Making frozen fries in air fryer give you that restaurant taste and texture of regular fries, but cooked at home in an air fryer without the extra added oil. What's even better?
Air fryer frozen fries cook up way faster and get much crisper than cooking fries in the oven. It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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Air Fryer Frozen Fries
In addition to being lighter and healthier than fries cooked in oil, frozen fries in an air fryer are gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, and vegan too.
You can serve the frozen french fries in air fryer as an appetizer or as a side dish along side pan fried chicken tenders, crockpot kalua pork, or baked baby back ribs in the oven.
And if you're looking for even more air fryer recipes then you'll want to check out our brats in the air fryer, air fryer boneless pork chops and super crispy air fryer chicken wings--all would be perfect with a batch of frozen fries in the air fryer!
We have an Instant Pot Omni Plus, which is a large toaster oven style air fryer, and we LOVE it! It's nice to cook for 4-6 people at once and not have to cook the food in batches. Hint hint, like large batches of fries haha.
Different brands of air fryers cook differently than others, so to test out a basket air fryer vs a toaster oven air fryer, I just order the Farberware air fryer, which is one of the CHEAPEST air fryers AND it's one of Consumer Reports top picks. I've heard that some air fryer toaster ovens cook faster than the basket style, so of course as a food blogger I just have to test this out for my readers!
Testing how to cook air fryer frozen fries and seeing if the cook times differ than the oven style is my first task!
Why This Recipe Works
- Air fryer frozen fries are the closest thing you can get to fried fries
- They cook faster, up to 50% faster than oven baked frozen fries
- An air fryer preheats in just a few minutes, compared to an oven that takes up to 15 mins
- The fries turn out SUPER crispy, yet are healthier since they don't use added oil
Ingredient Notes
Most brands of frozen fries are already partially cooked and already add a little canola oil to them. Some varieties like frozen waffle fries or tater tots even come totally pre-seasoned.
Because most of the work is already done for you...meaning no scrubbing potatoes, no using special equipment to get thinly sliced potatoes, and no long list of seasoning for homemade home fries, you basically just need a partial bag of frozen french fries and seasoning if desired!
Easy peasy!
- ½ lb (8 oz) frozen french fries
- salt and/or pepper to taste
- canola cooking spray (to spray the air fryer basket)-optional
You can use ANY type of frozen fries in the air fryer recipe, including shoestring, waffle fries, sweet potato fries, crinkle fries, or even making frozen steak fries in air fryer. The only consideration is that the cooking time could vary slightly, but the cooking method will still be the same.
All 3 of the brands we used were either organic or GMO free, as a healthy food blog we try as much as possible to post recipes using only natural ingredients, BUT we're human and don't eat that way 24/7. I personally have a weak spot for french fries and were happy the slightly healthier organic fries were on sale that day!
Air Fryer Frozen French Fries Time
When you're cooking frozen french fries in an air fryer, what's the best temperature to cook them at?
Quick cooked foods like air fried frozen french fries do best at a high heat, this will leave you with a soft interior yet a flavorful crispy outer crust. That makes making the air fryer frozen french fries time set to 400F an ideal temperature.
At 400F you can get crisp fries done in 15 minutes or less!
How to Cook Frozen Fries in air Fryer
Preheat air fryer to 400F, this should just take a few minutes and you can prep your fries while it's heating up.
I like to spray the air fryer basket with a little canola oil cooking spray to help prevent sticking to the basket during cooking. This is totally optional of course.
We made 3 different batches of air fryer frozen french fries: regular fries, frozen crinkle cut fries, and frozen waffle fries. to We wanted to figure out which work best in the air fryer and how those times compare to traditional oven baked fries.
Lay the fries in a layer in the air fryer basket, trying not to overcrowd the frozen fries so they'll get crisp and cook evenly.
Cook the fries for 8 minutes on one side, flip or stir the fries and then cook them between 4-7 more minutes on the 2nd side depending on what type of fries you're making and the desired degree of doneness you prefer.
No need to add extra oil, frozen french fries already come with oil added, plus they're already partially cooked which speeds up the cooking time even more. That's why you can often get frozen foods cooked just as fast as their fresh version.
Air Fried Frozen French Fries
The first batch of fries we made was the regular thin-cut style of frozen fries in the air fryer. One bag is 1 lb and you'll be able to fit about ½ lb+ in an air fryer, depending on which make and model you have.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400F
- Spray the basket with cooking spray
- Lay the fries in a single layer on the basket (a little overlap is fine but crowding them will prevent them from getting crisp)
- Cook on one side for 8 minutes
- Flip the fries and ours we perfectly crisp after 4 more minutes, for a total of 12 minutes. You might need to add 3-5 more minutes for as basket style air fryer
Depending on your make and model of air fryer, air fryer frozen fries could take a total of 10-15 minutes.
Frozen fries come unseasoned, so you'll need to add salt, pepper, garlic salt, or any other type of seasoning you love with fries. Our favorite is garlic salt!
You can also brush a little oil on the fries if desired, but this is completely optional of course.
Frozen Waffle Fries in Air Fryer
Frozen waffle cut fries often aren't just potatoes and canola oil, they often come pre-seasoned too and taste just like crisy restaurant waffle fries straight out of the air fryer! Out of all of the air fried frozen french fries, these were our favorite.
An entire bag of Alexia non-gmo waffle fries is 20 oz (1.25 lb) which is 7 servings that are 1 cup each. An entire bag of frozen waffle fries will not fit on the air fryer pan whether you have an oversized air fryer like I'm using or not.
At best, assume you can make a half bag+ or 3-5 servings at a time, which, unless you're cooking for a crowd should be plenty of frozen french fries in an air fryer!
Being that regular frozen waffle fries cooked in the oven take 25-30+ minutes, making air fryer frozen waffle fries is a total WIN!
The steps are the same as the other fries (other than they take a few minutes longer to cook):
- Preheat to 400F
- Spray the basket with cooking spray (optional)
- Lay the waffle fries in a single layer
- Cook for 8 minutes on one side until they're starting to crisp, some of the really tiny fries were already dark but the majority of the fries were still soft and needed to be crisper.
- Flip and cook 6-7 more mins to crispy.
In total frozen waffle fries in air fryer took 15 minutes, you might need to add 3-5 more minutes to the time depending on the make and model of air fryer you're using.
Frozen Crinkle Fries in Air Fryer
The 3rd batch of fries of the day were frozen crinkle cut fries in the air fryer. They're a little larger than regular fries but a little smaller than the waffle fries, so the cooking time fell in the middle of the other batches.
The crinkle cut fries come pre-browned, since they're already partially cooked.
crinkle cut fries ½ lb (8 oz)
- Preheat to 400F
- Spray the basket with cooking spray (optional)
- Lay the waffle fries in a single layer
- Cook for 8 minutes on one side until they're starting to crisp
- Flip and cook 5-6 more mins to crispy
Brush with a little oil if desired, season with salt or garlic salt to taste.
Serve immediately to keep the fries crispy.
Recipe Tips
- spray a light coat of oil on the basket before cooking
- brush canola oil over the fries, if desired after cooking
- sprinkle with salt, garlic salt, or pepper
- Be ready to serve the fries as SOON as they're done, they lose their crispness quickly
- Serve with kethcup, ranch dressing, tartar sauce, or malt vinegar
More Air Fryer Frozen Snacks
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Air Fryer Frozen French Fries
Making frozen fries in the air fryer gives you that close to fried crispy taste you'd get from a restaurant , but with less oil and healthier. They're super crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and cook in less time than the oven.
Ingredients
- ½ lb (8 oz) frozen french fries
- salt and/or pepper to taste
- canola cooking spray (to spray the air fryer basket)-optional
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400F.
- Spray the basket with cooking spray.
- Lay the fries in a single layer on the basket (a little overlap is fine but crowding them will prevent them from getting crisp).
- Cook on one side for 8 minutes.
- Flip the fries and ours we perfectly crisp after 4 more minutes, for a total of 12 minutes. You might need to add 3-5 more minutes for a basket-style air fryer.
Depending on your make and model of air fryer, air fryer frozen fries could take a total of 10-15 minutes.
Frozen fries come unseasoned, so you'll need to add salt, pepper, garlic salt or any other type of seasoning you love with fries. Our favorite is garlic salt!
You can also brush a little oil on the fries if desired, but this is completely optional of course.
This recipe also works with crinkle cut fries, waffle fries, sweet potato fries, and frozen steak fries in air fryer. They might take up to 5 minutes longer to took if they're larger or thicker in size.
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