My frozen fries went from soggy to perfect after I stopped shaking the basket

For the first year with my air fryer, I followed the bag instructions to shake the fries halfway through cooking. They always came out a bit limp. About six months ago, I saw a comment online saying to leave them alone. I tried it with a full bag of crinkle cuts at 400 degrees for 15 minutes straight, no shake. The difference was huge, way crispier. Now I'm a total convert to the no-shake method for fries. But my partner still swears by shaking for even cooking. Who's right here, the shakers or the non-shakers?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorhill16d ago

My old roommate used to swear by shaking frozen onion rings, said it was the only way. I tried his method once and they turned out like wet cardboard, lmao. Ever since then I just leave everything alone in there, even nuggets. Maybe some foods just need to sit and get hot without being messed with.

brian32816d ago

Remember my buddy who swore by shaking fries halfway through? He ended up with a box of broken, greasy sticks that cooked all wrong. Some stuff just needs that quiet oven time to get crispy right. He buys the crispy kind now and never touches the basket.

drew_bennett2413d ago

My last batch of frozen fries was a total game changer after I stopped shaking them. Brian328 is right, you just gotta leave them alone to get that perfect crisp. My air fryer manual is full of lies.