Baked French Fries

Parchment paper is the age old trick for crispy potatoes (and any other roasted vegetable for that matter). The semi-porous paper allows the potatoes to breath at the interface with the paper and they neither stick nor get soggy/gooey due to excess liquid accumulating at the downward surface. You can get nearly "deep fried" texture with this method without all the fuss of a fryer. No clean up either- just toss the paper and the sheet pan is clean underneath!

Question. If using parchment paper do you pre-heat pan with parchment? Or just pre-heat oven?

I don't think most sheet pans or parchment paper are rated for 500° use. Caution you could ruin the finish on your sheet pan or incinerate your parchment.

Put the sliced potatoes in the microwave for 8-10 minutes, then toss with oil and seasonings. 10-15 minutes in the oven (on parchment) at 350-425, whatever your oven is set to for other items. I’ve been using this twice cooked approach for years with great results.

Parchment is key! I started letting my potatoes sit in a bowl of water first for 15 minutes. Drain then proceed with seasoning. I cook mine at 425 for around 15 minutes then bump it up to 450 last 10! They always are beautiful. Russets are awesome. I like to season mine with garlic, paprika, oregano and even semolina dust :)

Parchment paper has an upper heat limit listed on the box. Even at that temperature, the paper will scorch.

Use parchment paper. It helps a lot in making the potatoes crispy.

When I'm really feeling decadent I melt some butter and minced garlic in a frying pan and toss in the cooked fries to coat them. Sometimes I also add a little parmesan along with parsley for color. Really delicious and extra special (and caloric, or course). But these are wonderful on their own, too.

I also soak my potatoes after cutting them up - 10-15 minutes in cold water before baking. I don’t know why but this seems to make a big difference in outcome. Always delish.

Don’t crowd the pan! Pepper after baking. Very tasty.

Yes, I do them all the time in my Breville convection oven, but not at such high heat - just 425 for the duration. Always important yto ket that pan hot before you add the potatoes.

I will definitely try this! I make lots of oven fries...and I discovered that putting the fries on a lightly greased wire rack (like a cooling rack for cakes and cookies) in a big flat pan so that there is space between pan and fries makes for crisper fries then when the potatoes sit directly on the flat surface.

We love this recipe. Few notes: thanks tp those who suggested parchment paper: it really helped. I neglected to toss with oil this time (but did oil the pan), and it didn't seem to make any difference. And I find that the fries need more oven time - I gave them at least another 10 minutes at 500 - otherwise there's no way they even approach crispy

So good! Used parchment as suggested - after pre-heating the pan (it browned but didn't burn). Needed an additional 10 minutes at 500 to get them perfectly browned. And lots of extra salt after coming out of the oven. So completely satisfying.

I soak cut potatoes for 20 minutes to remove starch and then dry them with paper towels. I then do reverse of Melissa: 20 minutes at 375 and then 15 minutes at 475.