The Best Frozen French Fries: A Blind Taste Test

By Ali Francis

In our Taste Test series, BA editors conduct blind comparisons to discover the best supermarket staples (like tomato sauce or vanilla ice cream). Today, which frozen french fry deserves a spot in your shopping cart?

The average American eats 29 pounds of french fries each year, and a third of potatoes grown in this country are destined to be hacked to bits and frozen. Compared to homemade, frozen fries are exceedingly easy. And delicious. And it's fun to stick a couple under your top lip and pretend to be a potato-toothed walrus.

French fry producers haven't been immune to inflation-related costs, passing some of these on to the customer over the last year, but the category doesn't seem to be slowing down. Frozen french fry sales are forecast to grow by more than 3% each year until at least 2026. With so many brands out there, finding the ideal crispy-creamy frozen french fry is a challenge, with companies turning to ingredients and additives—like sodium acid pyrophosphate and xanthan gum—to nail the assignment.

So which brand is the best? We had a handful of BA staffers try seven varieties of straight, classic-cut fries from brands like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods 365, Lamb Weston, and McCain. We prepared them according to package directions, and resisted dunking them in ketchup before tasting for flavor, seasoning, and texture. Some were good, others were very bad, and one rose to the top like a cork in water. Here's the full report.

The fry: made with vegetable oil; annatto extract, a yellowish plant-derived pigment; salt; and sodium acid pyrophosphate, a preservative that prevents discoloration.

The taste: Texturally, these ½-inch-thick potatoes were like something you’d find inside a fish and chips packet. They were "very tender," said test kitchen coordinator Inés Anguiano. "Only the very tips of each fry are crispy," associate cooking editor Antara Sinha added. But the insides were the "consistency of mashed potatoes," said editorial operations associate Kate Kassin, who was a fan, though others disagreed. Everyone could agree they needed more salt. Crunchy lovers will want to cook these longer than the package directions, but for people who like limp potatoes (me), this fry is for you.

The fry: made with expeller-pressed sunflower seed oil and sodium acid pyrophosphate.

The taste: There's such a thing as too many ingredients—and then there's not enough. These tasted so bad that you’d think something fundamental might be missing. That thing is salt—there is literally none of it in the recipe. This might be a good thing for the sodium-averse and easily rectified for the rest of us, but the texture was irredeemable. "Are they…raw?" Kassin wondered. "They are so waterlogged I cannot physically swallow them," Sinha said, placing the fry back on the tray.

The fry: made with organic vegetable oil; sea salt; and citric acid, a preserving agent used to maintain oil freshness and enhance flavor. On the brand's website, 325 reviewers gave these fries an average of 4.8 stars.

The taste: These are the thinnest fries we tried, a width that bordered on shoestring. That meant they were exceptionally crunchy out of the oven—a win for crispy fans—but also slightly dry inside. Everyone agreed that these were also one of the least seasoned fries of the bunch. "There is no salt," Sinha said. (There is.) And despite being made with one of the shorter ingredient lists of the bunch, Kassin was getting a "chemical-y aftertaste." A good choice for the crunch-heads willing to BYO salt.

The fry: made with vegetable oil; salt; and dextrose.

The taste: These were the only fries we tasted that still had their skins on, which made them "feel homemade," said Anguiano. It also resulted in a flavor profile that was by far the most earthy and vegetal. "Like dirt," said Kassin. The cut was noticeably inconsistent, which meant some fries were "super soggy" and others were delightfully "crisp," said Sinha. Still, this is a visually appealing fry that would shine with a little more salt and a slightly longer cook time than the package suggests.

The fry: made with vegetable oil; modified food starch, a stabilizer that's derived from potato, corn, and tapioca; rice flour; dextrin, a type of starch used as a crispness enhancer for food batters; salt; leavening; dextrose; xanthan gum, a soluble fiber derived from fermented sugar that's typically used as a thickening or binding agent; and annatto color.

The taste: These fries are clearly in a class of their own (and they’d want to be, given the amount of ingredients used to make them). They’re coated in a light dredge, subtle and crispy like tempura. And the seasoning is the most pronounced of the bunch: "Just the right amount of salt," Sinha said. She also felt that a condiment was unneeded, even though she "eats fries and ketchup to almost a 1:1 ratio." They’re about as thin as Alexia's fries, but nowhere near as dry once cooked. These potatoes tasted creamy and the oil was "pleasant, nutty, and undeniably fresh," Sinha said.

The fry: made with vegetable oils; salt; sodium acid pyrophosphate; and both annatto and caramel colors.

The taste: This fry is reminiscent of something you’d find in a burger joint, said Anguiano. They were well salted, and most had a crisp exterior and "fluffy" core, said Sinha. The potato flavor tasted slightly artificial, almost like instant mashed potatoes, but otherwise these were a reliable choice that cooked up nicely according to package directions. With a little more seasoning, this runner-up could hold its own next to some nuggets.

The fry: made with vegetable oil; salt; annatto color; dextrose, a corn-derived sugar that gives frozen potatoes a golden hue; and sodium acid pyrophosphate. On the Target website, 145 reviewers gave these fries 4.7 stars.

The taste: "The texture is good," Sinha said right away. Anguiano agreed: "Great crunch." The fries weren't seasoned enough for most but "would be fine with ketchup," said Kassin. The one drawback that stood out to all: These fries delivered a funky aftertaste. "Like old oil," Anguiano said. Kassin called it "gaseous." The fry was crispy-soft, and the lingering grease flavor was mild enough to yield to sauce. A good, sturdy option for poutine or loaded fries.