When it comes to fries, the options are endless: there are old-school matchstick fries, courgette fries and numerous versions of loaded fries, to name just a few. Looking for a new twist on your favourite? Try one of these.
The well-loved Canadian dish of loaded fries, poutine is the ultimate comfort food. Fries are topped with cheese curds and a healthy pouring of rich gravy over the top – it's not for the faint hearted, but it is very delicious.
Halloumi is great when grilled, but it is truly superb when deep-fried. First, coat your halloumi in flour so you get that crispy texture. This recipe suggests serving with pitta bread and fattoush (a salad from the Levantine region made with cucumber, mint, pomegranate and natural yogurt), but any fresh salad will work.
Loaded fries are a great after-work snack with drinks. This recipe takes things up a notch by adding jackfruit as well as melted cheese, which creates an excellent balance of sweet and salty. You could also swap the cheese for a dairy-free version if you want to make it vegan. More serving suggestions include spring onions, sweetcorn and black beans, but you can let your imagination run wild and top them with pretty much anything.
Cassava is a root vegetable that grows in tropical and subtropical climates, but it's a favourite to a lot of people and can be found in most larger supermarkets all over the place now. You can also find cassava chips frozen – all peeled and already chopped. A great alternative to the potato, cassava has a slightly sweet flavour, so season these fries with herbs, spices or simply salt.
Get your greens in with these light, crispy okra bites. Cooked with garlic and ginger paste they have a lovely zing to them, as well as some heat from a touch of deggi mirch chilli powder (a blend of different Indian red chillies).
These chips are the ultimate snack, or the perfect accompaniment to a Friday night burger dinner. Cut them into generous wedges and bake until they're fluffy inside. It's best to use waxy new potatoes or sweet potatoes, or go for a mix of both.
The perfect pairing with fries is fish fingers. A simple dinner the kids (and adults!) will enjoy and it can be prepared and cooked in under an hour. These oven baked fries are tasty and crisp, and only use a bit of olive oil, so are a healthier, easy mid-week supper.
Hot potatoes, crisp on the outside, fluffy in the centre and smothered in herbs, salt and a few chilli flakes – wrap them up in paper and sit outside with friends on a sunny evening. These are truly the perfect snack, and also make a great side with any summery dish. Cooked with garlic as well, they are full of flavour.
Take the classic combination of fish and chips and add wonderful aromatic spices of turmeric and cumin, plus a bit of heat from chilli powder, to create a new classic the whole family will love. The key to this dish is the chutney, where sweet tomatoes are balanced with spices. This is a lovely change from ketchup and works so well with white fish like cod.
This is a wonderful treat, packed with flavour, and a bit different to your usual chips. The dried cranberries are the perfect tartness against the sweet coconut and heat from chilli flakes, and the crunch of the plantain chips give wonderful texture, which is always needed in a good snack.
Get the recipe for plantain chips and dried cranberries in coconut and chilli here
This is a super quick meal that's also deeply satisfying. Smoked paprika sprinkled over the chips as they cook gives a lovely depth of flavour. Then ham, eggs and tomatoes are cooked in with the potatoes so all the delicious flavours come together perfectly.
This beautifully buttery stuffed chicken breast, with the woody flavours of tarragon and zesty lemon rind, is perfectly matched with chips. This recipe calls for a combination of root vegetable, sweet potatoes, white potatoes and parsnips. Sweet potatoes and parsnips pair wonderfully with the garlicky, flavourful chicken, and the white potatoes stop the dish from being too indulgent.
Get the recipe for stuffed chicken and root vegetable chips here
Try some simple sweet potato fries, which are arguably better for you as sweet potatoes contain vitamin A and have a lower glycemic index than white potatoes. To make them at home, all you need is to cut a sweet potato into chips, as thin or thick as you like, rub in some oil and bake in a hot oven until cooked. You can season them with salt, herbs or smoked paprika, and they're perfect served with a dollop of aioli.
For the best curly fries, get a spiraliser. Spiralise 3 potatoes while bringing a medium pot of water to boil. Boil the potatoes for 3 minutes before drying on paper towels. Cover with a mix of 3 eggs, 1.5tbsp milk, 2tsp paprika, 1.5tsp salt, and 0.25tsp of garlic powder and onion powder, 0.2tsp cayenne pepper and 3tbsp flour. Coat the potatoes and bake in the oven until crunchy.
With crinkle fries, it’s the cut that gets that perfect ratio of crisp outside and fluffy inside. You can cook or fry the potatoes as you would normally, but instead of cutting them with a knife or spiraliser, use a waffle cutter to give them that corrugated shape and texture. For the tastiest crinkle cut fries, fry in batches, making sure they’re fully immersed in hot oil to make them extra crunchy.
Cheese lovers get ready: the possibilities are endless when it comes to cheese fries. You can use just about any cheese you can think of, from blue cheese, Cheddar and Parmesan, to a rich cheesy sauce. Just sprinkle or pour over cooked fries. For the best result, add the cheese while the fries are still hot so it melts, or pop them under the grill for a couple of minutes.
Forget about chilli with rice and beans, you need to try it on fries. You can use vegetarian chilli or a meaty version, but be sure to add plenty of cheese, American or Cheddar works well, then melt briefly under the grill. Add jalapeños for extra heat.
Polenta, a ground cornmeal, works just as well baked into fries as it does softly simmered with cream and butter. Start by cooking 9oz (250g) of polenta in 1 litre (4 cups) of hot water, 325ml (1.3 cups) milk and 2tsp salt. Cook gently until very thick, then stir in 50g (0.5 cups) Parmesan and 3tbsp butter. Refrigerate for two hours before slicing into fries then baking in the oven until crisp.
Aspen fries (also known as Parmesan truffle fries) are liberally covered in truffle oil and Parmesan cheese. You can either buy frozen fries or make your own from scratch; just drizzle truffle oil over the fries and grate some cheese on top before serving.
This one is for seafood lovers – fries loaded with crab meat. For the topping try mixing 4oz (120g) mayonnaise, 0.5tsp red pepper flakes and 2 minced garlic cloves. Set aside, then heat 8oz (230g) cooked and shredded crab meat in a microwave container with 1 minced garlic clove and 2tbsp butter. Heat in the microwave for a minute and mix thoroughly before smothering over cooked fries.
Instead of just adding salt to your fries, here’s an easy way to spice them up. Whisk together 60ml (0.25 cup) each of vegetable oil and tomato juice, 1tbsp chilli powder, 1tsp ground cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and white sugar, and 1tbsp salt. Toss the mixture over cooked fries and coat evenly before giving them a few minutes in a hot oven until they're brown and crisp.
Done right, courgette fries taste great. Take 21oz (600g) courgettes, mix salt and black pepper, 2tbsp plain flour and 2 eggs for the batter. Top and tail the courgettes, remove the flesh and seeds, and slice into matchsticks. Coat the veg in the batter and cook, a few at a time, until golden, in hot oil. Rest on paper towels to remove excess fat and serve with a refreshing dip such as tzatziki.
They may have been made famous by takeaway chains, but you can easily make waffle fries at home. All you need is the waffle blade of a mandolin. Pour oil into a deep frying pan on a high heat and while the oil is heating, cut four large potatoes with the waffle blade, choosing your preferred thickness. Fry the potatoes in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.
Garlic and potato are a match made in heaven, and so easy to whip up. Try tossing cooked fries in 3 minced garlic cloves (pan-fried in a light oil for two minutes), 0.5tsp salt and 1tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley.
A sprinkle of rosemary salt is one of our favourite ways to jazz up a simple dish. To make it, add rosemary to sea salt with a little lemon zest and dry out in the oven on a low heat. Scatter over the fries when they're still warm to release the best flavour.
Transform your recipes with simple store cupboard ingredients
Just like white or sweet potatoes, purple potatoes make excellent fries. They’re popular in South America and are often the preferred variety because they contain four times as many antioxidants as regular potatoes. The best way to make them into fries is to cut them into thin sticks and bake or fry until crisp.
Yucca is the root portion of a plant that has a similar taste and texture to mashed potato, so it's perfect for making fries. Simply peel some yuccas, cut them to the desired thickness and deep fry, just like any other fries. Season them with salt and pepper and serve with aioli.
Honey, butter and fries? Yes please. This snack is hugely popular in Japan and South Korea – McDonald's even served it as a dish. All you need to do is drizzle melted butter mixed with honey over hot fries. Typically, French fries are used, but you can be creative and play around with flavours and different styles of fries. To balance out the sweetness, add a pinch of salt.
There are few dishes that can't be improved by the addition of bacon – and fries are no exception. Go all-out with bacon and melted cheese, or keep things lighter with crispy pieces of streaky bacon, sour cream and fresh parsley.
If you like to keep your fries simple, and want to save time, leave the skin on when you chop your potatoes. These work particularly well coated in oil and cornmeal before being baked in the oven: around 40 minutes is usually long enough to get them golden. Serve tossed in sea salt with plenty of ketchup on the side.
This is perhaps not the healthiest way to start the day, but it's certainly a tasty one. If you have leftover fries, it can be a great way to use them up. Start by getting the fries crispy in the oven, then top with your favourite breakfast foods: fried eggs and bacon work particularly well.