My frozen fries turned into a smoky disaster last Tuesday

I was making dinner at home and decided to air fry a bag of frozen french fries. I set it to 400 degrees like I always do. About five minutes in, I started to smell something burning. I opened the air fryer and a huge cloud of smoke came out. The fries were stuck together in one big frozen clump at the bottom, and they were starting to char. I realized I hadn't shaken the bag to break them apart before dumping them in. I turned off the fryer, pulled out the basket, and had to carefully separate the half-frozen, half-burned fries with tongs. I put them back in a single layer and finished cooking them, but they were a bit soggy in the middle. Has anyone found a good trick to keep frozen fries from clumping up like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin_foster13mo ago

My frozen sweet potato fries did that exact thing last week. That smoky smell is the worst.

nathan8513mo ago

Try running them under cold water for a second first.

the_miles2mo ago

Cold water just makes them steam and get even soggier, not crispy. That smoky smell is the oil burning off because the fries are too wet going into the oven, nathan851. Best way to avoid it is to toss them in a little cornstarch first and skip any rinsing at all. Robin_foster1 ended up with that same problem because the extra moisture cooked off wrong.