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Crispy oven baked Yukon Gold fries make a great accompaniment to burgers, veggie burgers, sandwiches, and more. They’re easy to make and totally crowd-pleasing.
Why we love this recipe & why it works
Deep frying at home is a once-in-a-while kind of thing. But Yukon gold french fries pair well with so many easy meals. That’s why we love this baked version, which approximates the real thing but with much less fuss.
Here’s why they work so well:
- Yukon Gold potatoes are creamy and well-behaved.
- A 15-minute bath in some ice water removes a little bit of the extra starchiness that you don’t need in a good plate of fries.
- A nice slick of a neutral oil and a a generous sprinkle of salt are all you need for flavoring
- The discipline to line the potatoes up like little soldiers in formation yields truly crisp-outside, tender-inside fries
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Yukon Gold potatoes or a similar gold-fleshed potato variety have just the right ratio of creaminess to waxiness to starch to yield crispy oven baked fries that everyone will love. Try to use fairly large ones when possible, to yield nice long fries.
- Safflower oil is my high-smoke-point, neutral-tasting vegetable oil of choice. You can substitute another oil that has similar properties, such as canola, sunflower, peanut, corn, or vegetable oil blend.
- Good old fine sea salt works beautifully — or feel free to go nuts with truffle salt or another seasoned salt.
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a fabulous batch of crispy oven baked Yukon gold french fries. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Cut the potatoes into long, thin sticks on a mandoline slicer or with a chef’s knife.
- Soak in ice water for 15 minutes, then dry well.
- Toss with oil and plenty of salt.
- Arrange in an uncrowded single layer and bake at 450°F until crisp outside and tender inside, about 20 minutes depending on thickness. That’s it!
Sauces and salts for fries
You can treat these fries just like any other. Here are some of our favorite sauces and seasoned salts to serve with them:
- Spicy mayo
- Black garlic mayo
- Cilantro sauce
- Ketchup
- Dijon mustard
- Hot sauce (Cholula or Sriracha, alone or mixed into ketchup)
- Truffle salt
- Herb salt
- Lawry’s seasoned salt
Expert tips and FAQs
Try Shake Shack burgers, veggie burgers, or a reuben.
You can cut the potatoes and leave them in the ice water for up to a few hours before proceeding. Dry, season, and bake the fries right before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Reheat and recrisp in the oven or toaster oven.
More favorite easy side dishes with burgers
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Crispy Oven Baked Yukon Gold French Fries
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (907 grams) Yukon Gold potatoes
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) safflower oil
- Fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line two half sheet pans with baking and cooling racks if you have them, or parchment if you don't (no worries).
- Fill a large bowl halfway with ice water. Cut the potatoes into french fry shape using a mandoline or a knife. (There's no need to peel them.) Add cut potatoes to ice water as you work and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and dry well with paper towels.
- Dry out the bowl and add potatoes, oil, and a few generous sprinkles of salt, probably more than you think. Toss gently until all potatoes are glistening.
- One by one, place the potatoes on the baking sheets in nice orderly rows so that they don't touch. This is my least favorite thing ever and is super-tedious, but it's worth it to get crispy, evenly cooked fries. You've come this far. Don't drop the ball (or all the fries into one crappy pile) now.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate pans and their position in the oven and bake about 10 minutes more, depending on the size of the fries, until crisp on the outsides and tender inside. Sprinkle with more salt if you like and serve immediately.
Notes
- Safflower oil is my high-smoke-point, neutral-tasting vegetable oil of choice. You can substitute another oil that has similar properties, such as canola, sunflower, peanut, corn, or vegetable oil blend.
- You can cut the potatoes and leave them in the ice water for up to a few hours before proceeding. Dry, season, and bake the fries right before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Reheat and recrisp in the oven or toaster oven.
- Try your fries alongside Shake Shack burgers, veggie burgers, or a reuben.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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