Unpopular opinion: my neighbor's soggy fries made me try a new trick

I was talking to my neighbor Dave on Tuesday, and he was complaining about his air fryer fries. He said, "Mine always come out soft, like they're steamed." It hit different because I used to have the same problem. I told him to try shaking the basket twice, not just once, at the 5 and 10 minute marks. He texted me later saying it was a game changer. Has anyone else found a simple step that fixed a basic recipe?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairjackson2mo ago

What temperature do you set for your fries?

charlie_fisher451mo ago

Oh man, temperature is such a finicky thing. I was totally with @anthony127 on the sad fry struggle. My own disaster was trying to cook them from frozen at 400 like the bag said, and I ended up with these weird, half-soggy, half-charred sticks. Now I do a weird two-step thing, 380 to thaw them out a bit, then a quick blast at 400 at the very end. It's probably overkill, but it works for me.

anthony1272mo ago

Feel your pain, @blairjackson. My air fryer's manual said 400, but that left my fries pale and sad. Dropping it to 375 for a solid 20 minutes, shaking them halfway, changed everything. Now they come out with that perfect crisp outside and a soft middle, just like the good diner ones. It took a lot of burnt batches to find that sweet spot.