Air Fryer French Fries
One tablespoon of oil for one kilo of potatoes, and the rest is soaking and the right sequence.
- Preparation
- 15 min
- Cook/bake time
- 25 min
- Total
- 1 hr 10 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
One tablespoon of oil for one kilo of potatoes, and the rest is soaking and the right sequence. Homemade french fries from the air fryer get truly crispy on the outside if you wash off the surface starch beforehand and cook them in two temperature stages. Without these two steps, they become leathery.
Why this works
When cutting, starch escapes from the damaged cells to the surface. In the appliance, it gelatinizes into a tough, glassy layer that prevents water from escaping, and the result is leathery on the outside and steamy on the inside. Thirty minutes in cold water washes off this starch, and that is the biggest single lever of the whole recipe. The second rule is the two-stage process. At 160 °C, the potato cooks through on the inside and loses water without the surface browning yet. Only then does the second stage at 200 °C bring the dry surface over the roasting threshold. Conversely, if it were hot right away, the crust would be done before the core is cooked. And the basket must only be two-thirds full because the air must circulate between the sticks. A full basket is a steamer.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Cut and soak
Peel the potatoes and cut them into even sticks with an edge length of about one centimeter. Place them in cold water for thirty minutes. The water becomes visibly cloudy, and exactly this starch is the reason for leathery fries.
- 2
Pat really dry
Drain the sticks and dry them thoroughly with a kitchen towel. Residual water turns into steam in the appliance, and steam is the opposite of crust. Only then mix with the oil and paprika powder until all sticks shine.
- 3
First stage: 160 °C
Put the fries in the basket, filled to a maximum of two-thirds, and cook them for fifteen minutes at 160 °C. They are pale and soft afterwards, which is exactly right. In this phase, the potato loses water without the surface closing yet.
- 4
Second stage: 200 °C
Turn up to 200 °C and give another eight to ten minutes, shaking vigorously twice. Now they brown quickly. Salt only afterwards, because salted beforehand, the fries draw water and become soft.
Our best tips
- The thirty minutes of soaking are the biggest lever. Without it, the surface starch gelatinizes and the fries become leathery instead of crispy.
