Pro Chefs Blind Taste Test Every Bag of Frozen French Fries | The Taste Panel | Epicurious

Chefs Jess Tom, Madison Cowan, and Jack Logue are used to serving fine cuisine; however, today on Epicurious we’ve asked them to give us their unfiltered, honest reviews of some prominent frozen fries found on supermarket shelves. Which fries pack the most bang for your budget, and which should you avoid at all costs?

00:00 Intro
00:11 Ore-Ida Golden Fries
01:49 Trader Joe’s Handsome Cut
02:58 McCain Quick Cook Straight Cut
04:14 365 Steak Fries
06:00 Red Robin Steak Fries
07:28 McCain 5 Minute Shoestring Fries
08:20 Lamb Weston Shoestring Fries
10:24 Nathan’s Jumbo Crinkle Cut
12:17 Alexia Organic Oven Crinkles
13:38 Ore-Ida Microwavable Crinkles
14:55 Great Value Waffle Cut
16:05 Lamb Weston Waffle Fries
17:00 Arby’s Curly Fries
19:02 Checkers Rally’s Seasoned Fries
20:12 McCain Craft Beer Battered Potatoes
20:16 365 Crinkle Cut Sweet Potato Fries
22:47 Alexia Sweet Potato Fries
23:36 The Verdict

Director: Jeffrey Kornberg
Director of Photography: Eric Brouse
Editor: Kristopher Knight
Talent: Jess Tom; Jack Logue; Madison Cowan
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Creative Producer: Tyrice Hester
Culinary Producer: Mallary Santucci
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Amy Haskour
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Casting Producer: Nicole Ford
Camera Operator: Miguel Zamora
Audio Engineer: Rebecca O’Neill
Culinary Assistant: Biba Clark; Tony Ortiz
Researcher: Ryan Harrington
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Designer: Lea Kichler

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we’ve gathered three professional chefs to blind taste test every frozen french fry brand we could get our hands on and see which ones meet their [Music] standards all Ida golden fries these ones look a little thicker than what you typically see in a fast food joint it’s not that yellowish tent that you usually have with frozen french fries they’re a little bit softer not super crispy so what I’m looking for in a french fry is a crisp outside a crisp outside helps balance a nice pillowy potato inside I want a french fry to have a rigid structure meaning that it won’t droop when you pick it up I’m looking for fries to have a golden color shows that the fries have been caramelized and cooked at the proper temperature and at the end of the day it’s got to have real potato flavor you taste potato but honestly almost too much so but it is seasoned well there’s no crispiness to this and unfortunately there’s no caramelization in the flavor they are a little bendy ideally you want like a little bit of a snap just kind of mush in there no steam which means that the interior is probably a little bit too wet maybe the crust wasn’t set as well as it could have been when these fries were manufactured they’re actually a little bit dry because of that all you’re getting is that dry potato inside and none of that crispy coating is this a McCain’s mes I think this is an orida standard orida classic golden potato fry these things are OD as I am orida is a combination of Oregon and Idaho it says here there’s a Nat in these you would think that they would be a little bit more yellow because of the anad so that means that these really weren’t cooked at a very hot temperature these are made with grade A potatoes right grade A is the best and means that it has the least blemishes and bruises it means it’s consistent in size overall I think I’m pretty happy with these fries and I think it really sets the tone for all of the other fries to come Trader Joe’s handsome cup potato fries these are a bit more anemic looking but we do see skin that will add to both the flavor as well as some of the nutrients in the potatoes it has good potato flavor it has good seasoning but I would say it’s pretty soft to me I’m getting more of like a hash brown Vibe it bends before it breaks there’s no sound there’s no crunch to it I personally like the orida ones better because I thought the crust was a little thicker it was a more caramelized it was more golden it tastes like a rustic potato and that probably has a lot to do with the skin being left on in the bites of the skin you almost get that juicy slightly acidic nature of a potato skim which I think compliments the saltier inside potato skins actually have a ton of nutrition they have a ton of vitamins and minerals and fiber and so there is a nutritional benefit to keeping the skins on your potato fry maybe it’s sort of like a more natural brand like uh Alexia Trader Joe’s handsome cut potato fries I guess they’re cut by Hands by a very good-looking person there’s a little bit of an irony with it as these are not evenly cut in any way I think if they had a little bit more color that would go a long way mcain quick cook straight C french fried potatoes this is a proper french fry right they’re straight they’re a nice thickness it’s got a proper golden yellowish tent to it more structure and rigidity than the last two this is better for me this potato flavor through and through finally there was a little bit of that crunch considering that they’re not super crispy that actually has really great structure it’s a good crust it’s a good potato flavor they’re maybe not quite as salty as I would like I think so far these are my favorite straight cut fries I’m probably going to say McCain is this McCain’s McCain classic cut YY I was right McCain’s quick cook straight cut french Fri very interesting so these are made in half the time and it says you don’t have to flip them and if that is the case they are even in color on all sides so it is pretty impressive that they’re able to do that normally you you would flip the French fry in the oven because you want even cooking fries are usually parcook typically in a two fry process there’s the first fry which sort of cooks it through and then the second fry to crisp it up quick cook fries are par cooked even further along so there’s less for you to do at home if you can have better fries in half the time like why wouldn’t you do that 365 by Whole Foods Market steak C fries they’re very very yellow not really a caramelized color though that’s pretty characteristic of a steak fry they are so thick and they have more moisture because there’s more potato in there hm I think I need some water with that it’s more of a baked potato flavor in the sense that it’s just dry potato more than a bit actually choke a dony these are definitely under seasoned I actually wonder if these are low sodium fries there’s not really any crunchy exterior all of the moisture in the potato is sogging up any crust that would ever form on this fry the fluffiness factor is pretty good and that’s something that steak fries definitely have going for them because they are cut so thick they do have a lot of potato starch potato starch when it comes into contact with water and heat they swell and expand and they release Steam and that releasing of steam creates the fluffiness inside the French fry the coloring of the Interior it’s not really as white as I would expect it it might not be it from an Idaho Potato and it’s not really as puffy as an Idaho Potato typically would be ah oh man Whole Foods organic steak cut fries no salt at I would really love it if Whole Foods made things that were healthy and delicious at the same time it doesn’t say what kind of potato it is possible that these are actually a more waxy potato which would contribute to some of the color and the flavor that we were tasting these fries are organic I can’t honestly say organic or not organic really has any bearing on the flavor at all it can canote put more care into our ingredients and our into our preparation but that’s not always the case Red Robin seasoned steak fries structure we’re very much there wow why couldn’t have had these before they’re big they have a lot of potato Mass they have a lot of moisture but in contrast to the other steak fries that we had still does have that crust not to the touch but they actually crunch in your mouth and a lot fluffier I’m not so sure that it’s natural to the potato I think there is some sort of boosting starch in there pepper paprika maybe a touch of cayenne maybe a touch of chili powder your your tongue and your brain and your your mouth and your palette are going in a lot of different directions you can kind of be fooled into thinking that it’s more golden than it really is I do think that there is some nice caramelization on this fry the interior is perfectly cooked pillowy soft and you can snap it open like this no floppiness I wonder if this comes from a restaurant that this is their signature seasoning Sonic Red Robin but I’m not sure I’m going to say these are Red Robin steak fries woo red Red Robin I’m really proud of myself a place like Red Robin is going to get all of the french fries shipped to them Frozen from corporate being frozen actually is a good thing for the French fry the freezing process will also maintain that french fry so if you did everything at the peak of the potatoes life then it will stay at that Peak life up until you fry it overall I really like these fries I think the flavor is very particular so you kind of have to be in the mood for this certain fry M 5 minute fries Sho string cut potatoes they’re thin cut some of these fries look to be a little wrinkled I’m not getting a ton of potato flavor just because they’re so thin there’s something kind of missing for me no added flavor from you know that caramelization I would write the crispiness of these very inconsistent the thinner you cut a french fry the crispier it becomes I don’t know what happened here it’s definitely drooping I think these might be or Sho string or or fast food fries McCain’s 5 minute fries I think they would actually benefit from a bit more cooking we noticed with the quick cook fry there was a really even coating and an even coloring on all of them so they do have a difference between the coating that they have on those quick cooked fries and the regular fries when I think of a Sho string french fry I’m thinking of something crispy something golden and something flavorful these I can’t even get past one lamb Western grown in Idaho super crispy Sho string fries this looks a lot better skin on potatoes once again we can see that there’s a texture on them almost as if there was a some sort of batter it takes a bit for me to like break that and I actually trained this morning so they have a nicer color but I’m not really convinced that it’s from the frying I think it might be from this batter on the outside very tasty french fry skin on potato just has so much more flavor in a wood crispy compared to the crispiness of the previous sh string fries these are significantly crispier batter really helps with that crispiness and ends up giving a much more enjoyable mouth feel tossed in some sort of corn starch to give it bulk and extra crunch Factor when the fries are tossed in any sort of starch like this you’re going to get extra surface area increases the level of fried caramelized Parts on the fry overall structure is maintained throughout they have a nice snap they have a nice crust the outside doesn’t add these competing flavors it’s you’re still getting the potato flavor ah lamb Weston lamb Weston grown in Idaho super crispy sh string fries we use lamb Weston for our preferred fries at the restaurant so it’s a great fry to start with made with 100% real Idaho potatoes you could say the best potatoes for french fries are Idaho or red potatoes and that’s because it’s high starch when the starch comes in contact with water and heat it’s going to expand and soften and create that soft fluffy interior rusted potatoes are also low moisture and you want that because moisture is the enemy of of crispness and then last rusted potatoes are low sugar when sugar is cooked it can over caramelize and you can get some sort of bitter acrid flavors so you want a potato that is low in sugar so you don’t get that over caramelization Idaho has a sort of a unique soil it has a lot of a volcanic ash in their soil uh which really helps for the you know flavoring of potatoes it’s a much more Savory potato it’s a much drier potato it doesn’t have much of that sweetness and that’s really helpful for making a proper french fry Nathan’s Famous jumbo crinkle cut french fries so we have our first crinkle cut fry but I can’t say the look of these is very appealing you don’t really want this black color on your fries so this is either part of the natural process of how these are made or these were cooked at a much higher temperature or there’s a little bit more sugar content in these fries even though it does look really crisp on the outside they’re actually pretty soft and Squishy that’s offensive it’s hard to call them tasty doesn’t have a lot of flavor to it so the whole point of a crinkle cut fry is that you get more surface area for that golden caramelization but that’s not the case when the crust is not crispy look that that’s like an accordion a FR like this because it’s so thick and thick cut the potato itself is going to maintain a lot of the structure I’m seeing a lot of caramelization a lot of color I mean a little bit of too much color in some instances really more about an inconsistency between the potatoes in the batch and also with The Ridges getting cooked before the actual interior of the potato I think the problem is that there is so much moisture in this potato you’re not getting that fluffiness it’s very dense I’m go with Nathan’s crinkle cut fries oh my gosh Nathan Nathan a crinkle fry should have excellent caramelization it should be extra crisp because of that extra texture and unfortunately these Nathan’s fries are just not delivering on those pretty straightforward potatoes vegetable oil there’s a little bit of sugar in there at some point it actually says 0 g trans fat and trans fats are very very unhealthy fats for you they lower your good cholesterol and they raise your bad cholesterol a lot of fries will Market that they have zero trans fats and that just means that they’re no longer using oil that has trans fats I have great childhood memories from Nathan’s and unfortunately these fries just didn’t live up to them stick with a hot dogs man Alexia organic oven crinkles immediately I can see that they are cooked more evenly almost white in color they actually look crispier tasty but it doesn’t quite hit with the potato flavor it’s got a flavor but I can’t tell you what it is on the outside they feel crispy but then you can almost just mash it in your fingers like that the crinkles do add extra surface area which I definitely appreciate the golden color is a bit inconsistent opaque looking and spars caramelized and other spots but not enough to make up for any flavor aspects of it it’s fluffier than the Nathan’s ones for sure a pillowy softness a little sweetness in there a touch a salt so these aren’t completely unseasoned but not not much if any I’m going to say Alexia one of these has got to be Alexia so yes Alexia I was right oven crinkles with sea salt concentrated apple juice you know we did notice that there was a little bit of a sweetness to it maybe the apple juice had something to do with that funky flavor that it had I don’t I don’t know and I think these are a lot better than the Nathan’s fries I don’t attribute that to them being organic or to having sea salt sea salt is still salt they say that they use sea salt because it’s perceived to be a higher end ingredient love the idea of a crinkle cut but if you’re looking for extra surface area then I think there are different cuts of french fries that would serve that purpose better or either microwavable extra crispy crinkles they look better than the last two we have two completely different colors in the same batch there’s kind of an odd taste in these I think it’s a little underseasoned and there’s something like a little funky about the potato that I can’t quite put my finger on the potato inside is light enough it almost dissolves in your mouth oh want to put it like this but it’s not very good I know you want dry for a fluffy fry but this is kind of Wick the moisture out of your mouth type of dry caramelization it’s there but not much else I would hope for more crispiness especially from a crinkle cut fry you do see the sort of vend back and forth like a spring almost orid easy fries extra crispy crinkles it seems that these were cooked in the microwave I would just hope that you have a little bit more than 4 minutes or 5 minutes and just get a better french fries whenever you want to crisp something you never use the microwave Foods in the microwave tend to get soggy when you trap the fries in this container fries are going to release Steam and then the steam is going to sogg the fries and soften that crust noting that they were cooked in the microwave I’ll say that they’re not as terrible of a product as I would have assumed I guess I guess I’m impressed Great Value waffle cut french fried potatoes one thing that I love about Waffle fries is you can get them really really crispy but then still taste the potato inside I’m getting kind of an undercooked potato flavor know if I’d even call them a fry at this point it’s just kind of like a waffle potato and that’s not very appetizing these really aren’t that crisp at all no caramelization either not blanched long enough and definitely not fried long enough at the end a french fry shouldn’t be able to wave in the wind like this it also feels like extra greasy to me so the way we get the waffle shape is first we start with our mandolin and we’re going to make two cuts The First Cut is going to be straight down and next cut oh 90° go straight down again as you can see that our first cut we only had ridges on the one side and our second one has a beautiful waffle shape oh great value a Walmart brand ingredients include potatoes notice that they’re a product of Belgium which means that the potato is probably not a Russ it I do know that they’re typically a little bit more waxy in their potato with the waffle fry that we cut from an Idaho Potato it’s a lot more white than these ones that are cut from a Belgian potato in a french fried we typically want to go with that drier fluffier potato cuz we don’t want it to be creamy we want it to get be able to get crispy lamb Weston grown in Idaho super crispy waffle fries immediately these are a lot lot nicer they look very crispy the caramelization is definitely there it’s a really tasty fry I’m getting a hint of salt more so than any fry that we’ve had today it’s actually crunching underneath my teeth and I’m getting a fluffy proper potato flavor on the inside so that caramelization is confirmed these have a great rigid structure you see there’s no droop I me you really feel like you’re eating a potato cooked really nicely just because I like them maybe it’s like a madeen Idaho Oh yay Idaho lamb Weston super crispy waffle fries that skin on potato adds to the flavor this is what a waffle fry should be the second lamb Western product that we’ve had so far once again the flavor Reigns Supreme this one seems like pretty unadulterated there’s no extra starch on it I think that this is the best tasting fry that we’ve had so far obies seasoned curly fries I really love curly fries I feel like a little kid there looks to be loads of seasoning I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non seasoned curly fry these to me immediately look like Arby’s fries since this is so tight it’s kind of soft but you know what I don’t really care so it’ss like your Quint essential curly fry flavor it’s off the chain as far as texture you do get a little bit of a crunch Factor because of this sort of starchy seasoned out side they could be a bit more crispy and have a bit more structure you get like a little bit of potato flavor at the end but it’s mostly the taste of the seasoning onion powder garlic powder paprika this time maybe some black pepper I’m actually getting more seasoning than I am getting potato flavor but I don’t mind that that batter and that flavor tastes good whether it’s crispy or soggy honestly curly fries even taste good when they’re when they’ve lost some of their heat the color and the caramelization is spot on let’s try this one which is like the less curled one you get even more variants in here because here you have this like plush inside of the potato and then here it tapers off so it gets a little crunchy SE squiggle hybrids have stayed the crispiest by far piggy tail ones don’t really have that so much and there are so many different textures in here that is just very appealing to me I think this is Arby’s the Arby’s of my childhood let’s go with the classic Arby’s curly fries there she is yay true Nostalgia of the curly fry here I have never been into AR’s a day in my life but I would definitely buy these These are actually produced by lamb Weston they are using lamb Weston potatoes more restaurants than you probably think use frozen french fries from large suppliers and a lot of times I’ll be getting them in you know Frozen they’ll typically deep fry them in a canola oil or a neutral oil and especially for a curly fry like this with a seasoned batter the less additional flavoring the better you want the the batter that they put on there to be the one that sings the most I loved Arby’s french fries when I was a kid and and I still love them now cheze is R’s famous seasoned fries I can see every granu of spice and seasoning on these so clearly there is some sort of coating on them the better has found a you know good caramelization point and crispy Point these are tasty although they’re very very very highly seasoned black pepper and a hint of salt even though the Arby’s fries are very highly seasoned I find that a little bit more neutral and more versatile potato flavor is there but it’s really overpowered by the seasoning it does have some crispiness to it caramelization is great it has like really nice golden color structurally it looks the part but then once I actually put hands on it just it almost collapses since it has that starching coating it has that extra surface area to give it that extra crunch all those bubbles and micro ridges it’s possibly Checker’s french fries it’s like trying to be something fancy or something Checker’s rall famous seasoned fries okay it’s not not a super fancy brand listen the black pepper and the salt they work with the french fries maybe you should just call them black pepper and salt I’m a fan of seasoned fries but I think these are just like a little bit too much for me McCain craft beer battered potatoes these are probably the best looking Sho straing french fries of the lot that takes a bit of doing that’s crispy best shoe string french fry of the day that was a nice Crispy Crunchy bite you still get the potato on the inside but you get the crisp and the and the crunch from the outside potato flavor through and through caramelization is decent but it it it is kind of irregular which leads me to believe that there’s something different about these fries some sort of batter it say it’s either Ora or McCain’s again but I really don’t know McCain’s craft beer battered potatoes okay so that explains a lot I don’t get the beer battered flavor but um they are good when you put beer in any sort of batter that you deep fry what you’re doing is you’re adding flavor and then you’re also adding lightness cuz it is carbonated and those air bubbles are going to add lightness to the batter and now that I know that it’s a beer battered fry it’s easier for me to accept that it’s something different mcain all right you kind of redeemed yourself for the last time not bad at all not bad 365 by Whole Foods Market crinkle cut sweet potato fries when you crack through them they’re so wet it’s almost like a sweet potato pie in there okay so these are unseasoned sweet potato fries not the most doesn’t bite a food I’ve had it all day for sure tastes like a baked sweet potato it’s very very very soft I mean look how it smooshes under my fingers like this even though it’s cooked to Mush still has some tooth to it so there’s almost a raw sweet potato flavor there’s a high sugar content obviously but not much texture at all sweet potatoes are very difficult to make into the proper fry they also have a higher water content that’s also going to make it difficult to fry up I mean you get a slight bit of crust here especially towards the end crinkle cut will add that texture and rigidity but this just it’s it’s not there there is like a little bit of golden color but I just think that the sweet potato is just way too moist the sweetness of the sweet potato definitely comes through and then if that’s what you’re going for you definitely get that healthier feel that healthier taste if some salt was used it would come through even more I wonder if this is also like a great value or something like that okay T Foods 365 crinkle Cuts sweet potato fries and we have a consistency with the Whole Foods Brands were’re both uh very unseasoned corn starch rice flour so they’re coated that’s a bit deceiving because you would think for a battered french fry they have a lot more texture in cane sugar it’s interesting that they’re adding even more sweetness to the sweet potato it does have a very good wholesome sweet potato flavor but that’s just not what you’re looking for in a sweet potato fry Alexia sweet potato fries structurally they’re a bit more sound you could see that they’re dry they’re just not very golden these definitely get a lot closer I think they have good fried sweet potato flavor you know there’s a hint of salt and maybe with a bit more that would counteract the sweetness and you know those two sweet anded salty going together at once there is a little bit of a crust the inside is nice and fluffy it’s not sogging I think you have to grade sweet potato fries and a slightly different rubric just because they’re totally different plants and they’re going to react totally different when they’re fried Alexia okay it says it has a hint of sea salt and they actually say sweet and savory and it’s certainly not Savory at all honestly it says to bake for only 10 to 12 minutes at 4:25 I think you really need to double that they’re not nearly baked enough let’s see which products our chefs like the most and the least the winners of today for me were the two fries made by grown in Idaho a really good showcase for everything that Idaho has to offer I think both of the Lamb Weston products really stood out from a flavor standpoint crunchy exterior so really quality potato there as well for me Red Robin was number one my absolute favorite they were flavorful they were a good size good cut the seasoning was spot on my other favorite were the Arby’s curly fries they were very potatoey they were highly seasoned every flavor just stood out it’s what a seasoned french fry should be I really didn’t care for the 365 steak cut fry there was no seasoning on it really light and color no texture the Nathan they were they were really disappointing no crisp no texture no flavor I really didn’t care for either of the sweet potato fries I thought that they were underseasoned and definitely didn’t hold up to the cooking at the end of the day french fries at home are sort of tricky there’s uh tons of great options out there you just got to find your favorites and stick to them [Music]