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Forget the drive-thru! These frozen french fries in the air fryer come out perfectly crispy every single time, and they taste just like deep-fried fries without any of the messy oil. If you’re looking for homemade air fryer french fries, you’ll love our crispy fast-food style recipe!
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Why This Recipe is So Good
- No messy oil to deal with like when you deep fry, and they come out way crispier than oven-baked fries. The air fryer circulates hot air around every single fry, giving you that perfect golden-brown exterior and fluffy interior that makes you close your eyes and say “yes, THIS is what fries should taste like.”
- Guess what – you don’t even need to defrost the fries first! Take them straight from the freezer, dump them in the air fryer basket, and you’re eating hot, crispy fries in 10-15 minutes. Perfect for busy weeknights, game day snacks, or whenever that fry craving hits.
- This technique of cooking frozen french fries in an air fryer works with any style of fryyou can find in the freezer aisle. Crinkle-cut, curly, waffle, steak fries, shoestring – they all work beautifully. Plus, they make an amazing base for loaded fries if you want to get creative with toppings and turn them into a full meal.
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What You Need to Know Before You Start
- You absolutely must pause your air fryer every 3-5 minutes, pull out the basket, and give those fries a good shake or toss. Skip this step, and you’ll end up with burned fries on the bottom and pale fries on top. Set a timer on your phone if you need to – heed me, this step is the difference between perfect fries and utter disappointment.
- Start checking early and adjust based on your fry style. Most fries are done in 10-12 minutes, but shoestring fries might only need 6-10 minutes while thick-cut steak fries could take 12-15 minutes. Every air fryer runs a little differently too, so keep a close eye during your first batch and make notes for next time.
- Create a single layer with a little breathing room between fries is ideal. If you’re cooking for a crowd, do multiple batches instead of piling them in. The second and third batches will actually cook faster since your air fryer is already hot, so reduce the time by a couple minutes.
- To really make a meal out of these delicious, crispy fries, serve them with a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, Chicken Burgers (with Chipotle Aioli), and these Epic Black Bean Burgers.
How to Make Frozen French Fries in Air Fryer
In general, start with the cook times below and adjust as needed. If you’re cooking multiple batches of fries, keep in mind that the later batches will need less time to cook than the earlier batches.
| Shoestring Fries | 6-10 minutes |
| Waffle Fries (Lattice Fries) | 10-12 minutes |
| Crinkle-Cut Fries | 10-12 minutes |
| Curly Fries | 10-12 minutes |
| Steak Fries | 12-15 minutes |
Recipe Variations
Load Them up: Turn these into loaded fries by topping the cooked fries with shredded cheese, cooked bacon bits, jalapeño slices, sour cream, green onions, or any of your favorite nacho toppings. Pop them back in the air fryer for 1-2 minutes to melt the cheese.
Seasoning Options: Try garlic powder and parmesan cheese for garlic parm fries, cajun seasoning for spicy fries, or ranch seasoning mix for ranch fries. Add seasonings right after cooking while the fries are still hot and slightly oily.
Sweet Potato Fries: This method works great for frozen sweet potato fries too! They may need slightly less time than regular fries, so start checking around 8-10 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope! One of the best things about this method is that you can cook the fries straight from frozen. No thawing, no waiting, just dump them directly from the freezer bag into your air fryer basket.
Shaking the basket every 3-5 minutes ensures even cooking and prevents the fries on the bottom from burning while the ones on top stay pale. It also helps them get crispy on all sides instead of just one. This step is absolutely critical for perfect results.
It’s best to cook one type at a time since different cuts and thicknesses require different cooking times. If you mix thick steak fries with thin shoestring fries, some will burn while others stay undercooked.
The fries are done when they’re golden brown and crispy to your liking. Start checking around 10 minutes, and remember that different fry styles have different cook times. Shoestring fries might only need 6-10 minutes, while thick steak fries could take 12-15 minutes.
You can, but seasonings tend to stick better if you add them right after cooking while the fries are still hot and slightly oily. If you do season before cooking, they may darken or burn more quickly, so keep an extra close eye on them.
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Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Frozen French Fries in the Air Fryer
Equipment
- air fryer basket-style or oven-style
- neutral spray oil must be safe for air fryers
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen french fries
- salt or other seasonings, optional
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400° Fahrenheit. Once air fryer is preheated, lightly spray basket with neutral oil, covering bottom and sides of basket completely.
- Add 1 bag frozen french fries to basket. Lightly spray tops of fries with additional oil.
- Sprinkle salt or other seasoning over fries if desired, then place basket in air fryer. Air fry french fries 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, remove basket from air fryer. Shake basket well to toss fries. If fries are not yet cooked to desired doneness, return basket to air fryer. Cook fries 2 to 5 minutes more.
- After 2 to 5 minutes, remove basket from air fryer. Shake basket well to toss fries. If fries are not yet cooked to desired doneness, return basket to air fryer.
- Repeat process as needed until fries are cooked as desired. Important: Pause cooking to shake basket and check fries every 3 to 5 minutes or fries will overcook.
- When fries are as cooked as desired, remove basket from air fryer.
- Transfer prepared french fries to plate or bowl. Repeat entire process with any remaining fries until desired number of fries has been cooked.
- Serve fries hot with desired condiments and/or toppings.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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My frozen crinkle cut French fries came out perfect! Thanks so much for the instructions.
So glad to hear! Thanks for sharing, Helen. 🙂
Great results!
One of our favorites! Thanks so much for your feedback, Beatrice!
Super yummy my 1st time using my new air fryer thanks so very much!
Thank you, Lorrieanne! You’ll be hooked on that air fryer before you know it!
Too many ads. And – what’s “neutral” cooking spray?
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“Neutral” spray oil just means any spray oil that has a neutral flavor. That way the flavor of the oil doesn’t overpower the flavor of the food. ☺️
I cooked my fries (crinkle cut) at the specified temp, gave them a shake twice and stopped the cooking 4 min. earlier. They came out crispy and perfect. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the feedback!
My air fryer has a flat basket. Do u still recommend spraying the basket with oil.
Yes, definitely!