How To Make The Best Ever Air Fryer Fries

Air Fryer Fries. How to make the best air fryer fries you have ever tried. Or as us Brits like to call them air fryer chips. Perfect every single time and using only a small amount of oil, this is where all air fryer beginners should start.

Air Fryer Fries

Have you ever wondered how to make the best ever fries in your air fryer? What is the secret behind them and how can you make them as good as the professionals?

Well I am about to reveal my air fryer fries recipe but before I do I would like to share with you more about us and our Air Fryer journey and a funny story about Kyle and his first introduction to fries.

The best thing to ever enter our kitchen in 2011 was our Air Fryer. It was this amazing invention that we had fallen in love with. It was this one that still sells on Amazon now.

We originally saw it in a Slimming World magazine and thought it was going to change the way we cooked forever.

We didn’t own a microwave and it seemed like a perfect alternative to our deep fat fryer and for us to get a little bit healthier.

Even those that still load processed frozen food into their air fryer, do so with a lot less calories and making fries in the air fryer is even healthier.

We have spent many years improving our air fryer fries more and more and getting them even better.

From starting out in 2011 with dried our fries with burnt ends to fries that are so good you would think they had been deep fried; these are our perfect air fryer fries.

We have also updated our air fryer fries for 2020 with new photos, more step by step instructions and plenty of air fryer tips, to help you make the best fries in our air fryer. We hope you enjoy our updated version.

I totally recommend to the newbie to the air fryer, to start here and now with these amazing air fryer fries and it will help build up your confidence and get used to using the air fryer.

Air Fryer Fries Vs Air Fryer Chips?

Let’s clear something up for you all first. Air fryer fries and air fryer chips are the EXACT SAME THING. Just nobody told Kyle this fact back in 2012.

As many of you know in America, they are called French fries and in the UK they are always called chips.

Kyle being raised in England until he was 7 and then Portugal from then on, meant that when he was 10 back in 2012, he had no idea that there were differences in the name.

On a red hot day in the July of 2012, we were in a beautiful park in Boston. Kyle was being a handful and demanding some food.

We found a nice park bar selling snacks and ordered sandwiches that were served with chips.

I had a bagel with lots of cream cheese, Dominic had a philly cheese steak and Kyle had pulled pork.

Kyle was so excited waiting for his chips with his sandwich not realising that those chips were crisps and not fries.

We giggled as his order came and we got a lot of dirty sulky looks as he tucked into his pulled pork sandwich with a packet of crisps.

Since then Kyle has called them air fryer fries and not air fryer chips ever since!

Best Air Fryer For Chips

Is there such a thing as the best air fryer for chips? I am sure many of us will be saying that our air fryer is best and I am sure the air fryer brands will all be saying PICK ME.

From years of experience using lots of different air fryers, my opinion is that the air fryer basket does the BEST JOB.

By this I mean any of the main air fryers that has a basket style function.

For example, the Philips Air Fryer that we use all the time.

Or if you live in the US the popular basket air fryer would either be the Cosori or the GoWise USA models.

BUT what I find to be the worst for air fryer chips is the Tefal Actifry. They take much longer; they are not as crispy and they are just not as good.

Everyone that I know that has the Actifry practices with it before moving onto another brand.

In air fryer communities and with my email readers, this seems to be the universal thought.

Air Fryer Ovens like the Power Air Fryer Oven we have is great for meat and kebabs and simple oven style food but doesn’t produce fries as good as an air fryer basket.

We did an air fryer experiment and cooked air fryer fries in both of our Philips Air Fryers. One was the Philips Air Fryer XL and the other was our Philips Air Fryer XXL.

Because the XXL is bigger and more powerful we wanted to see what the difference was like.

We found that the Philips XXL cooked them slightly quicker and cut down the last 5 minutes to 2 minutes and didn’t need a higher temperature.

Worth thinking about when you are cooking in an air fryer that is less powerful than the blogger featuring the recipe.

How To Make Fries In An Air Fryer?

It is so easy to make fries in an air fryer and it is all about getting the formula correct.

The correct amount of oil, the correct cooking times and of course the correct temperature.

To make fries in an air fryer is this simple:

#1 Peel and slice your potatoes into the thickness of fries that you want to have.

#2 Load your fries into a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak in the fridge for 15 minutes to help remove the excess starch.

#3 Drain your potatoes and add seasonings to your bowl. Add in extra virgin olive oil and mix with your hands until well coated.

#4 Load your potato fries into the air fryer and cook on a medium heat.

#5 Check with a fork to make sure your fries are cooked, shake the air fryer fries and cook on a high heat to make your fries crispy and then serve.

How To Cook Chips In An Air Fryer?

When I want to cook chips in an air fryer, I am not always thinking about French fries.

That is because raised in the north of England and with a fish and chip shop on every street corner, I am talking about air fryer chips that are as good as the fish and chip shop.

If you love your chips from the fish and chip shop and want to recreate them at home in the air fryer and want them more chippy style than McDonalds style, then I recommend a few slight adjustments.

1. Make your air fryer chips thicker
2. Double the amount of olive oil you use during cooking.
3. Add salt and vinegar just before serving.

How To Make Crispy Air Fryer Fries?

You’re probably wondering why we cook our air fryer fries at two different cooking times and temps and that is because it is the best way to make crispy air fryer fries.

Air fryer fries time starts off at 15 minutes at a temperature of 160c/320f and then finishes with the last 5 minutes at 200c/400f.

Air Fryer Fries Top Tips

• This recipe for air fryer fries is about perfection and having fries that are not dry, not over starchy and are better than deep fried. You can do a lazy version by not soaking the fries and just spraying the top of the fries in oil. They are okay but they are not the best.

• It is about striking a balance between enough oil to make them taste amazing, too much and they end up like bad chip shop chips or hardly any that they become dry.

• Shake the fries JUST ONCE between cooking as this will stop fries sticking together and ignore recipes that ask for constant shaking.

• Don’t overfill the air fryer basket with fries. They will stick together and become dry.

• Season first. This helps get a better flavour on your fries and add a little extra crispiness to the fries once they are cooked. Though you can mix and match seasoning for what type of fries you want to eat.

Air Fryer Chips FAQ

We have had many questions over the years about making air fryer fries and have answered the most asked ones below:

• Are air fryer chips healthy? Absolutely. If you think about the ingredients for air fryer chips you can see just how healthy they are. You just need potatoes, a little oil and some seasoning. Less in calories than having a jacket potato with beans and butter.

• Why are my air fryer chips soggy? This is because you have cooked the fries at a medium temperature and added too much oil. They have not had chance to get crispy and the air fryer hasn’t liked the amount of oil that has been used.

• Do air fryer chips taste good? They taste amazing. Many people buy air fryers just for how good air fryer chips taste. Think the fries you have from the deep fat fryer just without that overly greasy taste.

• Are air fryer chips free on slimming world? This version isn’t because there is olive oil used in the recipe. But our oil free air fryer fries are free on Slimming World and make a great Plan B.

• Why are air fryer chips dry? Only if you have not added enough oil does this happen or if you are going oil free, you have not left the potatoes to soak for long enough.

• How long for air fryer chips? The cooking time for air fryer chips is usually 20 minutes. This is based on an air fryer half full though and some air fryer sizes may vary.

Love Air Fryer Fries Then Try These Too

In the Milner kitchen at Recipe This we are obsessed with different ways to cook air fryer fries. Here are a few more suggestions if you want to cook more than just regular air fryer fries.

• Air Fryer Five Guys Cajun Fries
• Air Fryer Frozen French Fries
• Air Fryer Sloppy Joes Fries
• Air Fryer Pizza Fries
• Air Fryer Oil Free Fries
• Air Fryer Veggie Fries
• Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
• Air Fryer Cheesy Chips

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