.

How to fry crispy potatoes in a frying pan, video recipe

Households love it when fried potatoes are cooked with a golden brown crust so that they become the queen of the table. Our chef will show you how to properly fry potatoes in a frying pan: tasty, crusty, crispy, just like French fries.

It is one of the most popular dishes. It is served in cafes, fast food restaurants and fast food establishments. How to prepare it so that its taste is similar to store-bought? After all, what we like most are the aromatic, fried pieces with the outside and juicy pulp inside. Is it possible to achieve good results at home? We will tell you in detail how to properly cook French fries in this article. We hope that our tips and recommendations will allow you to create the real taste of your fried product.

How to cook French fries: preparation

The main ingredients for making fried potatoes are vegetable oil (odorless), salt and potatoes. It is best to use white varieties of tubers. Wash the root vegetables and remove the skin with a vegetable peeler or a regular knife. Rinse the potatoes under water again and chop them into cubes, slices or strips. Rinse the chopped tubers to remove starch, place on a kitchen towel and dry. All excess moisture must be removed from the pieces.

How to cook French fries: frying

For frying, it is recommended to use a deep frying pan, preferably not with a very large diameter. You need to pour enough oil into it so that it completely covers the potatoes immersed in it. Heat the oil thoroughly. Then, in small batches, start dipping the potato chunks into it. Do not spread a large amount at once, otherwise that crispy crust will not form. One layer of product is best fried. Keep the sticks in hot fat until they acquire a beautiful golden hue. Do not overcook the potatoes, otherwise they will overcook. A soft center and a light crispy crust are just what you need. Turn the pieces over periodically with a spatula.

How to cook French fries: serving

Once the potatoes have reached the desired color, remove them from the oil using a slotted spoon. All fat should drain off. Place the fried pieces on paper towels to absorb excess oil. The dish should be served hot, piping hot. Then you can experience all the flavor that french fries are so loved for. Serve it as a side dish for fish and meat dishes. You can also eat hot potatoes on their own with tomato or cheese sauce. Now you don't need food from the store. Do you know how to cook delicious food?

Cooking secrets

It is very important that the potatoes are thoroughly dried before frying. If you place a wet product in hot fat, the boiling oil will splatter violently and may burn you.
Give preference to refined and deodorized oils. It can be not only sunflower, but also corn, olive or cotton.
The fat for frying must be at the right temperature. To understand whether the oil has heated up well, dip one small piece of potato into it and watch how it behaves. If the slice immediately floats to the surface and is surrounded by bubbles of oil, it means the fat has heated up to the desired temperature. If not, continue heating.
Salt the potatoes after cooking, otherwise they will not turn out crispy. It's best to do this before serving.

We prefer home fries

Of course, French fries cannot be classified as a dietary and healthy dish, but by making them yourself, you will protect yourself from the effects of harmful preservatives that are used in most food outlets. Potatoes contain a number of useful vitamins and microelements, for example, potassium, magnesium, iron, iodine, vitamin B, ascorbic acid. True, the longer you cook a dish, the greater the likelihood of almost complete destruction of these elements.

If you plan to make French fries at home, use fresh potatoes rather than ready-to-fry frozen ones. This time saving can lead to health problems, since the technology for preparing frozen semi-finished products involves the use of chemicals that maintain the shape of ideal potato blocks. In addition, your favorite potato is quite high in calories and contains a large amount of carbohydrates, which means you shouldn’t get carried away with it every day. If you often order this dish in a cafe, then be prepared for the fact that the oil in which the potatoes are fried is heated a dozen times. This means that carcinogens appear in it. By cooking potatoes at home, you will definitely avoid this.

Excess salt, which the store-bought dish is famous for, can lead to the development of hypertension, heart attacks, and problems with the genitourinary system. At home, you can be more demanding about this issue, using a minimum of salt. By frying French fries too often, you get a large amount of trans fats, which, in turn, threaten the body with diabetes, atherosclerosis and various disruptions in the immune system. That's why French fries are more of a treat than a regular item on your daily menu.

We tell those who often order French fries in cafes and restaurants about how to cook them at home. This is a real delicacy not only for children, but also for most adults. Fries can be used as a side dish for meat and fish dishes, served as an appetizer, and in nature and in a large company you cannot do without this dish.

Preparing French fries won't take much time, and you'll probably love the results. True, it is better to eat such potatoes hot immediately after cooking, since when they cool, they lose their taste. Therefore, if you plan to serve it as a side dish, then cook it last.

Deep frying

How to make French fries less harmful has been known for a long time - cook them yourself, freshly deep-fried, use less salt and eat such potatoes rarely. Vegetable oil is used as deep fat for french fries. It must be deodorized and refined. You can use sunflower, olive, cottonseed and corn oil. True, each gives its own unique taste to potatoes; here you need to focus on your taste preferences.

Oil for deep frying requires four times more oil than potatoes. The deep fat temperature for frying French fries should be at least 180 degrees. The potatoes are placed in the already hot oil. If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, then after heating the oil, which takes about 15 minutes, put one slice of potato into the deep fryer; if it immediately sizzles and floats up, then the deep fryer is ready and you can add the remaining potatoes into it. After cooling, deep-frying oil is considered unsuitable for further or reuse as food.

How to choose fries

For French fries, choose fairly large tubers with a smooth oval shape, which are easier to cut. Choose tubers without eyes, otherwise your fries will look unpresentable. To ensure that your fries look as good as restaurant grade ones, it is important to cut them correctly.

The tuber needs to be cut into 1-centimeter plates, and then cut them into bars with a cross-section of no more than 1x1 centimeter. The more equal-sized potato pieces you get, the more evenly they will deep-fry.

A few cooking secrets

It is very important to put the peeled potatoes in cold water for a while. This will release excess starch and prevent the potatoes from crumbling during cooking. After this, it is best to wipe the potatoes with a dry towel to remove excess moisture. The better you rub the potatoes, the more fried they will turn out.

All ingredients immersed in deep fat must be dry also because the oil, when a drop of water gets into it, begins to splash and hiss.

Do not salt the potatoes during the cooking process; salt them to taste already in a portioned plate.

Be sure to place the finished fries in a colander to drain off excess oil. You can pat the finished potatoes dry with a paper towel so that as little oil as possible remains on the fries.

Deep fryer cooking

The easiest way to make homemade French fries is to buy a special deep fryer. It can be electric, or maybe in the form of special dishes that are placed on the stove. In all versions there is a container into which deep fat is poured, and there is a net into which chopped potatoes are placed. This net is convenient not only for frying French fries, but also for using it instead of a colander so that the oil drips from the finished potatoes.

The technology for cooking in a deep fryer is simple - it is heated to the desired temperature, then a mesh with potato slices is lowered into it and cooked until a special crust is formed. The mesh is removed from the oil and allowed to drain.

Homemade French Fries Recipe

If you don't have an air fryer, you can still make French fries with regular kitchen utensils.

Ingredients:

Large potatoes8 pcs.
Refined sunflower oil250 ml
Salt to taste

Cooking method:

Wash and peel the potatoes, keep them in cold water for a few minutes, and wipe them with a dry towel. Cut into strips.

Fill a frying pan with a thick bottom and high sides with oil and heat it. Using a slotted spoon, lower a portion of potato straws into the heated deep fat. We wait until it browns until golden brown, and put it in a colander with a slotted spoon to drain the oil.

Blot with a paper towel to remove any remaining excess oil. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with salt.

French fries are a great snack to go with beer and vodka. Properly cooked French fries have a soft, tender center and a fairly tough, golden crust. Without knowing a few secrets, achieving a similar effect at home is not easy; you need to experiment a lot. The authors of the “Kartofan” website have developed the optimal recipe and are ready to tell you how to make French fries that taste just as good as those sold at McDonald’s.

Ingredients:

potatoes – 3-4 pieces;
vegetable oil – 300-500 ml;
water – 1 liter;
sugar – 1 tablespoon;
salt – 0.5 tablespoon;
pepper - to taste.

French fries cooking technology

1. Selection of ingredients. Use large to medium-sized, firm, dense potatoes as possible. Soft, loose potatoes that have lost a lot of moisture absorb a lot of oil when frying, resulting in fries that become greasy and tasteless. Small tubers are difficult to cut into slices of the required thickness.

Only refined (purified from harmful impurities) and preferably deodorized (does not emit an unpleasant odor when heated) vegetable oil is suitable for frying. The ideal option is olive, a little worse than sunflower.

It is believed that McDonald's fast food restaurants fry their fries in animal fat, but this is not true. It has been many years since the company switched from a blend of beef tallow and cottonseed oil to alternatives that do not contain trans fats. In the USA and Canada it is a mixture of rapeseed, corn and soybean oil; in Russia and Belarus it is specially developed refined sunflower oil.

2. Peeling and slicing. First, the potatoes should be washed and peeled. Then cut it correctly.

If the difference in the thickness (diameter) of the workpieces exceeds 2 mm, then when frying, small pieces will be overcooked, while large pieces will not be ready yet. The optimal thickness of sticks for French fries is 5-6 mm, length – 3-9 cm.

There are special kitchen devices for quickly cutting French fries, but the cost of these devices is unpleasantly surprising. It makes sense to buy them if you make homemade fries all the time. Otherwise, I advise you to practice cutting by hand. After several attempts everything will work out.

3. Soaking. The authors of some recipes recommend soaking the preparations to remove excess starch. In fact, this is not required for deep frying; on the contrary, starch is often even added. In our case, soaking enhances the flavor and prepares the fries for the next important step - freezing.

For 1 liter of water, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and half a tablespoon of salt, mix. The water should become neutral: neither sweet nor salty. Adjust the proportions if necessary. Soak the french fries in water for 15-20 minutes, this will significantly improve the taste. There is no need to dry the pieces on a towel.

4. Freezing. If you fry French fries without freezing, then by the time a crispy crust forms on the surface, the inside of the stick will dry out and the flesh will become tough. After freezing, the ice crust that forms will prevent the core from drying out quickly, and the high temperature of the oil will evaporate moisture from the surface in 10-15 seconds.

Place the pieces in the freezer for 60-90 minutes until the pieces freeze and become hard.

Pre-freezing improves taste

5. Roasting. Any deep dish will do: a saucepan, a large frying pan, a multicooker bowl.

Wipe the dishes dry so that not a drop of moisture remains in it, which, when heated, will turn into steam and hot oil will splash into your face.

Heat the oil in the container of your choice. Vegetable oil boils at 200°C and begins to smoke, but this is too much. The optimal oil temperature for frying French fries is 168°C. To check readiness, simply dip a piece of potato or peel into the oil; if it begins to boil, you can start frying.

Place semi-finished products in small portions on the deep fryer and lower into hot oil. You can fry without deep frying, simply throwing in the pieces and then removing them with a slotted spoon. There is no fundamental difference, but deep frying is more convenient.

Fry until fries are golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes on average. I don’t recommend overcooking; the longer the potatoes are fried, the more oil they absorb.

6. Serve. Place the finished fries on a paper towel to remove any remaining oil. You can sprinkle with salt and pepper. Eat while it's hot. The dish goes well with ketchup and other hot sauces.

Step 1: Prepare the potatoes. .

To make crispy fries, you need to choose large potato tubers. Firstly, they are convenient to cut, and secondly, the straws from such tubers will turn out to be the most uniform and beautiful. The potatoes must be thoroughly rinsed in water, then peeled with a knife or vegetable peeler and rinsed again. The vegetable is cut into uniform strips - not very large and small. Each side should be approximately 0.5 cm.

Place the chopped potatoes on a napkin and cover with another one on top. This is necessary in order to absorb excess moisture from the surface of the slices.

At this time, using a sieve, sift the starch into a bowl. After a few minutes, add the potatoes to the bowl and mix the ingredients thoroughly.

As a result, the entire straw should be evenly covered with starch. After this, put the bowl of potatoes in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Step 2: Fry the French fries.

While our potatoes are cooling, we have time to heat up the oil. Pour 1 cup of vegetable oil into a dry frying pan or cauldron and place it over medium heat. When the oil begins to crackle a little and small bubbles appear in it, if you look closely, this means that it has heated up and is ready for further cooking. We take the potatoes out of the freezer and place them in small portions in boiling oil. It should completely cover the potato layer. Therefore, it is best to cook the fries in several batches using the same oil. The potatoes will be ready after 5 minutes of frying. During this time, it will brown, become crispy on top and soft inside.

Step 3: Serve French fries at home.

Using a slotted spoon, take out the finished potatoes and place them again on a napkin, covering with another one on top. At this stage, excess oil should drain thoroughly. This can also be done on a grid. Next, sprinkle the fries a little with salt, pepper and a mixture of dried herbs. You can also add other spices to your taste, for example, ground paprika, dried garlic, etc. These potatoes can be an excellent side dish for meat or fish dishes. It must be served with sauces: sour cream, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, cheese or cream - most sauces known to the world are suitable for fries. Experiment and delight your loved ones with your favorite home-cooked dishes! Bon appetit and watch what you eat!

Instead of starch in the recipe, you can use corn flour, which also needs to be sifted before use.

It is advisable to eat fries hot or warm immediately after cooking. This is due to the fact that over time it will cease to be crispy and will lose its basic taste qualities, for which the whole world loves it.

French fries go well with salads, canned peas or corn, Korean carrots, and a variety of vegetable salads.

Fries can be used as a base for other dishes. For example, there are many salads that include French fries in the recipe.