Best Crispy Oven Baked Fries with Fry Sauce are thin, extra crispy oven fries with an incredible dipping fry sauce. These crispy oven fries are so good, you will not believe they were baked. My Best Crispy Oven Baked Fries with Fry Sauce takes all the tips out there on achieving perfectly baked fries and combines them into one easy to follow recipe.
Best Crispy Oven Baked Fries with Fry Sauce
Recently, Clara, Nolan, and I came back from visiting my parents in Naples, Florida. We spent six days lounging around their pools, going out to eat, looking for shells on the beach, and loafing around as one does on vacation. For me, this was truly a relaxing experience since I was only in charge of the older, more self-sufficient kids in our family, while my husband stayed at home with the more hands-on, labor-intesive younger two. For almost a week my most laborious parental task was applying sunscreen. That I can handle.
Multiple tiers of vacation become evident when you have a family. The “Disney World” vacation, which can more appropriately be called a Family Trip, more or less involves parents falling on the sword. Trips such as these involve a lot forethought, planning, consent surveillance of kids, ample provisions (drinks, snacks, entertainment), exhausted kids, exhausted parents, emergency meeting spots, and endless activity for an astronomical amount of money. Word on the street is they don’t even sell alcohol in Magic Kingdom! Apparently a lot of families get duped into this “vacation,” but as of yet Ryan and I have been far too selfish. Maybe if complimentary chardonnay followed from water fountains I might overlook spending one year’s college tuition on six admission tickets.
The “ski trip” vacation allows for a more symbiotic experience. Unfortunately this trip also comes with the caveat of equal amounts of preparation. Sizable capital is also required, but astutely the adults putting up the cash actually get to join in the fun too. Parents can’t totally check out during these types of trips, but ski resorts have this ingenious thing called SKI SCHOOL where kids are completely not your responsibility for several hours. Combine that with aprés ski, and coercing squirming, whiny kids into ski gear every morning doesn’t seem so bad.
Then there is the GRAND DADDY, kids-are-staying-with-grandparents, bonafide VA-CAY-TION. A grown-ups only trip, for some reason, seems to be the hardest one for parents to pull the trigger on. If my breast pump could tell you all the places it’s travelled to it would be a good indication of how I feel on the subject. Yes, we have a lot of family nearby to make getaways without kids a lot more feasible. But, something tells me, if Uncle Buck showed up to watch the kids, I’d still be burning rubber out of the driveway. Going and doing whatever makes you happy is a sweet taste of freedom parents don’t get to taste a lot. Plus, Ryan and I always say, we never are sad about returning from VA-CAY-TION because we are excited to see the kids again. Win win.
Any escape from the house is beneficial, even if has to involve a lot of Mickey ears. Maids come and make beds, meals are ate out, and laundry doesn’t have to be done. However, all this comes crashing down when you arrive home and find you are, once again, responsible for things such as meals and clean clothes. Ugh. Plus, you should probably taper off consuming your daily calorie count at breakfast. These Best Crispy Oven Baked Fries with Fry Sauce were my introduction back to reality after Florida. They take minimal effort and are deceptively decadent tasting, which helped my stomach get acquainted with reality again.
This fry recipe has all the essential bits and pieces of how to achieve the perfect crispy oven fry. You need to soak the potatoes and dry them on absorbent, lint free towels, such as flour sack towels (Love these things! I use them all the time for covering dough, absorbing water from washed veggies, and polishing.). Splitting the potatoes between two pans gives lots of room for hot air to circulate, making crispy fries instead of steamed ones. Don’t short change yourself and skip out on making the fry sauce. Although none of the ingredients seem extraordinary, they work fabulously together. My kids loved it so much they dipped every food on their plates in it. Gross, maybe, but after a week away I didn’t have it in me to reign it in.
- 3 large russet potatoes cut in 1/4" matchsticks
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- kosher salt
- Fry Sauce:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise I used light
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
- 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- Place potato matchsticks in large bowl and cover with water. Soak for at least 1 hour, but can do it for several hours. This draws out the excess starch in the potatoes to make them crispier.
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Drain the potatoes, rinse, and lay out on lint free absorbent towels, such as flour sack towels. Blot dry as much as possible.
Divide 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil between two sheet pans and spread to coat bottom of pans. Divide the potatoes between the two pans and drizzle the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil over the top of the potatoes. Toss to coat even with oil. Spread potatoes out so they aren't clumped together. The more space they have, the crispier they will get.
Bake for 20 minutes. Take out, toss and flip fries, then bake for 5-10 minutes more until browned and crisp. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
Fry sauce: Combine all ingredients together and serve with fries.
Hello fellow food lovers! I am a wife and mother of four who obsesses and contemplates food probably way too much. I refuse to eat mac and cheese and chicken nuggets every night until all my kids have flown the nest, so this is how a foodie feeds a family...
Can I dip my entire life into this fry sauce? Seriously, it looks that good. Loving this simple and delicious little duo!
Fries are my absolute weakness! I can eat an embarrassing amount…glad you feel it too!