An easy, homemade steak fries recipe featuring simple instructions for how to cut and roast them to crispy perfection! Perfect for weeknight dinners!
The very best part is biting into a steak fry, cutting through a crunchy exterior and making your way into a pillowy-soft, creamy center. It's the contrast (and well, the fact that they're potatoes) that make them completely irresistible. This homemade steak fries recipe is a masterpiece, and always yields fries that are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and everything you could possibly want in a steak fry at home.
Plus, it's a healthier way to eat fries, and they're easy to make. Triple bonus.
Getting a crispy french fry isn't necessarily hard to come by, however, it can prove difficult to create a crunchy exterior without the process of frying and the right kinda know-how. And this, my friends, is where roasting comes in.
HOW TO MAKE STEAK FRIES AT HOME
The trick to making perfect steak fries at home is to properly roast them. However, before you roast them, you'll need to cut them.
HOW TO CUT THEM
When roasting steak fries, it is important that all of your fries are similar in size. This will help them to cook evenly.
To cut the fries of equal thickness, quarter the potatoes lengthwise. Then, carefully, cut each quarter into thirds. This will provide you with perfectly-sized steak fries.
TIPS FOR ROASTING FRIES
Sure, if you wanted a crispy french fry at home, you could do what many restaurants do and double fry them. But, this method far exceeds the depths I will go for a family side dish. I barely even want to fry them once! So, roasting is the next best option, plus, it's a much healthier one.
DON'T CRAM THE PAN
There are two important qualifiers you should know for roasting: (1) you're cooking at a high temperature and (2) air should be able to circulate all around the item at hand. More specifically, air needs to be able to circulate in between the steak fries on the pan.
If you cram them all together, they will steam rather than roast. As you can imagine, steaming the potatoes will not produce a crispy, crunchy exterior.
If you can't spread your fries across the pan with space in between, just bite the bullet and pull out a second sheet pan. Trust me, it's worth it.
USE THE RIGHT OIL
The oil also allows us to develop a browned and crunchy exterior. The oil you choose is important, as different oils have different smoke points.
For this recipe, in particular, we are cooking at a fairly high temperature, so choosing an oil with a higher smoke-point is essential to developing a golden-brown crust, rather than a (wamp, wamp, wamp) blackened one. Canola oil or vegetable oil is best for this recipe.
TOSS THE FRIES HALFWAY THROUGH COOKING
Another easy trick we'll put to good use for this recipe is to turn the fries half-way through the cooking process. this allows for the wedges to cook evenly on both sides. I recommend using either parchment paper or nonstick aluminum foil to make for quick-flipping. And folks, that's really all there is to it.
Get ready to make some seriously crunchy, seriously delicious steak fries at home, and please, enjoy!
An easy, homemade steak fries recipe featuring simple instructions for how to cut and roast steak fries to crispy perfection!
- 4 small Russet potatoes scrubbed and dried
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
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Preheat the oven to 425° and have ready one (or two) large rimmed sheet pans lined with either nonstick aluminum foil or parchment paper. Quarter the potatoes lengthwise. Cut each quarter into thirds.
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Transfer the potatoes to the sheet pan, drizzle with canola oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss until evenly coated. Transfer half of the potatoes to a second sheet pan to prevent overcrowding, if necessary. The potatoes will not properly roast/brown if there is no space between them.
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Place in the oven and bake 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully turn wedges over, using tongs or a fork if necessary to keep from burning your fingers. If the potatoes stick to the foil, allow them to sit for 1-2 minutes, and then turn.
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Return to the oven and bake for an additional 16-18 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden-brown and crisp. Serve and enjoy.
