Easy oven baked french fries

Oven baked fries in basket with ketchup dipping sauce.

5 from 12 votes

Easy oven baked french fries

It's always a good time for french fries! Have them on their own as a snack, or include them as a side dish with a sandwich. Making your own is a great way to use a pantry staple. And baked fries use a lot less oil than their deep fried counterpart.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: oven recipe, potato recipe

Servings: people

Calories: 121kcal

Author: Cadry Nelson

Ingredients

1 pound Russet potatoes cut into ½ inch thick sticks
1 Tablespoon avocado oil or other high heat oil
Pinch of salt
⅛ to ¼ teaspoon paprika optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put potato sticks onto baking sheet and toss with oil. Spread the sticks evenly across the baking sheet, being careful that the potatoes aren't overlapped or touching. If there's not enough room, put half of the potato pieces on the second baking sheet. Top the potatoes with a pinch of salt & sprinkling of paprika (optional).
Put the baking sheet(s) into the oven. Roast the potatoes for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with a spatula for even browning. Roast for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven & toss again. Put back in the oven and roast a final 5 minutes. (The fries will bake 30 minutes in total.)
Remove from oven and serve with your choice of dipping sauce. Add an additional pinch of salt, if desired.

Notes

I like to leave the peel on the potatoes for added texture & nutrients. However, feel free to peel them first if you prefer.

For crispier fries, you can soak them in water first to remove excess starch. Put the freshly cut potatoes into a bowl of water for 10 to 30 minutes. Then dump out the water. You’ll actually see all of the starch sitting at the bottom. Give the potatoes a rinse. Then completely dry them on a clean kitchen towel before moving them to a baking sheet. If they’re not totally dry, they won’t brown well.

(For more tips on getting crispy fries, see the blog post.)

If you're using just one baking sheet, roast the potatoes on the bottom rack for optimum browning. If you're using two baking sheets, rotate half way through, so that both sheets have a chance to get close to the heat source.

Nutrition