French fries are a thing of beauty. Is there another food that can transform itself so elegantly once cut and fried? I didn’t think so. That crisp golden outside and fluffy interior are craveable and it’s obvious we’re all in love. Head down the freezer aisle at your local grocery store and you’ll see the shelves spilling with options. Yes, variety is good, but more isn’t always better. How do you choose? We’ve got you covered in the basic store-bought frozen French fry category. That’s right, we did the testing so that you can be an empowered (French fry) consumer.
How I Taste Tested the Frozen French Fries
I chose bags of fries that were readily available in major grocery store chains. I went with big brands and avoided generic/store-brand versions. I opted for conventional fries, bypassing organic brands. To keep things fair, I also chose fries seasoned only with salt.
All of the fries were baked in the same oven as directed on the package. They were served hot and taste-testers had no indication of brand while testing. The fries were also served plain, without ketchup or other condiments.
Sara Haas
How I Judged
Appearance was taken into consideration first. Testers were encouraged to look at the fries for golden color and overall good looks. After taking a bite, texture was assessed. The best fries had a crisp exterior, but a soft interior. Lastly, it came down to flavor. The fries needed to taste like potatoes and have enough seasoning to help that flavor shine. They had to be good enough to make us want to come back for more. We used a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst score in each category and 10 being the best. We took the results and averaged them together to provide our scores below. Here’s how the brands fared.
Frozen French Fry Taste Test Results
5th Place: Alexia House Cut Fries
Sara Haas
Score, 2/10
When I bought this bag of frozen fries, I was sure they were going to be the winner. I’ve had Alexia brand products in the past and I always enjoyed them. I guess I’d never had their House Cut Fries. Or had them alongside other fries. I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t impressed. All of my testers called these fries “bland” and one said they were tolerable, but only with a heavy dip in ketchup.
4th Place: Trader Joe’s Handsome Cut Potato Fries
Sara Haas
Score, 5/10
Handsome indeed! These potato fries are good-looking for sure. They’re straight cut, but not overly thin and we all loved the little bit of visible peel on the ends. They looked good, but the consensus was that the flavor was pretty average. Testers noted decent potato flavor, but not enough to pull higher scores. The fries also felt a bit soft on the inside, and with the thicker cut, that made them feel a bit mushy at times. We’ll stick to other freezer finds from Trader Joe’s.
3rd Place: Arby’s Crinkle Fries
Sara Haas
Score, 8/10
This was the only crinkle-cut fry of the bunch, making it a bit of an outlier, but I liked that they didn’t have any additional seasoning, so I decided to put them in my mix. Before testing, I confirmed that my testers didn’t have a strong preference for French fry cut, solidifying my decision to include them here. Arby’s fries looked delicious coming out of the oven, albeit more golden than golden brown. The exterior was crisp-ish, but felt a bit limp once picked up. Perhaps just a few additional minutes in the oven would rectify this problem. The interior was “plain” said testers and felt a lot like “mashed potatoes.” This seemed to neither bother nor excite them somehow. I do think they had a pretty big potato flavor and were seasoned well. We all liked these fries, but think they might be better paired with Ranch dressing, cheese sauce, or ketchup.
2nd Place: Ore-Ida Golden Fries
Sara Haas
Score, 9/10
These look and taste like classic frozen French fries. The batch I made for testers was perfectly crisp and golden on the outside. Each fry somehow magically cooked perfectly. This may have been thanks to their uniform size and cut. Thank you for the that Ore-Ida—one of our community choice winners. The interior was soft and testers liked the flavor, which was pretty mild, but well-seasoned. We all liked this one and it will definitely make an appearance in my cart (and belly) soon.
The Winner: McCain Quick Cook, Straight Cut
Sara Haas
Score, 10/10
Product packaging can often be deceiving. Aesthetic colors, pictures of beautiful food, and claims for quality are strategically placed to convince consumers to buy products. But packaging, as we all know, is often not a clear indicator of deliciousness or even quality. That was my experience with these fries. Just like I thought Alexia brand fries would be the winner (their packaging is lovely), I was certain these McCain fries would be the loser. The generic bag felt like a signal to my brain that nothing special was inside. I was wrong. These fries were the favorite among all of the testers. And these are the ones we will stock in our freezer.