Oven Fried Potatoes

This is a French method of frying the most delicious, crisp, and tender potatoes you’ll find. I used small red potatoes for this recipe, but you can use regular spuds cut any way you like: French fry size, steak fry size, wedges, or chunks.

The oil and potatoes are heated in the oven, so there’s no guessing what the oil temperature is, such as when you use a skillet. I think that is one of the main benefits here; the flavor and crispness is achieved with 400 degree oil.

That’s hotter than my deep fryer goes, and in a skillet, you have to be pretty careful about exceeding 400 by very much or it starts smoking and can even catch fire. So the oven makes a very safe and controlled heat source for the oil.

The method couldn’t be much simpler: scrub the spuds clean, peel them if you wish (I usually don’t), cut them into the shape you want, put them in a pan or baking dish with about 1/4 inch of oil, toss them, and turn on the oven. Set the oven at 400 degrees, and toss the potatoes again every ten minutes or so. As the oven heats up, the insides of the potatoes will have time to cook before the outside gets brown and crisp.

If you use chunks about the size you see in the photo, they will be done in about 30 minutes. Larger chunks, more time, and vice versa. After they are done, lift them out of the oil with a slotted spoon, put them in a bowl lined with paper towels, and sprinkle them with salt.

You can experiment with future batches with different kinds of potatoes, different cut shapes and sizes, and various seasonings at the end. Who knows, you might come up with a secret recipe all your own for the next Super Bowl party!