How to Make Frozen Fries Taste Good

How to make frozen fries taste good: with a couple ingredients and few minutes of work, you can transform bland frozen fries into a side dish even grown-ups will want to eat.

One of our favorite easy weeknight meals- heavy emphasis on the easy– is grilled sandwiches. Somehow, you can take an ordinary sandwich with ordinary bread and ordinary toppings, slather the outside with butter, toss it in a skillet to toast both sides, and suddenly everyone thinks you’ve made a creative meal.

One of the bigger challenges with that scenario, though- because we all know there’s nothing challenging about the sandwich-making process- is what to serve the sandwich with. Many of our preferred side dishes, even the easy ones, require more work than I’m usually willing to put in on a grilled sandwich kind of night. On those nights, I often turn to frozen fries.

We almost always have a bag of these guys in our freezer. We don’t eat them more than once every several weeks, but they’re just too easy to not have on hand. J doesn’t much care how they’re prepared, or what, if any, extra love goes into them, but I do. I just can’t quite get on board with the throw-on-a-baking-sheet-and-call-it-good version, even when the theme of the evening is easy.

My mom taught me this insanely clever trick for making frozen fries taste good. I don’t know that you could call this a recipe, but I’m putting it out there for those who prefer to have precise instructions to follow. My go-to seasoning for frozen fries is seasoned salt (because I love potatoes + Lawry’s), but I also enjoy any combination of garlic, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. You could really spice things up by trying chili powder, cumin, or paprika.

How to Make Frozen Fries Taste Good

Ingredients

frozen French fries
oil (olive or vegetable are my top recommendations)
seasonings of choice (favorites include seasoned salt; garlic, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning; salt, pepper, and garlic powder)

Instructions

Preheat oven according to package instructions. Pour your desired amount of fries into a large bowl. Add a few tablespoons of oil (amount will vary depending on how many fries you’re making) and your seasonings of choice. If you aren’t sure how much to add, start with a little and add more as necessary. Toss everything together until the fries are coated with the oil and the seasonings. Transfer fries to a foil-lined baking sheet and arrange in a single layer. Bake according to package instructions, turning fries halfway through.

For more quick potato recipes, check out these baked homemade potato chips or these Parmesan garlic roasted potatoes.