Frozen Curly Fries in the Air Fryer are going to be your new favorite thing! They can be a side dish or a snack, and they’re so simple to make with these easy air fryer curly fries instructions.
“Thank you for your no-nonsense way of explaining these recipes! I did wonder how curly fries would work, and now I know! They were perfect 🙂 Straight to the point and not too much advertising (not that I mind anyway, because it's all free for us at the end of the day!)”
Recipe Overview
Do you like straight fries or curly fries better? I love all french fries equally, but I will admit that there is something extra fun about twisty, spiral curly fries. I’d likely choose these over plain french fries any day!
The air fryer is good at cooking many, many things, but it is especially great at making crispy french fries that taste just like you deep-fried them in oil!
The small space and circulating hot air of the air fryer create perfect crispy curly fry cooking conditions, and in just about 10 minutes.
Once you’ve mastered the simple art of perfectly air-fried curly fries, you can move on to making air fryer tater tots, air fryer sweet potato fries, and air fried potato wedges made from fresh russet potatoes!
Ingredients
Frozen Curly Fries – We tested these air fryer curly fry instructions with a variety of different frozen curly fries, including Arby’s curly fries, Ore Ida, McCain, and these inexpensive store-brand fries in the photographs. Each brand was fairly similar, and they all cooked exactly the same. so you can choose your favorite brand, and be successful using this method.
That’s it! Frozen french fries come already seasoned and already coated with oil, so you don’t need to add anything to them when you make them in the air fryer.
Steps to Make
- Decide how many fries to cook. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may be able to cook the whole bag. Or you may only need 1 or 2 servings. That part is up to you!
- Add the frozen curly fries to the basket of the air fryer. It’s ok if they are stacked up and overlapping.
- Air fry at 400°F200°C for 10-12 minutes, shaking the basket every 5 minutes, until the fries are crispy.
- Serve hot, with your favorite french fry dipping sauces.
How to Serve
Air fryer curly fries are best served with ketchup, but you can of course use your own favorite dipping sauces!
Honey mustard, ranch dressing, and BBQ sauce are all delicious with curly fries.
If you want to try something different, make this sweet and spicy sriracha sauce, or tangy Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce from scratch.
Once you’ve air fried your frozen curly fries, put them on a platter and load them up with toppings!
You can make nacho fries with cheese, salsa, sour cream, and taco meat, or turn them into a classic plate of chili cheese fries instead.
Side Dishes to Pair with Curly Fries
Curly fries go perfectly with Air Fryer Hot Dogs or Air Fryer Hamburgers!
I also love a side of air fryer frozen curly fries with an Air Fryer Chicken Patty Sandwich. It’s the ultimate comfort food lunch!
As a special treat, serve air fryer french fries instead of mashed potatoes, with homestyle Air Fryer Meatloaf, or Beyond Meat Meatloaf.
Tips and Tricks
- Don’t overfill the basket. It’s totally ok to stack frozen french fries in the air fryer, but you can’t stack them so high that they fill the whole thing. The more fries you put in the air fryer, the longer they will take to cook since you’ll need to move them around to get them crispy.
- Shake, shake, shake! Pause the cooking every five minutes or so so that you can shake the fries in the basket. This way they’ll cook evenly.
- Keep cooking if you need to. Since air fryers all cook a bit differently, you may need to add extra cooking time to get your frozen curly fries nice and crispy. Cook for 2 extra minutes, check on them and repeat if needed.
More Easy Air Fryer Side Dishes
Need a veggie side dish quick? Make crispy brussel sprouts in the air fryer! Even brussels sprout haters love this dish.
Make french fries a little bit healthier with this easy recipe for air fryer carrot fries. They are sweet, crispy, and perfect for dipping!
For dessert, quickly cook up some air fryer oatmeal cookies. Did you know that you could air fry cookies? It’s an amazing shortcut.
FAQs
No, you should not thaw frozen curly fries before cooking them in the air fryer. They, like most frozen foods, are designed to be cooked directly from the freezer.
Letting frozen french fries defrost is a bad idea. They turn soft and mushy and will be very difficult to cook correctly.
Nope! When potato products like french fries, tater tots, and hash browns are frozen, they’re coated with a thin layer of oil. This is why you can bake them in the oven and they come out fairly crispy.
When you put frozen curly fries in the air fryer instead of the oven, that oil gets hotter faster and so the fries get extra crispy, extra quick, no extra oil needed!
I don’t recommend pre-heating the air fryer for cooking frozen foods like french fries. I haven’t found it to be helpful or needed, and it just makes the process take longer.
However, if your air fryer model recommends pre-heating, then you should follow that advice.
Many types of frozen curly fries come already beautifully seasoned. I particularly enjoy the Arby’s frozen fries – they taste just like the restaurant!
Frozen curly fries also come plain or unseasoned.
Both varieties will air fry perfectly using these cooking instructions!
Frozen Curly Fries in Air Fryer
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 package frozen curly fries
Instructions
- Remove the frozen curly fries from their outer packaging.
- Place the curly fries in the air fryer basket. Be sure not to overcrowd. Cook in multiple batches if need be.
- Air fry at 400°F200°C for 10-12 minutes, shaking the basket every 5 minutes, until the fries are crispy.
- Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
- The nutrition details for this recipe will be found on the packaging of your frozen curly fries.
- You can cook as many or as few fries as you need, just be sure not to overcrowd the basket. It’s ok if they overlap or are stacked up, as we’ll be moving them around as they cook.
- There is no need to thaw the curly fries before cooking. Just cook from frozen.
- Be sure to shake the curly fries every 5 or so minutes so that they get evenly browned.
- If you fries are not crispy at the 12 minute mark, cook an additional 2 minutes.
- Pro Tip: Check your food as it cooks. Each air fryer runs a bit differently. Sometimes air frying is a trial and error process. Check your food as it cooks to learn your air fryer better! When cooking a new recipe or food items be sure to check your food often to help avoid over/under cooking.
- Pro Tip: This recipe can be made in the air fryer unit with a basket or the air fryer oven. If you are using the air fryer oven, use the middle rack and select the “Air Fry” function.
Nutrition
Thank you for your no-nonsense way of explaining these recipes! I did wonder how curly fries would work, and now I know! They were perfect 🙂
Straight to the point and not too much advertising (not that I mind anyway, because it’s all free for us at the end of the day!)
Thanks for your kind words Lynda! I’m so happy you found the post tips informative 🙂