Oven fries are a lot like regular fries except you don’t have to bother with deep frying. The secret to truly crisp oven fries is rinsing and soaking the potatoes in icy water to rinse the starch away. I resisted this step for a long time and had soggy potatoes as a result. Learn from my mistakes.
To accompany the perfect fries we had a classic hamburger dinner with great late spring ingredients. Piled atop the burger were grilled ramps, roasted mushrooms, Mill Creek Dairy sweet dill pickles, cheddar, and, of course, Dukes mayonnaise. We also had a spinach salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and spring onions. I am really enjoying all the bright, grassy greens of the season.
Oven Fries
4 – 5 yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed
2 – 3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and put a large cookie sheet into the oven to heat up. Halve the potatoes and then slice into 1/4 – 1/2″ wedges. Rinse two or three times in cold water. Then soak the potatoes in ice water for 5 minutes or so. Spread the wedges out on a few layers of paper towels and dry quickly and well.
Remove the hot cookie sheet from the oven and drizzle on 2 tablespoons of olive oil to coat the cookie sheet, and then lay out the potatoes. Bake for 10 minutes, flip the potatoes with a spatula, and return to the oven. Cook for another 10 minutes, flip everything again, add more oil if needed, and cook for another ten minutes, for a total of 30 minutes or until the potatoes are evenly browned. Remove from cookie sheet onto a paper towel-lined bowl. Serve with a dollop of Dukes.
my parents have been making potatoes this way for a while – have never soaked them beforehand, though, so will definitely have to try next time. also delicious with some dill or rosemary sprinkled on before cooking.
The herbs sound like a great addition! I have also been hankering for some homemade ketchup to take these to the next level.
Hey boss.
We made a bunch of pickles at school today. Do you know about lime soaking? Its pretty cool. You can soak any starchy thing in it and it becomes crispy.
Nice burger buddy, your website is a pleasure.
I don't know a thing about lime soaking, but I am very intrigued since everything tastes better with citrus and salt.
I bet those kids made some awesome pickles. I hope LWC brought a jar home with him.
Thanks for the props!
Dukes holds a special place in my heart…as a tomato sandwich connossieur who proclaims the open faced- toasted wheat bread, a smear on mayo, salt and pepper as the ultimate tomato sandwich variety/ ratio, i have sought the best in mayo and frankly, in america and beyond homemade, Dukes reigns supreme!
and thanks for the word on the potato soaking- i've been wondering!
dude. crispy oven fries just got scratched off of my "mysteries of the world" list. thanks!
The perennial dilemma! I'm going to try this soon. I tried deep-frying polenta fries recently and it scared me off deep frying forever.
Recipe looks great. The only thing bad is, YOU CAN`T PURCHASE DUKES MAYO in upstate New York. DUKES is the best mayo ever made I was raised on DUKES, being a transplant from the glorious SOUTH. Sure do miss my DUKES MAYO.
Since my doctor told me to lay off the high fat stuff a few years back I’ve been using low fat mayos since then. Most taste like crap but I found that Laura Lynn’s low fat mayo from Ingles taste very similar to Dukes. Its not exactly the same taste but if you have to have low fat mayo, Laura Lynn is better than any other I have tried and that is a lot of brands.
@Cecil, We feel your pain. Our method is to stockpile the stuff and beg anyone headed south to bring us a few jars. Because Dukes *is* the best.
@Elvenrunelord, That’s a great tip on a low fat option. Thanks for checking out the recipe!