These homemade French Fries, or papa frites, are baked in the oven until they’re crispy crunchy and (what we chanted in culinary school) G-B-D! Golden Brown Delicious!
How to Make Papa Frites (Homemade French Fries in oven)
Make your own Papa Frites and be sure to use a simple trick (explained in the recipe notes) that makes these the best crispy homemade fries ever! My family loves it when I turn this into a one-pan meal by adding heaps of bell peppers & smoked sausages on top of them.
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons baking soda
- olive oil
- 3 bell peppers red, yellow, or orange*
- 1 pound rope sausage
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup various fresh herbs parsley, thyme, oregano (chopped)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400º
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Cut the 4 large russet potatoes into long wedges. 6 per potato. Cut 3 bell peppers and 1 large andouille sausage into 2 inch chunks. Put the peppers and sausage on a cookie sheet, drizzle them with olive oil and set aside. - Add the baking soda to a pot of boiling water. Carefully put the potato wedges into the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and put them into the large bowl.
Papa Frites Recipe Notes:
To get extra crispy oven-baked French fries, add baking soda to the water that you parboil the potatoes in. Then when they come out of the water, toss them in a large bowl to create a starch slurry coating on them. This coat will make them extra crunchy while they bake in the oven.
How to get extra crispy fries
Serve these chunky crispy home fries with some sausage, roasted red bell peppers, and a side of homemade mayo (aioli) and you’ve got yourself a real treat. It’s casual and fun!
Just pile it all up on a big plate in the center of the table. Let everybody help themselves with tongs and if they want to eat with their fingers… go for it!
Want the real trick to crispy Papa Frites? I learned this from a friend of ours, Ian. He’s an English chef down in Mexico who gives impromptu cooking classes in his kitchen from time to time. He’s a great guy and an excellent chef.
He puts baking soda in the water he boils his potatoes in. Genius! The baking soda breaks down the exterior of the potato. When you pull them out of the water and rough them up a little, you get a bit of a potato slurry on the outside of the potato wedge.
This makes them super crispy and gives them a beautiful golden brown color too.
Papa Frites Video
Here’s a little how-to video on making these tasty little spuds.
Papa Frites: Meal in One
About 15 minutes before they’re done, transform this dish into a One Meal Platter by loading it up with chunky sausage bites, strips of colorful bell peppers and a handful of fresh chopped herbs and garlic.
Other Potato Recipes You’ll Love
These two are a couple of our family’s favorite recipes. The one-pan lemon chicken has small roasted potatoes, lightly wilted spinach, and a roasted garlic sauce that’s divine. The KFC gravy is delish on mashed potatoes or as a dip for these Papa Frites!
Papa Frites (Homemade French Fries)
Papa Frites – A simple trick makes the best crispy homemade fries ever! | www.lakesidetable.com
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons baking soda
- olive oil
- 3 bell peppers red, yellow, or orange*
- 1 pound rope sausage
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup various fresh herbs parsley, thyme, oregano (chopped)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 400º
-
Cut the potatoes into long wedges. 6 per potato. Cut the peppers and sausage into 2 inch chunks. Put the peppers and sausage on a cookie sheet, drizzle them with olive oil and set aside.
-
Add the baking soda to the boiling water. Carefully put the potato wedges into the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the water with the spider or the slotted spoon and put them into the large bowl.
-
Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and gently rough them up a bit by tossing them around the bowl until you start to see them slurry up.
-
Oil the other cookie sheet with a generous amount of olive oil. Lay the potato wedges out on the oiled cookie sheet.
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Put the potatoes on the top rack and the peppers/sausage tray on a lower rack. Flip each potato wedge after 10 minutes and sprinkle 1/2 of the garlic and herbs over the potatoes and the other 1/2 over the peppers and sausage. Bake for 10 minutes more or until they turn golden brown and crispy.
-
Serve with aioli.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*I like the red, yellow or orange bell peppers, not green. I find green peppers give people gas and they can taste bitter.
Yum! Will try these as soon as I can! I love the story about the shooting !! How fun! Sure reminds me of Texas!
I hope you do and let me know how you like them!
These sure sound good. I love GB & D.
Me too! GBD rules! lol
Nothing better than homemade french fries!
Next time I make my homemade fries I will use this method especially adding the baking soda to the water, who knew?! Thanks for the great tip.
I make homemade fries all the time and never knew this about adding baking soda. Thanks for the great ttip.
Oops sorry for adding 2 comments. My cat walked across the keyboard and I thought she erased my first comment
hahahahaha! Sounds like our cats are A LOT alike!
I’ve always loved French fries and these sounds so yummy
Meat and potato lovers dream!! I love the idea of salty crispy real baked “steak fries/wedges” with the crispy skin still on full of vitamins (my mother always told me the majority of the vitamins are in the skin!) and I love olive oil and sausage; I’m afraid I am
accustomed to using much less oil and a vegan version of the sausage so there is likely less meat fat to crisp it up. I would cook this for someone else!
Definitely going to try the baking soda trick!
Yay! So happy it was helpful!