Overheard a neighbor say frozen fries in the air fryer are a waste of time

I was at the community mailbox yesterday and my neighbor, Mike, was talking to someone about how frozen fries in the air fryer never get crispy like the deep fryer at the diner. He said they always come out soggy or burnt. That got me thinking because my experience has been the total opposite. I make frozen crinkle cuts from the store brand at least twice a month for my kids. The trick for me is to preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees, shake the basket once halfway, and maybe add an extra minute or two past the bag time. They come out golden and way less greasy than the oven. Maybe his model runs hot or he's overcrowding the basket? Has anyone else found a specific brand or type of frozen potato that just nails it every time in the air fryer?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_ward14d ago

Totally get where your neighbor is coming from, but it sounds like a technique issue to me. I see this all the time with new kitchen gadgets, where people expect magic without adjusting their old habits. The air fryer is just a small, powerful oven, so you have to treat it differently than a deep fryer or even a big oven. Overcrowding is the number one reason food steams instead of crisps. My rule is a single layer with space between each piece. Once I learned that, my store brand waffle fries come out perfect every single time.

mark_cooper14d ago

Single layer" works, but preheating it first is the real game changer.

brian4514d ago

Learned the single layer rule the hard way after making a batch of sad, soggy fries. Ngl, my first air fryer meal looked like a crime scene.