Why It Works

• A simple slurry of cornstarch and water creates an even, cohesive coating that dries and crisps in the air fryer, without the chalky texture of dry starch or the need for parboiling the fries before cooking.
• Cooking the fries in a single, uncrowded layer allows hot air to circulate freely, so moisture can escape and each fry browns evenly instead of turning limp.

If restaurants priced menu items based on how much of a pain they are to make at home, fries would be somewhere between prime rib and caviar service. I love a good fry—but that love fades fast when I’m staring down a Dutch oven full of oil, a spider strainer, and the knowledge that my kitchen is about to smell like a boardwalk for the next 36 hours.

And yet, there are nights when a steak, a grilled cheese, or a sloppy diner-style smash burger really does want a pile of fries next to it. Not roasted potatoes. Not wedges. Fries. A bag of frozen, pre-cut fries might seem like the obvious answer, but they’re never quite the same as freshly cut. That’s where the air-fryer evangelists come in—and, for once, I’m not here to talk them down.

Setting Expectations

I want to be clear and upfront that these are not a stand-in for deep-fried french fries. I would never make that claim, and neither should you. Our rigorously tested, real-deal deep-fried fries—the soaked, blanched, twice-fried gold standard—are absolutely worth the time and effort when fries are the event. This recipe is for when fries are the supporting actor, not the star. But that doesn’t mean air-fryer french fries need to feel like a concession of defeat. They’re perfect for when you want something quick, crispy outside, fluffy inside, and definitely good enough to make dinner feel complete without committing to a whole production. To get there, I had to rethink what actually makes a fry work.

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What Makes a French Fry Work

A perfect french fry is a study in contrast: a crisp, browned exterior that shatters lightly when you bite into it, giving way to a fluffy, steaming interior. In deep frying, that contrast is achieved through a careful balance of moisture loss, starch gelatinization, and fat uptake. Soaking or boiling the cut potatoes removes excess surface starch, so the fries don’t glue together, while hot oil does the heavy lifting for browning and crisping.

But air fryers don’t give us a vat of oil to work with. They give us circulating hot air and a thin film of fat at best. Which means many air-fryer fry recipes fail in predictable ways, yielding limp, leathery sticks that taste like roasted potatoes in disguise, or dry, hollow fries that look promising but collapse on contact.

After testing my way through those exact outcomes, my goal became clear: engineer crispness on the outside without sabotaging the inside. And I needed those results without sacrificing the speed of the air fryer: No soaking potatoes for hours. No parboiling in a pot of water. If I was already skipping the deep fryer, I wasn’t about to replace it with another pot.

The Cornstarch Slurry Solution

While deep-fried fries benefit from less exterior starch, air-fried fries actually need a little help. Without enough surface starch, there’s nothing to set, brown, and crisp. The trick is applying it intentionally.

One solution is to create that starch from the potato itself, which is the core idea behind our former culinary director Kenji’s five-star roast potatoes: parboiling potatoes in alkaline water to break down their outer layer, then roughing them up by tossing them in a bowl so they shed starch that later sets into a crisp, craggy shell in the oven. That same principle appears in our former senior culinary editor Sasha Marx’s baked potato wedge recipe, which calls fora gentler parboil to soften the exterior of larger pieces, skips the aggressive toss, and instead uses a fork to expose surface starches on each wedge while keeping their centers intact.

However, I ran into problems with both of these techniques when using them for air-fryer fries. Aggressively tossing parboiled sticks to release starch caused them to break apart almost immediately, while scraping each fry individually to expose surface starch was, frankly, laughably time-consuming. On top of that, both methods still require a pot of water, draining, and extra handling—none of which felt especially well-suited to a recipe meant to be quick and streamlined.

For this recipe, I went the opposite direction. Instead of coaxing starch out of the potato, I add just the right amount to the outside—and I do it quickly using cornstarch. But instead of tossing raw potatoes in dry cornstarch—which coats unevenly, tastes chalky, and browns unpredictably—I use a quick cornstarch slurry, a technique recipe developer Amanda Luchtel uses in her oven-fried sweet potato recipe. By briefly cooking cornstarch with water, you pre-gelatinize the starch, turning it into a thin, cohesive paste. That paste clings evenly to the fries, dries quickly in the air fryer, and forms a delicate shell that crisps well. For speed and efficiency, both Luchtel and I use the microwave to cook the slurry in a bowl that’s large enough to toss the fries in after the slurry is ready. The slurry gives you precise control over the starch layer, skips boiling altogether, and lets you move from cutting board to air fryer in minutes.

Instead of the quarts of oil required for deep-frying, this recipe calls for applying just enough oil to help conduct heat, so you get browning without greasiness or scorching. For an even application of oil to the air-fryer basket and the fries, I use cooking spray—I prefer olive oil spray for its flavor.

Are these fries indistinguishable from their deep-fried cousins? No. But they’re not pretending to be. They’re quick, practical, and genuinely satisfying. For a side dish that normally demands a vat of oil and a deep tolerance for mess, turning out genuinely good air-fryer french fries with this little effort feels pretty impressive.

Keep Screen Awake

1 1/2 pounds (680 g) russet potatoes, peeled

3/4 cup (180 ml) water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Kosher salt

Olive oil cooking spray

Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick planks. Stack 3 or 4 planks and cut into 1/2-inch-thick sticks; repeat with remaining planks.

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In a large microwave-safe bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch, making sure no lumps of cornstarch remain on bottom of bowl. Microwave on high power, stirring every 20 seconds, until mixture begins to thicken, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and continue to stir until mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency. (If necessary, add up to 2 tablespoons water to achieve correct consistency.) Add cut potatoes and gently toss until each is evenly coated.

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Preheat 6-quart air fryer at 375°F (190°C) for 3 minutes. Liberally spray air-fryer basket with cooking spray. Transfer fries to preheated air-fryer basket, arranging them in a single layer with space between each one. Spray prepared fries liberally with cooking spray. If needed, cook in multiple batches to avoid overcrowding the basket. (Some cornstarch mixture will remain in bowl.) Cook for 8 minutes. Gently flip fries, then spray again liberally with cooking spray, and continue to cook until browned and crisp outside and tender inside, 6 to 12 minutes.

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Transfer to a serving plate and liberally season with salt. Serve immediately.

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Special Equipment

Large microwave-safe bowl, 6-quart air fryer

Make-Ahead and Storage

These fries are best eaten right away, but leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days. Recrisp in the air fryer before serving.