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There are few guilty pleasures in life that compare to hot, fresh, crispy fast food fries and today we are making an even better version at home with this Wendy’s Copycat French Fries recipe!
Question, am I the only annoying person here that asks the drive-thru if I can have fresh fries? Eeek! Ok, in my defense, I rarely eat fast food and when I am craving it, it needs to count. Why waste calories on old, blah food when the only satisfaction is the taste (it certainly ain’t the feeling afterwards!! 😆) We are going to make every calorie count with this super easy, delightfully salty, crispy Wendy’s Copycat French Fry recipe!
I really don’t discriminate when it comes to fries, I like em all. But, I do have my top favorites and Wendy’s is for sure on that list, right there with McDonald’s, Bojangles and Chick-Fil-A. Any chain that serves sweet and sour sauce will always have priority in my book. Bojangles is the exception but their fry seasoning supersedes my love for sweet & sour. Hmm, note to self, I need to create a sweet & sour copycat recipe that doesn’t have the high-fructose corn syrup and other junk.
Details & Results
Wondering what you can expect when you make these fries? I understand. Frying can be overwhelming. But fear not, this recipe is SUPER easy.
- Quick & Easy Prep – you can wash and cut up these potatoes in no time (even significantly less time if using a mandoline, see section below). Give them a quick 30 min soak in an ice water bath while you’re oil comes up to temperature. Fry and enjoy!
- Easy Frying – frying can be intimidating, especially when the word “deep fry” is thrown around. But fear not, there is no deep frying here, no fried food smell lingering in your house afterwards. You don’t even need a thermometer, which I normally recommend. This is a set it and forget it frying method. Set the stove to medium, them medium-high for t!he second pass in the oil. Easy as pie!
- Texture & Results: sea salted, crunchy bliss on the outside and soft, baked-potatoey on the inside. You achieve this interior texture from frying at a lower temp during the first fry pass. These fries are so extremely good that you keep eating them well after your body signals you’re full 😉
How to make Wendy’s French Fries Copycat Recipe:
Cut Uniform Shapes, Soak Potatoes, & Parcook
To make these delish fries, it starts with a uniformly cut potato to ensure they cook evenly and are appealing to the eye. If they don’t look like Wendy’s fries, they won’t taste like Wendy’s fries. What do you think the difference is between steak fries and McDonald’s fries? Shape = amount of potato in each bite. So try to cut them as close to the Wendy’s fry shape as possible.
Use a Mandoline – I use this mandolin to cut my fries. Not only does it create the most perfect, uniform fry shape and size. But it also saves an immense amount of time. What would normally take me 10 minutes of cutting takes less than one minute. I used to think mandolines weren’t worth the extra cupboard space, but for recipes like homemade fries or for big, beautiful salads, the uniformity truly matters.
Soak Potatoes in Cold Water – once washed and cut, put the potatoes into a big bowl of ice water. Not only does a good 30 minutes (the longer the better) remove excess starch from the potatoes, cold potatoes fry crispier.
Parcooking – frying the potatoes in a heavy bottom skillet will give you more surface area to fry so you can fry more at one time. In this recipe, and like most of my frying recipes, we are going to double-fry these potatoes. The first spin in the oil will cook the inside of the potatoes and get them to a soft, baked potato texture. Then we crank up the heat and put them back into the oil to crisp the outside.
Looking for other delish copycat recipes?
The Travis Scott Burger Copycat Recipe
The Best Five Guys Burger Copycat Recipe
Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo Pizza Fritta Copycat Recipe
McDonald’s Chicken McGriddle Copycat Recipe
KFC Chicken Littles Copycat Recipe
Popeye’s Famous Chicken Sandwich Recipe
CPK Cauliflower Buffalo Bites Copycat Recipe
I look forward to your questions and feedback below. Please be sure to tag me @BadBatchBaking using hashtag #badbatchbaking if you made this recipe and I will feature you on my story! Plus, I LOVE to see your baking accomplishments.
Wedny's French Fries Copycat Recipe
My mouth is watering! It’s so difficult to get fries right – too soggy, too crispy etc. This is just what I need, thanks for sharing and I can’t wait to try it out!
Wonderful! Thank you