Chips, Wedges and Fries
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 1
Chapter 4 · Chips, Wedges and Fries
Skill goal
Cut chips evenly and cook them to a crisp golden finish, in the oven, an air fryer or shallow oil.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Chips are about surface area and starch. A thin chip has a lot of crust and little middle, a thick one the opposite. The cooking is a balance between getting the middle soft and the outside crisp without browning too far.
| Style | Thickness | Method | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedges | Thick, skin on | Oven, one cook | Soft middle, golden edge |
| Oven chips | About 1 cm | Soak, dry, hot oven | Crisp outside, light inside |
| Double-cooked chips | About 1.5 cm | Simmer, fry gently, fry hot | Crisp shell, fluffy middle |
| Fries | About 7 mm | Soak, dry, fry hot | Crisp throughout |
- Cut evenly. Mixed thicknesses mean some burn while others stay raw.
- Soak and dry. Soaking removes surface starch that would burn. Drying matters more: water spits in oil and steams in the oven.
- Floury potatoes (Maris Piper) give the fluffiest chip.
- Don't crowd. A crowded tray or pan steams the chips and cools the oil.
- An air fryer works well for the oven recipes: use 1 tablespoon of oil, a single layer, and 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C, shaking half-way.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Oven wedges
Wedges are forgiving: thick, skin on, no soaking and no frying.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 2 medium floury or all-rounder potatoes (about 400 g), scrubbed, skin on
- 1 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 pinch salt
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional, gas 7) and put a baking tray inside to heat.
- Cut each potato lengthways into 8 wedges. Dry well. Toss with the oil, paprika and salt.
- Spread on the hot tray, skin side down, with space between them. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes, turning once, until golden and a knife slides in easily.
Level 2 · Crisper
Oven chips
Chips are cut thinner than wedges, so they need soaking (to wash off surface starch), thorough drying and a hot tray.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 400 g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled
- 1½ tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 pinch salt
- Cut the potatoes into chips about 1 cm thick and similar in length (even sizes matter). Soak in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes, then drain and dry thoroughly in a tea towel.
- Heat the oven to 220°C fan (240°C conventional, gas 9) with a baking tray inside.
- Toss the chips with the oil. Spread on the hot tray in a single layer with space between, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, turning once, until golden.
- Season with salt.
Go for gold
Take them out when golden, not dark brown. Thin chips darken quickly in the last 5 minutes.
Level 3 · The best
Double-cooked chips
The restaurant method: simmer until tender, dry, fry gently to set the surface, then fry hot to crisp. The first cook makes the fluffy middle, the second the crisp outside.
Ingredients (3 portions)
- 500 g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled and cut into 1.5 cm chips
- 1 tsp salt, for the water
- 500 ml sunflower or vegetable oil, for shallow frying (2 cm deep)
- 1 pinch salt, to finish
- Cover the chips with cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, until the edges are soft but they hold their shape. Drain carefully and spread on a rack or tray lined with kitchen paper. Let them steam dry for 10 minutes (you can chill them for up to a day).
- Pour the oil into a heavy, deep pan to no more than a third full (2 cm deep is enough). Heat it to about 160°C, or until a cube of bread browns slowly.
- Fry in 2 or 3 batches for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale and set. Lift out onto kitchen paper. (This step can be done ahead.)
- Heat the oil to about 190°C (a bread cube turns golden in 30 to 40 seconds). Fry the chips again for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper, season with salt and serve at once.
- Let the oil cool completely before moving or disposing of it.
Hot oil
Never leave hot oil unattended, never fill a pan more than a third full, and never use a deep chip pan. Keep a lid nearby; if the oil catches fire, turn off the heat and cover with a lid or fire blanket. Never use water. Dry the chips well, because water makes the oil spit.
Level 2 · Variation
Sweet potato fries
Sweet potatoes hold more sugar and water than ordinary potatoes, so they go limp and burn at the edges easily. Cornflour helps them crisp.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 300 g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm sticks
- 1 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
- 1 tsp cornflour
- ½ tsp paprika or cumin
- 1 pinch salt
- Heat the oven to 220°C fan (240°C conventional, gas 9) with a baking tray inside.
- Dry the sticks very well. Toss with the cornflour, then the oil, spice and salt.
- Spread on the hot tray in a single layer with space between them. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until golden at the edges. Watch them closely for the last 5 minutes.
Experiments
Experiment
Soaked or unsoaked
Is soaking worth it?
- Cut two batches of oven chips. Soak one for 30 minutes and dry it, and bake the other straight away.
- Compare colour and crispness.
Look for: The soaked chips are paler, crisper and more even. Unsoaked ones brown faster at the edges and are slightly softer.
Experiment
Thick or thin
Choose your chip.
- Cut chips at 7 mm, 1 cm and 2 cm. Bake them together and take each out when it is golden.
- Compare the ratio of crust to fluffy middle.
Look for: The thin chips are crisp but dry, the thick ones are soft and fluffy with less crust. About 1 to 1.5 cm is the classic.
Experiment
One cook or two
Why the double cook?
- Fry one batch of 1.5 cm chips once at 190°C until golden. Fry another using the full double-cooked method.
- Compare the middles.
Look for: The single-cooked chips are crisp but the middles are dense or still firm. The double-cooked ones are fluffy.
Experiment
Oven or air fryer
Same chips, different machines.
- Cook oven chips in the oven and in an air fryer, using the same chips and oil.
- Compare time, crispness and washing up.
Look for: The air fryer is faster and often crisper with less oil, but only cooks a small batch at a time.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oven wedges | ||||
| Oven chips | ||||
| Double-cooked chips | ||||
| Sweet potato fries | ||||
| Soaked vs unsoaked | ||||
| 7 mm, 1 cm, 2 cm | ||||
| One cook vs two | ||||
| Oven vs air fryer |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Soggy chips | Wet, crowded, or oven not hot | Dry well; one layer; preheat the tray |
| Dark, bitter edges | Too hot or too long; surface starch | Soak; take out when golden |
| Hard in the middle | Too thick, or skipped the first cook | Cut thinner or double-cook |
| Chips stick to the tray | Not enough oil, or tray not hot | Preheat the tray; use enough oil |
| Oil spits | Chips wet | Dry thoroughly before frying |
| Sweet potato limp | Too wet or crowded | Dry, add cornflour, space them out |
Food safety: hot oil, acrylamide and storage
Go for gold. When starchy foods such as potatoes are fried, roasted or baked at high temperatures they form a chemical called acrylamide, which the Food Standards Agency says could raise cancer risk. Its advice is to cook to a golden yellow, not dark brown, and to follow the packet instructions on bought chips and roasties. A balanced diet matters more than any single food, so this is a nudge about colour, not a reason to avoid potatoes.Hot oil is the main danger in this chapter. Use a heavy deep pan filled to no more than a third, never leave it, and keep children and pets away. Dry the chips so they don't spit. If the oil catches fire, turn off the heat and cover with a lid or fire blanket; never use water. Let the oil cool completely before moving it, and don't pour it down the sink.
Raw potatoes: keep them somewhere cool, dark and dry (above about 6°C), not in the fridge and not in the light. The Food Standards Agency advises against keeping raw potatoes in the fridge if you will roast or fry them, because the cold raises the amount of acrylamide that forms when they brown. Light turns the skin green and makes sprouts, and the green and the sprouts contain a natural toxin (solanine) that is bitter and can upset your stomach. Cut away sprouts and any green patches generously; if a potato is green all over, or tastes bitter, throw it away. Cooking does not remove it.
Cooked potatoes: cool them quickly (spread out, within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat them within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once. (This is the general chilled-leftovers advice relayed by local-authority food-safety pages; unlike rice, potatoes have no special rule of their own, but they are starchy, so they are treated with the same care.)
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can cut chips evenly, then soak and dry them.
- I can make wedges and oven chips.
- I know why chips are cooked twice.
- I can use hot oil safely.
- I can stop at golden, not dark brown.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 1, chapter 5 is Baked Potatoes: a crisp skin and a light middle.