Crispy Spicy Oven Baked Fries

Russets or Yukon golds work best for this recipe. I leave the skins on since they crisp up so nicely and provide a tiny bit more nutrition.

Serves: Plenty of fries for 4-5 people.

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced or sliced into wedges
• 2 Tbsp cooking fat (bacon fat or olive oil), plus more for greasing baking sheet

For the spice mixture:

• ½ tsp salt (or, to taste)
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp oregano
• ⅛-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (start small and add more, to taste)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water by about an inch (the water should be an inch above the potatoes). Add a pinch of salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 8-10 minutes, or until a knife can easily pierce the potatoes. Drain the potatoes and transfer to a large bowl.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine spice mixture ingredients (if using) in a small bowl or jar.

Add cooking fat and spice mixture (or, more salt if you're not using the seasoning blend) to the hot potatoes and stir to coat.

Grease a baking sheet with a little more oil or baking fat. Spread potatoes in a single layer across the baking sheet.

Roast potatoes until the bottoms are crisp, about 20-25 minutes. If you go to flip the potatoes and they are sticking to the pan, wait another 3-4 minutes before trying to flip them. They should naturally release from the pan when they're browned.

Flip the potatoes over and roast another 20-25 minutes. Serve warm and season with additional salt or spices as desired.

Notes:
1. Which potato works best? Russets get the crispiest and fluffiest thanks to their high starch content. Yellow or Yukon Golds are next on the list. We used Yukon Golds for the photos since we had them on hand, but both are awesome.

2. Which fat to use? You can choose a lot of different fats and have good results. Some people can’t get enough of duck fat, but honestly, that grosses me out for some reason and it’s also really hard to find and expensive. Bacon fat was also highly suggested. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s amazing. If you prefer to stay away from animal fats or simply want a less saturated choice, extra virgin olive oil will also get the job done (though, admittedly, not quite as crispy).

My personal favorite? I go halvesies with bacon fat and olive oil. I buy pretty high-quality bacon, so I feel comfortable using a little bit of bacon fat here and there.

3. Par-cooking really makes a difference. The par-cooked potatoes had that nice roughed-up, crispy exterior and the inside texture was MUCH better. The potatoes I roasted from a raw state didn’t get as crispy or have as nice a middle texture.

The other thing I tested was that you can par-cook them ahead of time. So, I can par-cook the potatoes in the morning, pop them in the fridge and then roast them in the super-hot oven for dinner, which saves me time on evenings where we don’t have quite as much time for dinner prep.


4. Do NOT over stir. If they’ve been coated with a layer of cooking fat and you’ve got your oven hot enough, the potatoes shouldn’t stick to the pan. Seriously. No little potatoes stuck or accidentally cutting off the crispy outer layer as you try to pry potatoes off the pan. They’ll naturally release from the pan when they’re good and ready. It was like magic.

Source:  One Lovely Life