Ultimate recipe for crispy, fresh, air fryer homemade curly fries is right here. Made with fresh spiralized potatoes, these will be the perfect side dish for the french fry lovers in your house!
An air fryer is a great tool to get ultra crispy chicken parm, crispy dill pickle chicken, and even whole chickens!
Air fryer french fries can come in many forms. You can use your air fryer to re heat leftover restaurant fries, you can cook frozen fries in it, or you can make fresh french fries.
Here, I show you how to make the ultimate crispy homemade curly fries in your air fryer. These come out so much like shoestring fries!
Which potato to use?
For fries, I always default to Russet (sometimes called baking) potatoes. Russets are high starch and low moisture and give the best crispiness.
Try not to use waxy potatoes such as red, fingerling, and white potatoes.
How to get curly fries?!
To make curly fries from fresh potatoes, you will first need to spiralize your potatoes.
Potatoes are one of the easiest veggies to spiralize too!
Which Spiralizer is best?
I have tried all sorts of spiralizers and every single time, the Inspiralizer is the winner.
You can see my whole comparison of spiralizers in this post --> Which Spiralizer to buy.
The Ultimate Secret to Crispy Homemade Fries
Do not skip this step. This is what makes your fries crispy and not just a pile of soggy potato.
Once you spiralize your potatoes, soak them in COLD water for at least an hour. Then dry them!
Then they are ready to load into the air fryer!
Cooking tips for air fryer curly fries:
- You don't want to pile these too high, but you don't need to have a single layer. For ultimate crispiness you want to make sure the air can circulate around the fries well. Depending on your air fryer capacity, you may need to do multiple batches.
- You want to use tongs and toss them a few times while they cook - this is because you probably won't have a single layer, and you want to expose the taters to the air as best you can.
- Cook time may vary a bit depending on the type of air fryer you have. I have the Instant Vortex and the cook time is what I do in this oven style fryer.
Seasoning Ideas for your curly fries
While these are delicious with just salt and pepper, you may want to get a bit fancier with your fry seasonings. Try:
- Seasoning salt
- Parmesan
- Paprika + garlic powder
- Ranch seasoning
- Fresh dill
- Cajun seasoning
- Dipped in this healthy ranch dressing!
If you make these homemade crispy curly fries, tag me, @mealplanaddict on Instagram!
Recipe
Air Fryer Homemade Crispy Curly Fries
Ingredients
- 1 lb russet potato(s)
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- to taste salt and pepper
Instructions
Prep Instructions
- Spiralize each potato. Use kitchen shears or scissors to cut the potato "noodles" into shorter pieces. This doesn't need to be precise. This just prevents you from having one incredibly long fry!
- Transfer the potato to a large bowl. Fill with cold water and let sit for an hour. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
- Drain the water and dry the potatoes on clean tea towels or paper towels. If you don't remove the excess moisture, they fries will not crisp up.
- Toss the now mostly dry potatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper. See the main blog post for additional seasoning inspiration!
Air Fryer Instructions
- Pre heat your air fryer to 375°F.
- Add the spiralized potatoes to the basket or trays (depending on your model)
- Set the time to 20 minutes. Give the basket or trays a shake at 10 minutes. If you are using the tray style, swap the trays at 10 minutes as well.
- At 20 minutes, check the crispiness of your curly fries. You may want to add a few more minutes, but at this point keep a close eye. Since these fries are so thin, they could quickly burn.
- Serve right away while they are still warm and ultra crispy!
Lori P says
Hi there! I’m wondering what size spiralizer blade you use. Thanks!
Jim K says
The recipe worked great. The potatoes came out crispy. I cut back on the oil and used some spray before and after I put the potatoes in the air fryer
Jim K says
The recipe worked great. The potatoes came out crispy. I cut back on the oil and used some spray before and after I put the potatoes in the air fryer. This was my first and only post
Lorette Vetusi says
Hi, I just discovered your website and just bought an Instant Vortex air fryer. I also happen to already own an Inspiralizer. I tried making curly fries with both yesterday, and the fries were way too thin. Can you please tell me which blade you used to make them? TIA!
Mary E. says
These were a great success, and we were pleased with the results. We refrigerated leftover raw spiralized potatoes submerged in water and covered with plastic wrap and a plate for a couple days and they cooked up just as fresh as the first time. (after drying them, or course!) Thanks so much for your recipe! It helped us learn how to make curly fries in our air fryer.