Recipe This | Frozen French Fries In The Air Fryer (2024)

If you love French fries/chips, then you must try frozen French fries in the air fryer. They are so delicious and easy to make crispy, plus you can also use the air fryer to reheat leftover fries too.

You can mix and match with different frozen French fries brands – but I have to say that my two favourite are M&S and McCains.

Air Frying Frozen French Fries

The first food we ever cooked in the air fryer (way back in 2012) was air fryer frozen chicken strips. They were the delicious, breaded ones that many would call chicken goujons or chicken dippers. We cooked them first because, we wanted to see if the air fryer adverts were really true and if it would really crisp up food without or hardly with, any oil.

These chicken strips were delicious and our number 2 taste test, came in the form of air frying frozen French fries.

They were so good and we have cooked many frozen fries in the air fryer, though you can always taste the difference if you use a brand like McCains or M&S.

Today, we wanted to share with you how to cook frozen fries in air fryer, how long to air fry frozen French fries, and how to get the fries extra crispy.

Can You Air Fry Frozen French Fries?

I know you are probably wondering; can you cook frozen French fries in an air fryer? Well, the answer is a massiveYES.

Air fryer fries frozenis one of the best things that you can cook in the air fryer. You can dump them in, there is no prep, they come out like crispy fries you have got from takeout, and you wonder why something with little oil, can taste so good.

Which Frozen French Fries In The Air Fryer Are BEST?

The best frozen French fries for air fryer, in our opinion from trying many different ones, is McCains.

McCains French fries in air fryer just taste so good. They also don’t need much extra oil added to them to go crispy and you can always taste the difference and think to yourself that these are McCains.

You can also cut down on the cook time with McCains too. For example, McCain 5 minute fries in air fryer, are already cooked fries and then you are using the air fryer to reheat them. Giving you frozen fries to dinner plate in JUST 5 minutes. You also use McCain shoestring fries or even frozen steak fries in air fryer.

But note, with these different types of air fryer frozen French fries they are all different, which means the time and temperature will vary depending on which ones you cook.

Best Way To Air Fry Frozen French Fries

Cooking frozen French fries in an air fryer, is easy, but there are a few things to consider to make the best French fries and to avoid soggy fries, or even overcooked fries.

Here are my frozen French fries air fryer top tips:

• Never cook frozen fries at 200c/400f for the duration. I get so many complaints from air fryer newbies telling me they followed a frozen fries recipe online and it called for 400f and their fries are terrible. This is way too hot for frozen fries and is only meant for finishing the food like a grill does and not for the whole cooking experience. Instead start at 160c/320f and increase the temperature just before the end to crisp them up.
• Spray just before the end of cooking. Even though when you use frozen fries they already come will oil, you want that little bit of oil on the top to crisp them up.
• Salt at the end. We found that with frozen fries brands wanting to go healthier. That a lot less salt is used. Then as they cook some of the salt also disappears. Add salt at the end before serving.
• Thickness of the frozen fries matter. Thick steak fries will take the longest and quick cooking French fries will be the fastest. Start your cook time at 5 minutes if in doubt and then keep checking on your fries.
• Cheesy Fries are fantastic. Two minutes before your frozen fries are done add grated cheese and then finish the cook time. You will have perfect air fryer cheesy fries.

Ninja Foodi Frozen French Fries

Many times we have cooked frozen air fryer French fries using the Ninja Foodi and also have a separate recipe post for Ninja Foodi fries.

You simply use the air fryer basket along with the air fryer button to transform the Ninja Foodi into your air fryer, then follow the recipe below.

Ninja Air Fryer French Fries Frozen

If you’re doing frozen French fries in Ninja air fryer, then note, it’s the same method but if you have a dual, we recommend spreading the fries between the two drawers.

This is because frozen fries in the air fryer, don’t cook as well if they are overcrowded. And because a dual basket is much smaller than a standard air fryer basket, you want to add less food, otherwise the air fryer drawer will be fuller, and wont cook and be as crispy as it should be.

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Frozen French Fries Air Fryer Ingredients

Fries – You can use any of your favourite frozen air fryer fries, we used M&S frozen French fries, though we also often use McCain straight cut fries too.

Oil – Air frying frozen fries often starts a debate over whether or not you should add oil. Because many brands of frozen fries already have oil included. I personally think a little extra virgin olive oil spray, towards the end of cooking, is brilliant for making the fries extra crispy.

Can You Recommend An Air Fryer?

I often get asked which air fryers I recommend and which one I use. In 95% of our air fryer recipes, we use either the Philips Air Fryer XL or the Cosori XL because they are the best ones, we have found out of many air fryers we have tried over the years. You can click on the links above and read up on them.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our air fryer recipes category as we have more than 500 tried and tested everyday air fryer recipes and have been air frying for 10+ years.

How To Cook Frozen Fries In Air Fryer?

• Load. Place your frozen fries in an air fryer. Spread them out and avoid overfilling as otherwise they will take longer to cook and wont get crispy.
• Cook. Set the temperature to 180c/360f and air fry frozen fries for 12 minutes, followed by another 8 minutes at 200c/400f.
• Oil. If you want to add oil spray to the air fried frozen fries we recommend between the 12th minute cook and the 8th minute.

How Long To Air Fry Frozen French Fries?

The frozen fries in air fryer time is 20 minutes. This is based on typical frozen French fries, so you will need to adjust for shoestring fries or for steak fries. We recommend using your own judgement, checking on them and following our frozen fries air fryer tips.

Listen To Air Fryer Frozen French Fries

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What Temp To Air Fry Frozen French Fries?

For cooking frozen fries in air fryer, start with 180c/360f and then increase the temperature to 200c/400f for the final few minutes. This will give you perfectly cooked fries and also the last few minutes will give them an amazing crisp.

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We originally shared with how to cook frozen French fries in air fryer back in 2018. We have updated it a few times for you, and this time was an excuse to enjoy some fries!

Learn How To Cook Frozen French Fries In An Air Fryer below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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