Oven Baked French Fries

My husband LOVES when I make him homemade french fries with dinner.  Frankly, I love it, too.  What I don't love, however, is using a quart of oil every time we get a hankering for them.  Deep frying is obviously not the healthiest option and my wallet would prefer that I not use a whole quart of oil for one meal.

But, boy oh boy, I sure do love that crispy on the outside, soft on the inside you get from deep frying.  No other method seems to measure up...until now.  I actually found this recipe when my husband made the request for fries, but I didn't have enough oil to make it happen.  I'm so happy I didn't!

I've never been able to make fries in the oven that are this good.  Apparently, it's all in the technique.  A little soaking, a little foil, and rotate, rotate, rotate.  Read on for the details.  Your belly will thank you later.


Ingredients

• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into ½ inch fries or wedges (My potatoes were on the small side so I used 5.  You can leave the skin on, it's just a matter of preference.)
• 5 tbsp vegetable, canola or peanut oil, split
• ¾ tsp salt (Kosher salt is best, but I used sea salt because I was out of kosher)
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions

1.  Preheat your oven to 475°.  In a large bowl, soak your cut fries in hot water for 10 minutes. 

2.  Spread the fries out onto paper towels using additional paper towels to thoroughly dry.  Dry the large bowl, return the fries to it, and add 1 tbsp of oil, tossing to coat.

3.  Put the remaining 4 tbsp of oil onto a baking sheet and tilt it from side to side until the oil has covered the entire thing.  Sprinkle the oil in the pan with the salt and pepper.  Spread the potatoes in a single layer onto the baking sheet.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove the foil after the five minutes and continue baking the fries for about 15 minutes rotating the pan after 10 minutes.  The bottoms should be nice and golden.  Carefully flip the fries, rotate the baking sheet again and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes more, making sure to rotate the baking sheet one last time during that time.  Remove the fries from the pan and place onto a paper towel lined plate or bowl to soak up some of the oil.


Notes

• Source: Annie's Eats