There are not many things as delicious and as difficult to get right as the classic french fry. Whether you made them yourself or bought them from your local fast-food chain, reheating french fries after they get cold is imperative.
The tried and true method for reheating fries is roasting them in the oven. Preheat your oven to 425° Fahrenheit, spread your fries over an aluminum foil covered baking sheet, and bake them for about 10 minutes.
Reheating in a Microwave
Instructions
Under no circumstances should you use a microwave. It’ll ruin the fries! Reheating using an oven will be better 9/10, but this is especially true here. If you absolutely must microwave them, follow the instructions below.
- Begin by placing a dry paper towel over a microwave-safe plate. This is there to absorb moisture and revive your fries to their premium crispiness.
- Next, scatter the fries over the plate, making sure they are not touching each other. They should be about half an inch away from each other.
- Next, sprinkle some salt over the top of the fries. This will restore some of the flavors that may be lost in the microwaving process.
- Last, place another dry paper towel over the top of the fries and microwave for 2 minutes. The towel will protect the microwave from any sizzling and popping while maintaining some of the original crispiness.
What to Expect
While microwaving fries is not the best way to reheat french fries, it will certainly get the job done. Learning how to microwave fries is great if you’re in a hurry, but reheating fries in the oven is greatly preferred. The fries will be chewier, less crispy, and blander.
If you’re in a time pinch, you can research further methods for Microwaving Fries and figure out how to get the exact texture and taste you want. However, if you want to know how to warm up fries in the oven, move forward to the next section. There you’ll learn the truly best way to reheat french fries.
Reheating in an Oven
Instructions
Roasting fries in an oven is by far the best way to warm up fries. It restores crispiness, holds flavor, and is simple to execute. This method will take the most time, so if you’re in a hurry, this isn’t the right way for you.
- First, preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit. This is the perfect temperature to restore crispiness and crunch while keeping the middle of the french fry soft.
- Next, cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil or use a cooling rack. If you decide to use aluminum foil, you’ll want to crinkle it up a bit to provide dimension. This is so when the fries begin cooking any excess oil can run off and pool in the crevasses of the foil.
- You may salt the fries if you prefer more flavor.
- Last, cook the fries in the oven for 10 minutes or until they have a golden brown tint and are your desired texture.
What to Expect
These fries will be absolutely delectable. Oven-roasted fries are always going to hold onto the flavors the fry once had, and they’ll generally cook more evenly too. Now you know how to reheat french fries in an oven!
Reheating in a Toaster Oven
Instructions
Reheating french fries in a toaster oven is quite similar to reheating them in a full-sized oven. The main difference between the two is the size of the pan and the cooking time. You can’t fit as many fries on the tray of a toaster oven, but if you want to save yourself some time and don’t need the extra space, we highly recommend this method!
- First, preheat the toaster oven to 425° Fahrenheit.
- Next, cover the toaster oven pan in aluminum foil and wrinkle it up until there are crevasses for the oil to run into. This will make for better, crispier fries.
- You may salt the fries if you prefer more flavor.
- Last, cook the fries in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until they have a golden brown tint and are your desired texture.
What to Expect
If you’re wondering how to reheat leftover french fries quickly, this is a great method. It’ll give much higher quality fries than the microwave will and still takes less time than an oven.
While the taste and texture of the fries heated in the toaster oven were second-rate compared to the oven-roasted ones, these fries were pretty great all in all. With a toaster oven, you can save a little time and only sacrifice a small bit of the overall taste.
Reheating in a Pan
Instructions
If the fries have gotten somewhat soggy or soft and need some fry-revival, the pan method will work best for you. Re-frying the french fries in a pan creates the potential for the fries to deep fry a second time, which can actually add to the flavor.
Even still, if the fries aren’t receptive, the place you got them from fries their french fries twice, or the fries are too old, there won’t be much of a difference. This method is just a bit of a wildcard, but either way, here are some steps to take to reheat your french fries in a pan.
- First, heat your pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Warming the pan before adding the oil will create a better quality fry.
- Next, pour in 1-2 tablespoons of your favorite oil. Vegetable oil always works, but you can use avocado oil, olive oil, or even coconut oil if that’s all you have available. There are plenty of oil types and Oil Substitutes, so try whatever works best for you.
- After the oil is in the pan, wait for it to start simmering and bubbling. This is how you’ll know the fries are ready to go in.
- Place the fries into the sizzling oil. Let them sit on one side for about 1-2 minutes.
- Then, flip the fries and let them sizzle for 1-2 more minutes. Once golden, remove the fries from the oil.
- At this point, they will be pretty greasy. Take some time to blot off excess oil from the fries.
- Lastly, you’ll want to salt the fries and try them out!
What to Expect
This method is a bit trickier than others and has the potential to go poorly. It is also quite messy and can leave you with oil droplets sprayed about your stovetop. Even more, the fries can sometimes come out greasier than they were before, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
If you’re going to use this method, make sure you watch the amount of oil you use, clean your stovetop thoroughly afterward, and really invest some time into that blotting step. This method is still better than microwaving, and the fries will still taste great.
Reheating in an Air Fryer
Instructions
The air fryer is another excellent alternative to oven-baked fries and seems like the natural response to the question “What is the best way to reheat french fries?”. It is a great way to get crispy fries quickly. If you don’t have an air fryer, that’s okay too. The oven method is still our favorite.
- To begin, preheat the air fryer to 350° for 1-2 minutes. It shouldn’t take long, and the air fryer should be completely ready for frying quickly.
- Next, add your fries to the tray and air fry for 3-5 minutes. If you want them crispier, aim for a longer amount of time.
- Lastly, take out your fries and enjoy! This is the shortest method and is quite easy to execute.
What to Expect
Fries cooked in the air fryer were almost the same as the fries when they were fresh. The temperature, amount of time, and the fact that this object is quite literally made for frying all contributed to how delicious the fries ended up. If you have an air fryer, this is definitely the way to go.
Reheating in a Broiler
Instructions
Many ovens still have a broiler underneath that is perfect for quick cooking and reheating. French fries are no exception! If you’ve been curious about what exactly the use of your broiler is, here is your answer. Follow the instructions below to reheat french fries using that old broiler!
- To begin, cover a baking sheet with wrinkled aluminum foil and prop the fries up as much as possible. This will move them closer to the source of heat, making it easier for them to cook quickly and evenly.
- Next, broil for about 2 minutes and then flip over the fries. Broilers don’t often cook evenly, so this step is critical.
- After flipping, broil for 2-3 more minutes and then remove the pan. They should be crispy and warm.
What to Expect
While there are fewer steps in the broiling instructions for reheating fries, the process of doing so is a bit more frustrating and could leave you with unevenly cooked fries.
Removing the pan, flipping over all of the fries, and then broiling them more just for them to be burned in places and underdone in others does not feel worth it at all. This method seemed great in theory but turned out to be our least favorite method – outside of microwaving of course.
Storing Methods for Better Reheating Later
Instructions
Half of the battle in reheating food is fighting against how it was stored. If a dish was stored in a bad container, sealed poorly, or without refrigeration, reheating it is going to be exponentially more difficult. For those reasons, it is important to consider some different storing methods for better reheating in the latter days to come.
- Choose an airtight container. Air is the enemy of leftovers. Any time oxygen has access to food, it will likely come in and ruin it. How frustrating!
- Lay the fries on top of a paper towel inside of the container. Even if you didn’t follow the last tip, you can still try out this one. Laying down a square of paper towels for your fries will help absorb extra grease and make them easier to heat up later down the road.
- Do not freeze your french fries. Once fries are cooked, they don’t last very long. Freezing your fries will completely ruin the integrity of the fry, turning it back into the potato much it once came from.
- Throw out old fries after 1-2 days. Fries are one of those food items that just do not last long. They go bad quickly, and though they don’t spoil fast, they do dry out, become stale, and get soggy in a very short amount of time.
What to Expect
If you follow the tips and methods above for storing your fries properly, you will find that reheating is significantly easier and more feasible. When your fries have been stored and reheated well, you likely won’t even notice that the fries you’re eating are really from Tuesday’s lunch.
Conclusion
The best method for heating fries is with an air fryer. The texture of the fries, the short prep time, and the fact that they do genuinely taste like they are fresh landed the air fryer with the top spot in terms of general quality.
However, not everyone has an air fryer. For this reason, the oven-roasting method for reheating fries is the best overall. Pretty much everyone has access to an oven, the fries came out delicious and tasted almost exactly like fresh fries, and it was fairly simple to set up.
The toaster oven and the pan re-frying were also great methods, but they weren’t the best. If you don’t have time for oven-roasting and don’t own an air fryer, either of these methods would work!
Broiling fries is not easy or a good way to create quality reheated fries. The cooking was uneven, a lot of work goes into it, and a lot of people don’t have broilers anyway. Even still…
The worst method of all is microwaving. You should never, under any circumstances microwave your day-old fries. It is never acceptable to do so. The fries end up mushy, soggy, flavorless, and almost inedible. While a microwave will make your fries warm, it will do just about anything else.
We hope you have an easy time bringing your fries back to life and learned a little bit through these steps. Happy heating!
