Garlicky Baked Fries

April 12, 2009

Garlicky Baked Fries

GARLIC FRIES

I’m never going to make garlic potato fries any other way.

These garlic fries, win hands down as the best garlic french fries I’ve ever made. Plus they are baked – so I won’t feel too guilty if I make it every time I’m craving for some potato comfort.

When I read that there is garlic infused oil involved, my heart skipped a beat (in a good way, not the way oil would otherwise treat your heart). I got down to making them immediately. I used extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil because I just love the aroma that garlic and olive oil combine to impart. And added to potatoes while baking – how could it be anything short of perfect? I also used more garlic to make my french fries extra garlicky fries!

Garlicky Baked Fries
crispy golden baked fries

These garlic fries are incredibly simple to make and are so full of flavour. They were gobbled down as soon as they were out of the oven. I had to hear a lot of “Take the photos next time!” and “Can I pick just one?” while I was trying to capture some shots of these crispy, golden babies.

Garlicky Baked Fries
crunchy potato skin

Garlic Fries
Adapted from: Lottie + Doof

8 garlic cloves, minced
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 russet potatoes (about 8oz each), each cut into 12 wedges
3 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Garlicky Baked Fries
warm and soft interior
  1. Preheat oven to 225°C/440° F.
  2. Combine the garlic and oil in a large bowl, warming it until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
  3. Transfer 5 tablespoons of the oil (leaving the garlic in the bowl) to the baking sheet, coating it well.
  4. Add the potatoes to the bowl with the garlic mixture and toss to coat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and microwave on high power until the potatoes are translucent around the edges, 3 to 6 minutes, shaking the bowl to redistribute the potatoes halfway through cooking.
  5. Combine the cornstarch, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the hot potatoes and toss well to coat.
  6. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake, turning once, until deep golden brown and crisp, 30 to 40 minutes.
  7. Serve with ketchup, mayo or sour cream.

Update: Given that I do not like to use the microwave for cooking, and plastic cling wrap is a little scary to use, I have tried making these garlic fries by par-boiling the potatoes and then letting them steam dry by laying them in a single layer on kitchen napkin. I proceeded with step 5 and it turned out to be SO GOOD!

{ 324 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Denise January 25, 2012 at 1:26 am

the cornstarch makes all the difference! we loved ‘em! :)

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2 Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche January 31, 2012 at 4:42 pm

Oh wow, these look absolutely perfect.

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3 Nadia February 4, 2012 at 3:18 pm

I wonder, since I don’t have a microwave, is there something else you can do instead? fx. boil them in hot water for some minutes, like you do with pommes fondant?
Thx :)

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4 The Purple Foodie February 4, 2012 at 10:03 pm

Nadia, it’s in the post. Last paragraph.

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5 Nadia February 7, 2012 at 7:13 pm

aaaaah, thx ( that’s why one should read it to the end) I just gave up when I saw it was for microwave. Excellent, thx.

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6 Julie February 4, 2012 at 8:59 pm

I can practically taste these just looking at them. Drool.

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7 Tanya @ A Little Bit of Everything February 7, 2012 at 1:00 am

These are in the oven now and look amazing. I can’t wait to taste!

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8 Elizabeth February 13, 2012 at 3:03 pm

Is there a substitute for corn starch?

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9 Roxanne April 7, 2012 at 7:22 pm

Potato starch

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10 Auria February 14, 2012 at 5:32 am

Brilliant recipe for baked “fries”. Think this will work with sweet potatoes or will they be too garlicky?

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11 Josh March 1, 2012 at 8:56 pm

I ONLY make this recipe with sweet potatoes – they are my favorite sweet potatoe recipe!!

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12 Amber Norris February 14, 2012 at 9:01 pm

I do not have cornstarch, so I used flour instead. They are in the oven, hope my substitution works!

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13 Savannah February 18, 2012 at 6:49 am

I made these today and they were to DIE FOR! They were so good I thought I would swallow them whole without even chewing lol! However, I only used 4 cloves and they were still entirely too garlicky for our preference…the smell burned our eyes for hours, even after ventilating the house. Next time I will tweak it, but just a warning for people like me. :)

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14 Valerie February 20, 2012 at 6:09 am

I made these the other night with dinner! They were awesome! They were flavorful and crispy… I’ll definitely make these again. :-)

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15 Sue February 20, 2012 at 2:22 pm

These look so good, just one question. In the directions it says to transfer 5 tbsp of the oil to the baking dish. Then after coating the potatoes it says to transfer them to the baking sheet. Just so I’m clear, is there 5 table spoons of oil laying on the baking sheet? Thanks for the recipe!

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16 Cathi February 21, 2012 at 10:57 pm

Do you peel the potatoes?

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17 Cass February 22, 2012 at 10:32 pm

It doesn’t say to, and you can see the peel in the photos so I would say no.

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18 Fran February 23, 2012 at 8:14 pm

Hi, I make quilted “microwave potato bakers”, these are just fabric pockets with a flap to close it and it only takes 5 to 7 minutes in the microwave, anyway…I bake or partially bake my potatoes in these and they work awesomely and no using of the dreaded plastic wrap! Also I tend to overcook my potatoes when I boil them :( . With these fabric quilted bakers you get a moist yummy ready to eat baked potato or it makes fast work for making potato salad or in your case, these de-LISH-us looking garlicky tater fries!

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19 Angela February 23, 2012 at 8:53 pm

When you boiled them did you still coat them in the garlic oil mixture (first part of step 4) or did you omit that all together?

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20 Ashley February 24, 2012 at 2:44 am

These were the most delicious oven fries EVER! Thank u so much 4 the recipe

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21 Ashley February 25, 2012 at 11:13 pm

These were SO good! Mine didn’t come out as brown and crispy as yours in the picture, but they tasted amazing. I think I overdid the coating, cornstarch gave a few of them a weird texture. Thanks a lot for the recipe, I will use it often!

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22 Brandy March 1, 2012 at 2:48 am

I have the same question as Angela. Do you coat them in oil and garlic and then cover them with water to parboil?

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23 Julia March 12, 2012 at 5:24 pm

I replaced the cayenne pepper with herbs de provence. fabulous!!

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24 Paula @ Frosted Fingers March 19, 2012 at 2:21 am

Made these potatoes tonight after finding them on Pinterest. Loved them!

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25 Kate March 19, 2012 at 4:28 am

There is a simple solution to microwaving with plastic wrap over the bowl (yuck!). Put a dinner plate on top of your bowl like a lid.

I made these tonight using tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, because I couldn’t find the cornstarch anywhere in my cupboards. They turned out absolutely delicious! This was a life-changing baked fry for me.

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26 Debbie March 21, 2012 at 9:19 pm

Every time I try to make these “baked” fries, they either stick to the baking sheet even though I’ve coated it with spray coating or oil or they are soggy. HELP! They look so delicious in the pictures but I can’t seem to get them right. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

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27 Barb March 26, 2012 at 12:59 am

Debbie, Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. I’ve been doing this for just about everything I cook in the oven. Saves your baking sheets and your sanity.

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28 Diana Hennessey March 24, 2012 at 9:33 pm

Making these for my husband tonight for the first time! Hope they are a success :)

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29 Dawn March 25, 2012 at 1:09 am

Ok, I made these tonight. I’m not a spicy kinda girl so I left out the Cayenne pepper and reduced the black pepper to 3/4 tspn. Otherwise, followed the directions to a T, even soaking the cut taters in water for 20 mins then rinsing. These puppies were very good! My kids loved them too. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I will definitely make again.

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31 Marie April 7, 2012 at 8:24 pm

I didn’t have any cornstarch so I used flour so they didn’t come out crispy. I think they are delicious though!

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32 Roxanne April 10, 2012 at 2:41 am

I did not microwave, baked at 450F for 20min – flipped and then 10min more – DONE. I used potato starch, reduced the salt a little and added 1/4 tsp of Ancho Chili Powder – AWESOME!!!

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33 Andrew April 11, 2012 at 9:28 am

Made them for my parents and picky sisters this weekend. None of them survived. Best. Fries. Ever.

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34 Elise April 23, 2012 at 4:50 am

These were great! best potato wedges I’ve ever made, I liked how crispy they were. Thanks for your recipe! :)

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35 Katelyn April 25, 2012 at 1:50 am

Soo this is kinda random, but does anyone know how many weight watchers points these are they look so goooood so i hope not too many ! thanks :)

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36 Argol April 27, 2012 at 8:10 am

The only problem with microwaving with plastic is a result of contact of the food with the plastic. Tightly cover the bowl so the plastic doesn’t touch the food and there will be no problem with chemical contamination.

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37 Nikki B April 28, 2012 at 6:28 am

OMG we looooooove this! I have made it a few times and it is our favorite fries/ potato wedges. They are perfect texture with tons of flavor. thank you!

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38 Mike May 1, 2012 at 3:50 am

I have to say that these were incredible. I replaced the cayenne with paprika and added a little panko to the cornstarch mixture for extra crunch. Also noticed if you cut the wedges a little thinner you get some very nice potato-chip like garlic fires. I never make french fires – baked or otherwise, but this one goes into my permanent collection.
Thanks
Mike

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39 Marisa May 3, 2012 at 2:44 am

Love the wedges, maybe with only one change the pepper corns, there way to over powering to the rest of the taste:) Otherwise I loved them.

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40 JD May 6, 2012 at 3:00 pm
41 Rick May 8, 2012 at 4:47 pm

Why are you microwaving in plastic? There is NO SUCH THING as microwave-safe plastic! Only use glass, waxed paper, paper bags.

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42 Céline May 9, 2012 at 6:51 pm

Making these right now, they’re in the oven and smell delicious!
Can’t wait to eat them :)

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43 Scott May 12, 2012 at 12:40 am

I made them and was sorry that I only used three potatoes……..should’ve made an entire 5lb. Fantastic!

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