Learn how to make McDonald’s classic French Fry recipe at home! (And exactly how the restaurant does it!) These fries are golden and crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside!
There are few secret steps to this recipe: Learn how and why you soak French Fries in a cold brine of sugar water before you double fry them.
You might wonder why anyone would want to go through the trouble of making McDonald’s beloved French Fry recipe at home, which you can just buy some from the dollar menu.
Well, believe it or not, there are 19 ingredients in McDonald’s french fry recipe. One of which is a silicon component used to make silly putty.
(I know. I want my brain to forget that fact too.) 😑
It certainly makes a good argument for making their beloved french fries at home, doesn’t it?
But first, let’s learn a little more about what goes into their process:
What Kind of Potatoes Does McDonald’s Use For French Fries?
McDonald’s uses a variety of non-GMO Russet potatoes, (Ranger Russet, Umatilla Russet, & Russet Burbank) along with Shepody potatoes to make their French Fries.
What Kind of Oil Do They Use?
McDonald’s uses 4 different kinds of oil to make their French Fries: Soybean, hydrogenated soybean, canola and corn.
For this homemade version, we will use vegetable and/or canola oil for the first round of frying. Then we’ll add some vegetable shortening to the mix for the second round of frying.
How McDonald’s Makes Their French Fries
- The potatoes are washed and peeled by machines.
- Workers hand-cut any imperfections off the potatoes.
- The fries shoot through a tube at about 75 MPH through cutting machines.
- Optical strips look at every single fry and remove any with a fault.
- They are blanched in precisely maintained 170° water for about 15 minutes to allow for a soft interior.
- The fries are completely dried.
- They are then quickly fried for the 1st time at 400° F.
- From here, they go into a freezer at 10°F.
- Once frozen, they are shipped to restaurants.
- Once at the restaurant, they are fried for a second time, salted, and served.
Fun Fact: McDonald’s goes through 3.5 billion pounds of French Fries every year globally.
To see a video of this process, check out this 2-minute video.
How to Make McDonald’s French Fries at Home:
We don’t have quite the technology that McDonald’s has with its fancy machines, but if you’d like to save time, I recommend this french fry cutter. Of course, you can always just use a knife.
Note: See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredient amounts.
Create a brine using a combination of cold water, corn syrup, salt, and white vinegar.
Slice the potatoes into strings just under 1/2 inch thick. Drop into the brine.
Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or as long as overnight.
Drain, rise twice with cold water, then pat them completely dry.
Fry in batches at 300°F for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside on a paper towel.
They will be very soft. (This is a good thing.)
Add vegetable shortening to the oil. Increase heat to 400°F and fry again until the fries are crisp and golden brown. Remove and let drain on paper towels.
Season immediately with salt and serve!
Why Soak the Potatoes in a Cold Brine?
Soaking potatoes in cold water helps get rid of the starch, which makes them crispier. The sugar in the brine prevents them from soaking up too much oil when fried, which also makes them crisp.
Soak them for at least 2 hours, or as long as overnight. The longer you can soak them, the better. Store them in the fridge while they soak.
Why Double Fry French Fries?
Frying potatoes twice is the best way to obtain the crispiest result.
The first round of frying cooks and softens the middle of the potato, while the second round crisps up the outside.
How To Store and Reheat Leftovers
Refrigerating:
- Let any leftover fries cool completely and store them in a Freezer bag in the fridge, removing as much air from the bag as possible.
- To reheat, bake at 350° F for about 10 minutes. They reheat very well.
Freezing:
- Flash freeze them on a baking sheet or plate until solid, 1 hour or so.
- Store them in a freezer Ziploc bag in the freezer until ready to eat!
- Reheat in a preheated 350° F oven until warm and crisp, about 15 minutes or so.
Make-Ahead Method
- Soak the fries as instructed, dry them completely. Fry them in batches at 360° for 5 minutes. Place on a paper towel.
- Transfer to a plate/tray and flash freeze them for 40 minutes.
- Transfer to them to a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months.
- When ready to serve, remove them from the freezer and fry them in batches at 400° until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to paper towels and season them immediately with salt.
Tools for Making McDonald’s French Fries
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- French Fry Potato Cutter
- Deep Fryer
- Dutch oven + oil thermometer
- Slotted Spoon
- French Fry Serving Baskets (with Checkered Paper Inserts!)
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McDonald's French Fries - Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
Brine
- 8 cups cold water
- ½ cup corn syrup, (can sub 1/3 cup sugar)
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
Fries
- 6 large Russet potatoes, About 4.5 pounds
- 1 quart vegetable oil
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- Salt, for seasoning
Instructions
- Combine the brine ingredients and set aside.
- Peel and rinse that potatoes.
- Slice them into strings just under ½ inch. (A french fry potato cutter makes this easy.)
- Place them in the cold brine as you slice them. Ensure the potatoes are completely submerged. Add more cold water if needed.
- Cover and place the brine in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse them twice with cold water. Pat them completely dry.
- Preheat oil to 300 degrees. (A dutch oven and oil thermometer is very helpful.)
- Fry the potatoes in batches for about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towels. They will be very soft. (This is a good thing.)
- Add the vegetable shortening and increase the heat to 400 degrees. Fry in batches again until golden brown. (It’s hard to be patient during this part.)
- Remove and place on paper towels. Season with salt right away and serve!
Notes
How To Store and Reheat Leftovers
Refrigerating:- Let any leftover fries cool completely and store them in a Freezer bag in the fridge, removing as much air from the bag as possible.
- To reheat, bake at 350° F for about 10 minutes. They reheat very well.
- Flash freeze them on a baking sheet or plate until solid, 1 hour or so.
- Store them in a freezer Ziploc bag in the freezer until ready to eat!
- Reheat in a preheated 350° F oven until warm and crisp, about 15 minutes or so.
Make-Ahead Method
- Soak the fries as instructed, dry them completely. Fry them in batches at 360° for 5 minutes. Place on a paper towel.
- Transfer to a plate/tray and flash freeze them for 40 minutes.
- Transfer to them to a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months.
- When ready to serve, remove them from the freezer and fry them in batches at 400° until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to paper towels and season them immediately with salt.
Atlas Obscura posted a recipe for the original McDonald’s fries fried in oil that has beef tallow in them. You don’t have to use the beef tallow, but I’ve had those fries, and they’re amazing.
Your recipe looks a lot easier to do. I’m going to try them.
I can imagine that those fries were absolutely amazing! I’m excited for you to try this recipe as well, I hope you love them!! -Stephanie
what are all the ingredients in these fries?
I’m trying these today! Will they work with a Fry Daddy? It has a constant temp of about 375.
Hey Kathy! I don’t know that the double fry method would work if you can’t control the temperature, but you can try frying just once? The first frying temperature needs to be at 300 if you’re doing it twice. Maybe you could try frying it for a shorter amount of time the first time, I haven’t tested it that way though! 🙂
hi – i too have the Fry Daddy and wondered if it would work since you can’t control the temperature. I have made fries several times using the double frying method descibed and it’s worked great every time. Give it a try!
Thank you very much Robert, appreciate you weighing in on that since you’ve been successful at it! Great to hear!
Do you have any idea if the recipe will work with an air fryer and sweet potato fries?
Hi Tim, that would be a different process that wouldn’t mimic McDonald’s method at all, I haven’t tested an air fryer sweet potato fry recipe unfortunately.
Excellent recipe! Although couldn’t follow completely in Europe as we don’t have Russet available.
We don’t have vegetable shortening available so had to improvise, same thing with the oils, some of them harder to find than originals in the recipe.
Although I can’t say they reheat well, but then again I don’t like reheated fries anyway, not even the original McDonalds fries reheat well 😀
I’m happy to hear you were able to do some improvising and substitutions!😀 It can definitely be tough finding substitutions in different countries. I’m happy to hear you were able to pull it off. Thanks so much for the review!❤️
im eatting them right now
Excellent! I hope you love them!
I have an actual personal home deep fryer, I can’t add vegetable shortening to the fryer. What is the shortening for? Is it really that important? I have peanut oil in my fryer, I can do every step except the shortening. Will they turn out?
Hi Mary! You can skip the shortening, I just use that to mimic how McDonald’s does it but you can use just peanut oil and be just fine! 🙂 -Stephanie
I have the home deep fryer as well, why couldn’t you use vegetable shortening? I had no trouble with it.
Great recipe! Have made these twice now–first with a slim chip and then with a thicker cut. Worked out great. Soft and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside.
I’m so happy that this worked out well for you Rohini, nothing better than homemade French Fries, especially McDonald’s Style!
These fries are the best! This recipe gets really close and is probably the best you can do in your own home. Good job!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it!! Thanks so much for the review too, I really appreciate it! -Stephanie
Where does the vegetable shortening come in?
Hi Patty! Step #9, before the second round of frying! 🙂
Can I just dust the fries with cornstarch before the second frying?
Hi Thomas! I haven’t tried that personally BUT, it sounds like a fantastic idea as cornstarch absorbs moisture and will help make the outside extra crispy! I’d love if you wouldn’t mind sharing how it comes out! 🙂 I think you’ll love it.