Best French Fry Cutters For Air Frying + French Fry Seasoning Recipes
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If you love making your own fries, these are the best french fry cutters for air frying.
Let’s face it, air fryer fries are awesome! They are so much healthier and still taste amazing. It’s a tough combination to beat! But making successful fries from scratch isn’t always a cut-and-dry process in an air fryer.
Many people turn to frozen fries because they turn out better than homemade. But frozen fries usually have a ton of unhealthy ingredients added.
Homemade fries don’t have to be soggy or taste worse than frozen air fryer fries. On the contrary! They can be even better!
How To Cut French Fries
It’s easy to cut up a potato and get “roughly”, evenly-sized fries. But those small differences in hand-cut fries can really make a difference in an air fryer.
The first step to perfect air fryer french fries is so make sure they are all cut the same size. It might sound like a bunch of bologna, but we promise, it makes a HUGE difference!
The thing is, fries need to be cut evenly so that they cook evenly. If you have one thick french fry and one thin french fry, and you cook them at the same temperature for the same amount of time, the skinny french fry will probably be cooked or even burned, and the thick fry will either be undercooked or just plain soggy. Yuck. Nobody wants that! So uniform cutting is a critical component to making good fries. That’s one of the main reasons that frozen fries turn out so well. They are all cut to exactly the same size!
We’ll cover a few more tips for perfect air fryer french fries below. But first we want to talk about french fry cutters.
French Fry Cutters
There just is no way to get perfectly cut fries each and every time when you cut by hand. And if you do, chances are it took you a lot of time and effort to cut everything just right. And if you do that, we tip our hats to you. You’ve got mad knife skills! But honestly, part of air frying is saving time. So why waste it cutting fries?
These are the french fry cutters that get the job done each and every time. We have a higher end model that will last a lifetime, a more budget friendly stainless steel model, and a “cut everything” chopper that gives you lots of options. All three work well and will give you great fries every time.
Note that most french fry cutters under $30 will fall apart pretty quickly or not be sturdy enough to actually do the job. And if you plan on cutting sweet potatoes, you will need a very strong cutter because they are far more dense than regular potatoes.
Using French Fry Cutters
French fry cutters vary in difficult of use. The better made ones make life a little easier. They don’t require as much muscle or “elbow grease” to get the job done. But they do come with a bigger price tag. So you have to decide if this will be an investment, or just something you want for fun. In that case, we highly recommend the types of cutters that will give you great fries and some biceps too! (just kidding, they aren’t that bad!)
Sopito Professional French Fry Cutter
This is a great cutter for potatoes and other veggies or fruits. It’s quick, sharp and efficient.
Cons:
Sweet potatoes take some muscle to get through this cutter. And as with most kitchen gadgets, there seem to be some lemons out there. There are various complaints of parts not coming together properly. We have this one and have never had a problem with it, however.
AirFry Mate Stainless Steel French Fry Cutter
This cutter is a basic cutter that does the job every time. It’s not overly complicated to use with multiple parts, so cleanup is relatively easy.
Cons:
This is a somewhat smaller unit. So larger potatoes will not fit. You can solve this simply by cutting them or trimming them before putting them through the cutter.
Fullstar Slicer
This one is nice because it has so many options for what veggies you can cut and how you can cut them. It’s like a one-stop slice, dicing, french fry making shop!
Cons:
This does take a little bit of effort to use. It requires a bit of force to push things through and the blade are incredibly sharp. This is a good thing for cutting, but something you have to be very aware of if washing by hand.
How To Make Perfect Air Fryer French Fries
If you are struggling with getting perfect fries out of your air fryer, you are not alone. Learning how to properly use an air fryer can involve a little bit of a learning curve. But we’re here to help!
- Soak your fries – A major issue with potatoes is the starch content. Removing some of the starch from the potatoes will help them cook up much crispier. To do this, soak your cut, raw fries in water for 1 hour. Change the water every 20 minutes (twice in that 1 hour.). Set a timer if you need to. But this makes a big difference. Make sure to pat them dry really well before proceeding.
- Getting crispy fries – If you find that your fries still don’t get crispy on the outside, chances are you are just tossing the potatoes into the air fryer plain. The trick to getting crispy fries (after soaking them) is to give them a light dusting of starch. Cornstarch or arrowroot powder will do the trick. It shouldn’t be a heavy dusting though. Just a light coat of starch will help them get nice and crispy. Do this BEFORE you spritz them with oil. So the final result between soaking and dusting is to remove natural starch from inside the potato, and add dry starch to the outside of the potato.
- Oil your fries – Air frying is popular because of how much you can reduce the amount of oil you cook with. But that doesn’t mean that you should never use oil in an air fryer. On the contrary, a light spritz of oil can make or break your meal. That’s why we always keep an oil sprayer on hand. Just be sure to use oils with high smoke points.
- Seasoning your fries – You can sprinkle them with salt just before air frying. Spices are great if you want to season your fries, but you will need to do this AFTER you spritz them with oil. Adding spices without putting oil on your fries first will create a situation where the spices are just blowing around the air fryer instead of sticking to your fries where you want them.
- Don’t overcrowd your air fryer basket/tray – This is probably the one area where we hate air fryer advertising. Ads always show these air fryer baskets filled to the top with fries. But the reality is, you can’t do that. Fries cook best in a single layer with room between your fries for air flow. So don’t overcrowd. You can always keep the first batch warm in the oven (at 200 F.) while you cook more batches. But overcrowding leads to undercooking.
- Toss your fries – No, not in the garbage. Toss them at intervals during cooking. Tossing them in your air fry basket (or flipping them) will help them cook evenly. Most foods made in an air fryer (unless you have a paddle air fryer that moves the food around for you), will require that you flip/toss/rotate your food during the cooking process at least once.
- Storing cut fries – If you want to cut a larger number of fries and keep them on hand to air fry as needed, make sure you are storing them in water. Potatoes must be stored in water to keep them from browning. Never keep them longer than 24 hours, however. Do NOT add salt to the water and make sure the water is cold. You can even add ice to make sure it’s very cold. Ice will not hurt your potatoes. Drain well and pat them dry before air frying. Wet fries = soggy fries.
French Fry Seasoning Recipes
These three dry french fry seasoning recipes should only be used on your fries after they have been spritzed with oil. Using dry seasoning in an air fryer without oil won’t work because the circulating air will just blow the seasoning off your fries. Use these recipes lightly, and then sprinkle on a little more after cooking to reinforce the flavors and make them a bit stronger. Putting too much spice on your fries in an air fryer will just cause a mess. Seasoning your fries is a very simple, two-part process. Sprinkle on a little before, and a little after cooking. Easy!
Mexican French Fry Seasoning
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. ground cumin
- 2 tbsp. onion powder
- 2 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. salt (fine ground works best)
- 1/4 tsp. powdered sugar (or powdered Sucanat/Monk Fruit/Xylitol – just a dry sweetener)
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional for extra kick – adjust amount to your desired level of spice)
Instructions
- Combine everything in a mixing bowl and whisk together thoroughly.
- Transfer to a spice jar and store in your cabinet or pantry.
- Sprinkle over fries or popcorn as needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Curry French Fry Seasoning
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. curry powder
- 2 tbsp. garam masala
- 2 tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. salt (fine grind)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly.
- Transfer to a spice jar and store in your spice cabinet or pantry.
- Sprinkle over fries or popcorn.
Notes
Nutrition
Barbecue French Fry Seasoning
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tbsp. powdered brown sugar (or powdered Sucanat)
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. salt (fine grind)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredient together in a mixing bowl and whisk well.
- Transfer to a spice jar and store in your spice cabinet or pantry.
- Sprinkle over fries or popcorn as needed.
