How to Make Five-Minute Freezer-Friendly French Fries (Gluten Free, Oil Free)

Whether you’re a full-time worker, a busy stay-at-home mom or a college student like me, eating healthy can be a major struggle. After all, you don’t have hours to spend making a gourmet dinner every night, and you might get bored meal prepping the exact same dinner for every night that week. 

That’s where healthy cooking hacks like these homemade freezer-friendly French fries come in! Just imagine arriving home after a long day’s work and being able to dig into a steaming plate of homemade potato wedges - perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and pillowy on the inside - after only five minutes of cooking. It sounds too good to be true...but you better believe it’s totally possible!

Some of the best parts about these homemade crispy French fries are that you can use up lots of potatoes before they go bad (goodbye food waste!), you can use the fries in a variety of easy healthy dinners (from loaded potato nachos to epic vegan snack plate dinners) and the fries taste just as delicious fresh from the oven as they do frozen and reheated.

As an added bonus, this potato wedge recipe also has an oil-free option and can be easily customized. You could even use the same healthy cooking hack to whip up some freezer-friendly homemade sweet potato French fries if they’re your jam. 

Ready to learn how to bake homemade French fries and freeze them for five-minute snacks and dinners in the future? Then keep reading! 

Ingredients for your frozen French fries:

- However many red or golden Yukon potatoes you want to bake and freeze (I baked two pounds of potatoes during one major meal prep Sunday and ate the fries throughout that entire month!) 

- Your choice of oil or lemon juice (optional)  

- Your choice of spices (I like using thyme, oregano and a little paprika) 

- Baking trays lined with foil or a re-usable baking sheet

How to Make Homemade French Fries in the Oven 

Along with being super versatile, these homemade French fries are probably one of the easiest healthy dinner ideas out there! Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, lining your baking trays and washing your potatoes. Next, cut your taters into thin strips (or into chunky wedges, if that’s how your taste buds roll). Whatever size of homemade French fry you go with, just try to stay consistent so your fries will cook in roughly the same amount of time. 

If you’re using oil, you can now pour a little into a large Ziploc bag, add your fries and jiggle them around until all the wedges are evenly coated. (If you have the spray-can version of cooking oil, you can use that too!). If you want to make oil-free French fries, you can either replace the oil with lemon juice (as I explain in my potato wedge nacho recipe) or leave your potatoes naked. This time, I didn’t use any liquid on my potato wedges and they came out perfect. Just be aware that they’re not as easy to flip and it’s best to let them cool completely before peeling them off the baking sheet. (Otherwise, your potato wedges can look more like torn potato tater tots at the end!)

Once your homemade French fries are oiled, juiced or just laid on your baking trays, add your choices of seasoning and toss the trays into the oven! When making homemade French fries in the oven, I typically bake the fries for 30-45 minutes, rotating the trays halfway (and flipping the fries themselves if possible). How long you need to bake your potato wedges will depend on the thickness of yo’ fries, so keep an eye on them after the 30-minute mark. Because you’ll be freezing and reheating your potato wedges, you can also take them out a little earlier than you might if eating them right away. 

How to Freeze and Reheat Your Homemade Potato Wedges for Five-Minute French Fry Heaven

After you’ve baked your French fries, it's time for the easy meal prep! Let your homemade fries cool completely before removing from the baking trays and storing in a sealed storage container in your freezer. On the nights you’re hankering for French fries but don’t have the time to make a fresh batch, just grab however many fries you want, throw them on a baking tray and toss them into the oven at around 450 degrees. Bake until reheated and crispy (it can take as little as five minutes depending on the size of your oven, fries, etc) and devour!

Personally, these homemade French fries are my secret weapon for post-workout dinners. I just put some pre-made fries into the oven while I jump in the shower, and by the time I’m ready to eat, the fries are ready to be eaten too. 

As mentioned earlier, these homemade potato wedges slid earn an A+ in versatility. Eat them as healthy dinner sides, as part of an epic buddha bowl, dipped in homemade vegan hummus or even on top of pizza for an extra-filling gluten free dinner. And if your homemade French fries taste so good, you end up eating them straight with ketchup or mustard, well, I certainly won’t judge! 

Like this post? Tweet me some love by clicking here: "Crispy homemade french fries after only 5 mins in the oven? Too good is true thanks to my tips for meal prepping your own freezer friendly french fries! #Glutenfree, #dairyfree, optionally #paleo & #oilfree. #Healthyeating made easy! Find the #recipe --> http://bit.ly/2F3k95K"

Eating healthy as a college student, a busy full-time worker or anything in between sometimes feels nearly impossible because of the extra time healthy recipes often demand. As these freezer-friendly homemade French fries show, though, knowing a few healthy cooking hacks can make dinner time a lot less stressful - and a lot tastier.

What are your favorite spices to put on homemade French fries? What healthy cooking hacks help you eat healthy on a tight schedule? Tell me in the comments!