Quick and Easy Freezer Fries
This week it’s all about healthy shortcuts! We know you want to feed your family homemade meals, but sometimes there just is no time! That’s why we want to share some of our favorite shortcuts in the kitchen that will make it easy for you to feed your family. Follow us on our social pages by using the hashtag #healthyshortcuts .
My favorite shortcut is batch cooking (or in this case, batch cutting/prepping). When I buy potatoes, it’s usually 10-20lbs worth. Sometimes we get through all of them before they start sprouting or growing mold, but not always. One of the hangups I have that prevents me from using our potatoes more often is peeling and chopping. So, instead- when I decide to have french fries for dinner one night, I won’t stop with the potatoes for that meal. I will keep peeling and chopping until I have at least 5-10 nights worth of potatoes. Not only does this make it super convenient for future nights, it only takes a few extra minutes and it’s loads cheaper than purchasing a bag of premade frozen potatoes from the grocery store.
Potatoes are great to include in your family’s healthy diet! 1 cup has:
- 26% of the DV for Vitamin C
- 21% of the DV for Vitamin B6
- 18% copper
- 14% potassium
- 14% Manganese
- 12.5% Tryptophan
So, to prepare our freezer french fries, we follow the steps below:
Step 1: Peel, rinse, and cut
This is a great place to get the kids involved. They’ve been peeling potatoes for as long as I can remember. The cutting part will take some time. My kids started with a crinkle cutter, because it’s pretty easy to use and less likely to cut them. We sort into bowls with two potatoes worth of fries in each bowl. That’s the perfect amount for fitting into quart size freezer bags.
Step 2: Blanch
After the potatoes are rinsed and cut, we drop them by the bowlful into boiling water. We wait 2 minute, and then drop into ice water. Leave in the ice water for several minutes- the longer the better, up to 20 for the crispiest fries! Blanching is an important step. It makes the difference between “Crisp Tender” veggies and mushy veggies. It also slows down the enzyme reactions that cause foods to lose their flavor and color.
Step 3: Blot dry and arrange on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper
Step 4: Optional: Pre-season the french fries
This is totally optional, but sometimes we’ll add garlic salt, seasoned salt, or nothing at all on this step.
Step 5: Freeze for 12-24 hours
Step 6: Once frozen, arrange into freezer bags. We use 2 potatoes per quart size bags.
Return to the freezer and store up to 6 months!
When it’s time to eat, simply take one bag out of the freezer, and arrange on a parchment lined cookie sheet. We drizzle with olive oil (although this is optional as well), and bake at 425 for about 40-45 minutes. Watch carefully. You don’t want to burn them, but you want them to brown up and be crispy. (Check out our crispy fries post for more details on cooking french fries)
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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Hi. Great post. When u initially freeze them for 12-24hrs do u wrap them in anything? Also when u take out to finally eat to u thaw or do u just bake straight away? Also can they be fried?
No- I leave them open in the freezer- nothing covering it.
We don’t wait for the thaw, just bake from frozen. Yes they can be fried! Not sure how long, as I’ve not done it.
Is the blanching water pre boiled, or on heat boiling for the 2 mins?
It’s already boiling when you drop it in. Then leave it in the boiling water for 2 minutes.
I cannot wait to try this, its healthier and cheaper.
May I ask why do you not cover them when placing in the freezer first off? Is there a reason? or can I place in portioned bags and freeze straight away? also do they not get frost bite? last question is how long can they be kept frozen do you know I’m thinking 3-6months but unsure.
@Emma- They just aren’t in the freezer long enough to get frost bite.. I only freeze them slightly first so they don’t freeze in a big clump. Just makes it easier for separating. You could portion them into bags and freeze straight away if you can keep the fries flat and someone separated. 3-6 months is a good rule of thumb.
Thank you for your reply 🙂
So you leave the saucepan on the heat the whole time?
When you bake them, do you toss the in oil or anything? What’s the baking time/temp? I’m so excited for these – thank you for sharing!!
Yes Marie: We drizzle with olive oil (although this is optional as well), and bake at 425 for about 40-45 minutes.
I make fries a few times per week for my boys. It takes about 18 minutes baking at 425 to make sweet potato or regular fries. I was excited when i saw this post thinking it would save me time, but it looks like it will actually take a lot more time than usual for me. I’m guessing because they’re frozen??
Hi Amy,
Loved this post, my family loves potatoes. We tried this method but could not keep the potatoes white. They ended up turing brown. How do we keep them white? Please help.
I think the only way @Toni is a quick freeze. The faster your potatoes get to frozen, the less likely they’ll oxidize. Keep them in an airtight bag, in the deepest part of your freezer.
I cant wait to make these, was wondering what potato you would use? I’m going to try sweet potato,but not sure if i will like them as i hadn’t in the past. just wondering what the next healthiest potato would be. ( someone had said red potatoes.)
Love reading your ideas and using them. But I watched Plastic Paradise tonight in Netflix and everyone needs to find an alternative to using so much 1-use plastic product. Watch it – eye opening. We all try our best to provide healthy food for our families but sometimes in the process we are causing a plastic mess for the future of our planet. With your reach maybe you can help to change how much plastic your followers use. For the sake of our children.
I’ll check it out Laura! Good ideas.
We don’t bother peeling our potatoes or sweet potato or kumara as we call it here in NZ…just scrub, chop and cook! Saves time and they taste fantastic. I never peel potatoes when we have mash either.
To add to Laura’s comment from 20th March, I turn our plastic bags inside out and throw them in the washing machine to be cleaned. That way we rarely throw away a zip lock bag (like the ones you have in your photo – we have different names for things down this part of the world!!) xx
woowww need these in my life! Such a great idea!When you say to freeze them before putting them in the bag, is that just on the cookie tray without being covered?
xo
Yes – that is exactly what it means!
I thought the orange one was carrot lol
Our local meat and produce market does something no grocery store does. They sell the imperfect produce,not so pretty and on the way out to cutting off the bad part. So today hubby brought home many pounds of potatoes for $1. He also bought tiny red potatoes we like since they cook quick. I even had some red potatoes at home already! But I needed to use the marked down potatoes quickly. So half was going towards making two batches of dog food. The other I cut into french fries for three quart bags and two quart bags of cubed potatoes. I’m so thankful to find your helpful advice. I’m finally done with them and they are ready to go into the freezer, at 1:45 am. They took much longer than I’d thought! But I’m so hopeful they will work out for the 50 cent investment for our portion!
That’s awesome Michelle!
Thanks for this recipe! I am using potatoes grown in my garden (Yukon Golds). Can’t wait to try them!
Would it be alright to coat them lightly in oil, after flash freezing and before putting them in the plastic bags? We are making our first batch from our Purple Molokai Sweet Potatoes that we grew in our garden this year 🙂
THANK YOU FOR THE HELP I HAVE LIKE 200 POUNDS OF POTATOES TO PROCESS FOR MY BROTHER AND NEPHEW.
thank you
I am definitely try this
My family loves these! From pre-schooler to dad. They actually turn out better than fresh ones for me. And better than most restaurants too. Preseasoning them really gets the flavour integrated into the fries. We are in Canada and use Yukon red potatoes grown in our garden. If not for this recipe we’d end up throwing far too many away. Thanks!
Hi. Great post, but i am observing an issue of stickiness of potatoes many times when I freezed for storage. How i can rid from this issue?
Hi there! The easiest way to prevent the fries from sticking is to spread them out and lay the bag flat when you first put it in the freezer. Once the fries are frozen, they’ll no longer be prone to sticking and you can re-position them in your freezer however is most convenient.
Have you tried with an air fryer? Any info on that? I had another question but my kids are squealing for fries so I’ll try to remember later 🙂
Hi Dani! We haven’t tried this personally, but I think it would totally work to cook these freezer fries in your air fryer. Here’s a post I found with easy instructions on how to do it: https://airfrying.net/cook-frozen-fries-in-air-fryer/
to keep potatoes white and season slightly you may want to try adding a heaping Tablespoon of KOSHER SALT (not table salt) to your boiling water as you would when boiling pasta! This will lightly salt your French fries and keep them from browning. Taste your salt water for the appropriate amount of salt = should taste like the ocean! 🙂
Good tip Jane, thanks!
Thanks for great tips. I am using olive oil, light salt, paper then put into Air fryer for 15 min at 350 F. Taste good with any sauce.
Can’t even view the recipe because your ridiculous ads keep popping up and lagging/crashing my phone. Have to give 0 stars because your site is inefficient and not usable. Not to mention dangerous for technology.
Hi! I’m sorry the ads are a pain. I get it. But ads are also a fact of life for us food bloggers. If the ads are really bothering you, all our recipes are on the connected cooking app, Prepear, in a much more user-friendly format. The app is free to download and use: https://www.prepear.com/
Is the oven pre heated?
Yep!
Hello, I’ve heard of blanching fries in a fryer…. can I still fry these Fries after using the water boiling method of blanching rather than popping them in the oven. Great info thanks
Hi Juan, if you’re wondering if you can cook the frozen fries in a deep fryer, I would imagine it will still work, yes.