Russet potatoes are the best choice for french fries. Their high starch content and low moisture create the ideal combination: a crispy, golden exterior and a light, fluffy interior. If you’re outside the U.S., Maris Piper potatoes are the top pick in the UK, and Bintje is the classic choice across much of Europe.
Why Starch and Moisture Matter
The two properties that determine fry quality are starch content and moisture level. High-starch potatoes produce a light, airy interior because the starch granules swell and separate during cooking, creating that pillowy texture inside each fry. Low moisture is equally important: less water means the surface crisps up quickly and evenly instead of turning soggy. Russets check both boxes, which is why they dominate french fry production in North America.
Yukon Gold and other yellow or red potatoes contain significantly more moisture. That extra water helps them hold their shape in soups and stews, but it works against you in a fryer. The surface stays damp longer, producing fries that are dense and lack crunch. As one chef put it bluntly: “I’d never make a soup with Russets, and I wouldn’t want to make fries with yellow potatoes.”
Best Varieties for Fries
Russet Burbank is the classic american fry potato and the variety most associated with fast-food fries. It’s long, uniform, and reliably starchy. McDonald’s, which has accepted only seven potato varieties for its fries over the years, uses Russet Burbanks along with newer USDA-developed varieties like Clearwater Russet and Blazer Russet, bred specifically for better storage and disease resistance.
Kennebec is a favorite among home cooks and smaller restaurants. It has a slightly creamier texture than Russet Burbank while still being starchy enough for excellent fries. Many people consider it the best-tasting fry potato available at farmers’ markets.
Maris Piper is the go-to in the UK for fish and chips. Like Russets, it’s high in starch and low in moisture, but it strikes a slightly different balance. Maris Pipers produce a fluffy interior with a crispy shell, and they tend to hold together better than Russets, which can be slightly drier and more crumbly.
What Happens With the Wrong Potato
Choosing a waxy, low-starch potato like a red potato or fingerling doesn’t just give you mediocre fries. It gives you a fundamentally different product. The interior stays dense and waxy instead of becoming fluffy. The exterior struggles to develop a proper crust because excess moisture keeps escaping as steam, preventing the surface from getting hot enough to brown well. You end up with something closer to a fried potato wedge than a true french fry.
Why Storage Conditions Change Everything
Even the right potato can make terrible fries if it’s been stored incorrectly. When potatoes are kept below about 10°C (50°F), their starches begin converting into sugars, specifically glucose and fructose. This process is called cold-induced sweetening, and it’s a real problem for frying.
Those extra sugars react with amino acids in the potato during high-heat cooking through the Maillard reaction, the same chemical process that browns bread and sears meat. A small amount of this reaction creates golden color and good flavor. Too much produces fries that turn dark brown or nearly black, taste bitter, and develop higher levels of acrylamide, a compound linked to potential health concerns. Research from the University of Wisconsin found that Russet Burbank potatoes stored at 2°C for 124 days accumulated over 1% more reducing sugars than potatoes stored at 10°C.
For processing quality, potatoes destined for frying are typically stored at 8 to 10°C. At 9°C, potatoes maintained low, stable sugar levels and produced light-colored fries for more than five months after harvest. To keep fry color acceptable, reducing sugar content should stay below about 2.5 to 3 milligrams per gram of potato. The practical takeaway: don’t refrigerate potatoes you plan to fry. A cool, dark pantry or cellar around 50°F is ideal.
Prep Steps That Improve Any Fry
Once you’ve picked the right potato, a few preparation steps make a noticeable difference. After cutting your fries, soak them in cold water for at least 30 minutes (and up to overnight in the fridge). This rinse removes surface starch through diffusion, the natural movement of starch molecules from the potato into the surrounding water. That loose surface starch would otherwise form a gummy layer that prevents even crisping. Use cold water specifically, since hot water activates the starch and makes it harder to wash away.
Dry the fries thoroughly before they go into oil. Any remaining surface water will cause splattering and steam, which fights against the crisping you’re trying to achieve.
The Double-Fry Technique
The single biggest upgrade you can make to homemade fries is frying them twice at two different temperatures. This is how most restaurants and fast-food chains produce consistently crispy fries.
The first fry is a low-temperature blanch at about 325°F (163°C) for 5 to 7 minutes. This cooks the potato all the way through, creating that soft, fluffy interior. The fries will look pale and limp at this stage, which is exactly right. Remove them, let them cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes (or freeze them at this point for frying later), then raise the oil to 375°F (190°C) for a second fry of 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown and crunchy.
The science behind this is straightforward. The first fry gelates the starch inside and drives moisture from the surface, creating a thin dehydrated layer. The second, hotter fry rapidly crisps that dry outer layer into a shell while the already-cooked interior stays soft. A single fry at one temperature can’t accomplish both tasks well, because by the time the inside cooks through, the outside has either absorbed too much oil or hasn’t crisped evenly.
Quick Reference by Potato Type
- Russet Burbank, Kennebec, Clearwater Russet: High starch, low moisture. The best options for classic crispy fries.
- Maris Piper: High starch, low moisture. Preferred in the UK. Slightly less crumbly than Russets, with a creamier interior.
- Yukon Gold: Medium starch, higher moisture. Produces a creamier, denser fry. Works in a pinch but won’t get as crispy.
- Red, fingerling, or new potatoes: Low starch, high moisture. Not recommended for frying. Best for roasting, boiling, or soups.