A 4-Step Guide to Making the Crispiest Air Fryer French Fries - CNET

No matter the variety you reach for -- crinkle, curly, waflle or wedge -- French fries are best when they're made in an air fryer. You don't need to mess around with a messy deep fryer or an oven that will dry out the fries, but you do need to follow a few simple rules for the absolute best air fryer French fries.

Making dynamite fries, whether from fresh or frozen, is easy and painless but a few easy practices will give them an impossibly crunchy exterior while leaving the potato inside moist and delicious. Master these air fryer French fry hacks and you'll never have to negotiate a floppy shoestring or soggy tot again.

Read on to find out how I make the best crispy, French fries in the air fryer with very little effort.

A few techniques help me get the most out of my air fryer when I'm cooking up frozen goodies like French fries, chicken tenders and tater tots.

You don't need to preheat the air fryer but it will result in crispier fries.

The hotter your air fryer is when you add your fries, the more golden brown and crisp they'll become. Not every air fryer has a preheat function but you can run yours for about five minutes at the desired temperature to get the chamber nice and hot before you add the food.

A very light spritz of oil will ensure your air fryer fries don't dry out.

Some people swear by spraying a little of your go-to cooking oil, like canola, olive or avocado, into the basket and over frozen french fries before air frying. The idea is that the extra oil helps the food brown and crisp up. You don't need to go nuts with oil, but a light coating helps seal the potato strings in a divinely crispy crust.

An oil mister or spray bottle will help with an even and light coating of oil.

Try not to crowd your fries in the basket.

Air fryers create convection heat by using a fan (the noise you hear when you turn the machine on) to circulate air around the food, cooking it faster and creating that crunchy exterior we want. For convection cooking to work well, your French fries need to have as much surface area exposed as possible. That means loading up batches of fries in a single layer and leaving just a little space between each piece, if possible. The result is tastier fries in a shorter cooking time.

Shake a few times during cooking for an even browning.

Halfway through the cooking time, pull out your air fryer's basket and give it a good shake. This will help your french fries brown more evenly. Try to get the fries back in a single layer before popping the basket back in and finishing the process.

Weeknight dinners are simple when you implement the help of your air fryer.

You can make an equally fantastic burger in the air fryer.

In my world, a pile of fries served alongside a salad with a zippy vinaigrette needs no other accompaniment (except maybe a glass of wine). If you're looking to round out your meal or feed a crowd, consider serving air fryer french fries with this easy 45-minute roast chicken or this 10-minute salmon recipe (both made in the air fryer, natch).

You can even cook up air fryer bacon cheeseburgers, hot dogs, or chicken thighs to accompany your french fries. Add some veggies to the plate by air-frying Brussels sprouts, cauliflower steaks, broccoli florets or shishito peppers.

The cook time for air fryer french fries depends on the temperature. At 400 degrees Fahrenheit, fries usually take 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

Yes, you can air fry frozen french fries straight from the bag. Preheat the basket and avoid overcrowding for best results.

There could be multiple reasons why you're not reaching the right amount of crisp and crunch with your French fries in the air fryer. For one thing, you could be simply overcrowding your fries, making them fry unevenly. You could also be using too much oil, leading to a much softer -- even soggy -- texture if you're not careful.