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It’s so incredibly easy to make homemade waffle fries, either in your oven or your air fryer with not much more than a potato.

For more ideas of what to make, check out all of our recipes.

Waffle fries on a blue and white plate with the words "Homemade Waffle Fries" digitally written on top.

There’s an annual fair a few towns away from where I used to live in Pennsylvania. It’s exactly what you would expect from a state fair: fried food, rides, animals, and lots of booths filled with vendors peddling their wares. I loved going every year.

One year, I was watching as this vendor demonstrated a peeler.

“It’s so easy,” he said. “You don’t even have to put any pressure to peel your potatoes.”

Well that sounded like a dream for my grandma I thought, after he explained how great this peeler is for the elderly. “But wait, there’s more … ” he said as he pulled out a mandolin and quickly cut those peeled potatoes into waffle fries.

Sold!

The way time flies, that was almost two decades ago now, and I still use that same peeler and mandolin to impress people with my homemade waffle fries.

And now you can too.

French fries are easy to make in the air fryer. They come out as great as oven fries and are just a tiny bit more effort than frozen fries.

If you found this post and thought to yourself, “I’d rather just make regular fries,” you’re in luck. We have a post about how to make Air Fryer French Fries. Which, I’ll let you in on a secret, I make more often than waffle fries because they’re a little quicker.

Homemade Waffle Fries Recipe

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Homemade Waffle Fries Ingredients:

You can get the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below.

Potatoes – We use either Russet or Idaho potatoes to make these (whatever’s on sale). Those are starchy potatoes and, because they have less moisture, they make crispier fries.
Salt – You need salt for the seasoning and also to pull starch out from the potatoes while they’re soaking to make them crispier.
Olive oil – This has a higher smoke point, so it can hold up to the heat that you’re cooking the fries at.
Adobo seasoning – This is really common in Latin cooking. It is a combination of seasoning, which means you don’t have to have a ton of spices in your cabinet to get a ton of flavor.
Onion powder
Corn starch – This helps to crisp up the French fries so you get that nice crunchy texture without actually frying them.

How To Make Homemade Waffle Fries:

A hand cutting a potato into waffle fries on a wave waffle mandolin slicer.

Wash your potatoes.

You can peel them if you want to, but the mandolin isn’t going to slice them so thin, so you don’t really need to. And if you can’t skip peeling the potatoes, you save yourself a little time.

To get the holes in the waffle fries, you need a wave waffle mandolin slicer. It has the grooves you need to make the right shape. You also need to follow my steps below.

Slide the potato on the mandolin, from top to bottom.

Turn your potato one-quarter turn.

I always turn it to the right because that’s easier on my wrist (because I’m right handed). But one quarter turn either way works.

Then slide the potato back from the bottom of the mandolin to top.

One potato slice will fall out and it will have those nice holes you’re going to.

Turn your potato one quarter turn, back to how you were holding it when you started.

Slide the potato down the mandolin again and you’ll get another waffle fry.

Keep going until the potato is done.

Quick note: The quarter turn is what creates the waffle fries (with the holes!). If you don’t turn the potato, you’ll end up with ruffle fries instead.

Raw waffle fries in water in a green bowl.

Fill a large bowl with cold water. Add about a tablespoon of salt.

Add the potato slices to the bowl and let them soak at least 30 minutes.

The salt will pull some of the starch out of the fries, so they’ll end up crispier.

Quick note: A lot of people use sugar instead of salt in this step and that’s fine. Sugar helps crisp up the fries as well and gives them a nice golden brown color when they’re cooked. We add corn starch to get the same effect. Plus, I’m being mindful about my sugar right now (if you know me in real life, you know all about that).

A hand holding a paper towel that's on top of raw waffle fries in a white bowl.

Drain the fries and pat them dry with a paper towel.

The drier you can make them, the better they’ll crisp.

Put the dried fries in a bowl.

A hand holding a squeeze bottle of oil over raw waffle fries in a white bowl.

Drizzle them with half the olive oil.

A hand holding a bottle of seasoning over raw waffle fries in a white bowl.

Add Adobo and onion powder, plus the majority of the salt. Give it a good stir, making sure you bring the lower fries up to the top.

Add the rest of the olive oil and a little bit more salt. Stir again.

An open box of corn starch being poured over raw waffle fries in a white bowl with a wood spoon in the bowl.

Finally, sprinkle the corn starch on top of the fries and stir until the white of the corn starch is completely invisible.

If you skip the corn starch, your fries won’t get as crispy as fries that are deep fried. This is how you mimic texture that without a ton of oil.

Now you have a choice. You can either bake them in the oven or cook them in the air fryer.

Raw waffle fries on a foil-lined baking sheet.

For the oven method:

Spread the fries on a foil- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, making sure they’re in a single layer.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F and bake for about 25 minutes, until the fries reach the desired crispness.

Flip them halfway through so they cook evenly.

Your cooking time may vary depending on your oven’s temperature, so start checking them around 20 minutes.

Raw waffle fries in an air fryer basket.

For the air fryer method:

Spread the fries on the bottom of the air fryer basket. Make sure they’re in a single layer and the basket isn’t overcrowded.

Air crisp them (if yours has that setting) at 400 F for about 15 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket every five minutes.

Homemade Waffle Fries: Frequently Asked Questions

How do you store and reheat leftovers?

Wait until the fries have cooled down to room temperature. Then, store leftover fries in an airtight container. They’re best the next day, but will last about three days that way.

When you’re ready to reheat them, we recommend heating them in the air fryer at 350 F for about five minutes.

If you’re not going to eat them within the next few days, you can store them in a freezer safe bag for up to six months.

Why are my waffle fries soggy?

If you followed this recipe as written, the reason your fries are soggy is because you probably crowded them on the pan or in the air fryer.

When I’m cooking dinner, it’s so tempting to throw all the fries on top of each other to cook in a single batch rather than spreading them in a single layer and cooking multiple batches. But, if they get stuck together, they’re not going to bake evenly and you’re going to end up with soggy fries.

Potatoes in a strainer with the words "15+ Budget Potato Recipes" digitally written on top.

More Potato Recipes:

If you bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes and you’re trying to figure out what else to do with them, we have a long list of Budget-Friendly Potato Recipes you might want to check out. There are recipes for potato salad, mashed potatoes, and more.

Yield: 3 Servings

Homemade Waffle Fries

It's so incredibly easy to make homemade waffle fries, either in your oven or your air fryer with not much more than a potato.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

3 Potatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, split in two portions
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Adobo seasoning
1 teaspoon corn starch

Instructions

Wash your potatoes.
Slide the potato on the mandolin, from top to bottom.
Turn your potato one-quarter turn.
Then slide the potato back from the bottom of the mandolin to top.
Turn your potato one quarter turn, back to how you were holding it when you started.
Slide the potato down the mandolin again and you’ll get another waffle fry. Continue until you're done with all the potatoes.
Fill a large bowl with cold water. Add about a tablespoon of salt.
Add the potato slices to the bowl and let them soak at least 30 minutes.
Drain the fries and pat them dry with a paper towel.
Put the dried fries in a bowl.
Drizzle them with half the olive oil.
Add Adobo and onion powder, plus the majority of the salt. Give it a good stir.
Add the rest of the olive oil and a little bit more salt. Stir again.
Finally, sprinkle the corn starch on top of the fries and stir.
For the oven method: Spread the fries on a foil- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, making sure they’re in a single layer. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F and bake for about 25 minutes, until the fries reach the desired crispness. Flip them halfway through so they cook evenly.
For the air fryer method: Spread the fries on the bottom of the air fryer basket. Make sure they’re in a single layer and the basket isn’t overcrowded. Air crisp them (if yours has that setting) at 400 F for about 15 minutes, shaking the air fryer basket every five minutes.

Notes

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 251Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 0mgSodium 866mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 4gSugar 2gProtein 5g

Have you tried these homemade waffle fries? Let us know how it went in the comments.

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