35 Types of Fries to Keep Your Favorite Food on Rotation

Whether you are watching movies or on a road trip, any types of fries will always be good company. But do you love fries? Who doesn't! It will be hard to find even a handful of people who don’t like fries.

That being said, how many different types of fries have you tried up until now? Have you even tried a fraction of them? I doubt it! Many people stick to the usual ones because they don’t know that there are other options as well.

If you are also one of them, then consider reading this article, you will get to know the different tasty fry types you are probably missing out on.

35 Types of Fries

There are more than just a few different fry types, and the following list contains all the different cuts of fries out there that you can make right at home.

Standard Fries

These are the regular ones that we see or eat on daily basis. Standard fries are what we think about when we hear “French Fries”. Normally, for standard or regular fries, the potato is cut to medium thickness, ⅛ - ¼-inch to be exact.

And then they are fried deep into the oil. Different people use different kinds of oil, some use canola, some use peanut, and some go with vegetable oil.

Whatever oil it is, these fry styles have a neutral flavor. These are fried in a way so that the exterior becomes crispy and the inside remains soft. It is seasoned with basic seasonings, salt, pepper, etc. If prepared and fried well, how better do they taste, we all know that!

Bistro Fries

Bistro fries tend to be thinner than your standard crinkle cut fries. Despite their thinner size, which would make you expect them to be stiff and even crunchy, come out softer though still crispy on the breading.

The magic here in these types of french fries is that, after blanching and frying the fries, you then fry them again a second time. Not only will they absorb a bit more oil, softening them up, but the outside will become crispier.

Crinkle Cut Fries

Crinkle cut fries are kind of like wavy potato chips. There's no real difference in the way they're cooked and prepared, but just that there's more surface area. This often lends to a crispier outside, though crinkle cut fries tend to be thicker so the insides are softer.

These types of fry cuts will pick up a lot more oil due to the surface area, but it runs off just as easily. Due to having more potato within them, they end up tasting less greasy even of the outside does contain more oils.

Potato Wedges

The thickest of all fries are the wedges. And they are extremely popular all over the world for their crispy exterior and incredibly soft interior. Why do wedges taste better than regular fries? Well, they are seasoned before frying. And they are seasoned with a lot of spices and herbs.

Cooking wedge types of fries takes time, and they need to be fried or baked at a moderate temperature. Usually served with sauce, but tastes great with suitable mayonnaise.

Steak Fries

It is still unknown why these are called Steak French Fries. They are slightly thicker than the normal fries. And fried in the same way as the basic one. The taste is also pretty much the same.

The only difference is they are a little shorter and thicker than the standard or regular ones. For good taste, they are often dipped into sauce and mayonnaise.

Seasoned Fries

As the name suggests, they are served with proper seasoning, unlike regular fries. Seasoned fries are cut to medium thickness and then deep fried into neutral-flavored oil.

Once fried, now they are properly seasoned with spice blends or herb mixture. Different people use different types of seasonings depending on tastes. But the most common ones are seasoned salt, black pepper, old bay or Cajun spice, etc.

Curly Fries

Typically, curly fries are cooked like seasoned fries, but the difference is in the shape. Instead of straight "sticks" for lack of a better word, these are cut into much longer, curling lengths. Kids love these and you'll find them at many fast food restaurants.

What's interesting is that you can stuff a much larger amount of potato in your mouth due to the curled shape. But since there's so much more potato they're harder to cook to the right crisp and can become soggy faster.

Home Fries

Home fries look a lot like potato wedges which have been then cut into smaller portions. Because the potato is diced and cubed rather than cut into strips, they're a much more manageable size.

You'll see these kinds of fries a lot in southern meals. Rather than deep fried, these are often cooked in a pan or even in the oven. They're a breakfast food, served with eggs, sausage, and bacon. Expect to see these on a breakfast buffet in the south.

Garlic Fries

Garlic fries are pretty popular in restaurants, and it is healthy as well. For Garlic fries, the potato is cut to standard size and then deep-fried. But before serving, the crispy fries are tossed with garlic.

No, not with a portion of garlic. These types of fries are tossed with sauteed minced garlic. For a better look and taste, sometimes people use various types of parsley as well.

Parsley needs to be finely chopped for a better appearance. If you want, you could add your very own special seasonings as well to make it taste even better.

Cheese Fries

Cheese lovers are obsessed with this one. Simply put, cheese fries are just regular fries topped with cheese. The cheese on the top needs to melt for a good taste and that can be done either by putting the plate of fries and cheese in the oven for a minute.

Or, put the cheese over the just-cooked fries, they can melt the cheese on their own. There are different kinds of cheese, and for better flavor, people usually use parmesan, cheddar, jack, or gruyere cheese.

Chili Cheese Fries

Of course, after inventing cheese fries, people had to take it to the next level by introducing chili into the mix. And of course, depending on the type of chili used, these may contain whole beans, refried beans, meat, may or may not be spicy, etc.

There's no single chili cheese fry recipe due to how customized the experience can be. So grab your favorite can of chili from the supermarket and have at it. You can probably pick up a basket of these at amusement parks, sporting events, fairs, and even some movie theaters.

Tornado Fries

The name matches the appearance of these types of fry cuts. Tornado fries are widely seen in fairs and carnivals. A potato is cut spirally with a specialized cutter, it resembles a spring or a bit of a tornado.

A long stick is screwed in the center and then deep fried into the oil. After frying, seasonings are sprinkled all over and served, that’s the basic one. Some use a mixture of sauce and mayonnaise after frying and seasoning.

Zucchini Fries

The basic concept here is to forgo the potato and choose the healthier zucchini vegetable. Breading it and frying it turns into an amazingly sensational snack with a crispy texture on the outside and a smooth and juicy inside.

The breading isn't your typical french fry breading. It's usually thicker and crispier, with parmesan cheese in the mix. I've even hand them with panko bread crumbs, which is extra delicious. Even those who don't like vegetables will enjoy zucchini fries.

Parsnip Fries

This recipe doesn't differ from zucchini types of fries much except you won't be using zucchini but parsnip. The main trick is to make sure you cut the parsnip correctly. You want to cut them thinner so that the breading has a chance to stiffen them up.

Root Vegetable Fries

Much like zucchini fries, but often much crispier, you can cook all kinds of root vegetables into french fries. Whenever you order some of these or purchase them to cook at home, you'll rarely ever have one type of vegetable. In fact, each type is usually colored a different shade of red so you can identify them.

Carrot Fries

For a healthier snack, we're taking carrots and cutting them into thinner french fry shapes. We cut them thin since they'll still be a bit harder than expected (they are typical types of carrots after all). It helps, and I wouldn't skip this step, to boil them first after you've cut them.

From here you can choose to bread them or you can sprits them with olive oil or vegetable oil before cooking in the oven. Sprinkle some parsley or other herb on top to add some color.

Green Bean Fries

You won't have any trouble making the inside of green bean fries soft. The real draw here is the breading and getting it to stick to the beans. They're a healthier option, but if you deep fry them it's not that much better of a choice. But they're definitely an interesting break from your potato-based fries.

Boardwalk Fries

This one is named after a place called Boardwalk of Ocean City in Maryland. People there used to serve some delicious fries, they served that for a couple of decades and that is now called Boardwalk Fries.

Even though it looks like the regular fries, the taste is a little different. People say these different styles of fries taste slightly better than the standard fries.

Unlike standard kinds of fries, boardwalk fries are soaked in salt water for a period of time twice. Each time they set a different temperature. And before serving, the fries are mixed with vinegar and their very own specialized seasonings.

Carne Asada Fries

Kind of like chili fries, carne asada types of fries will be on a plate or in a bowl that is either topped with or mixed with carne asada meat, and guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, salsa, and other types of garnish.

Oven-Baked Fries

As you have already guessed, these types of french fries are baked in the oven. All kinds of fries can be baked in the oven, but the taste that oil-fried fries deliver is way superior.

Having that said, even oven-baked fries need to be fried in oil a bit before putting into the oven. Otherwise, it will lack crispness. The reason why some people choose oven-baked fries over oil-fried is that it is healthier.

Chips

All fries are kind of chips. The only difference between fries and chips is the cutting size. Chips are thinner in size compared to fries.

You cannot oven-bake chips, these fry styles need to be deep-fried in oil, that is when they will get crispy. Chips are crispier than fries.  They taste best when spicy herbs and seasonings are sprinkled all over.

Chimichurri Fries

You may think these are standard or steak fries by look, but once they're served along side steak and covered in chimichurri sauce, scallions, and feta cheese, you'll realize you have something special on your plate. Some people cook them spicy but you don't have to.

Julienne Fries

Julienne fries are crispy and thin, cut to long lengths and to the thin size of potato stick snack. Usually, when you receive these, you'll get many more than expected to make up for how thin they are.

They're really easy to eat, but you'll do best to do so with a fork, dipping them into any types of ketchup, honey mustard, mayonnaise, or other types of mustard, or whatever else you prefer. Some people even will cut them shorter with a knife first.

My secret that I'll share with you now (it's not that secret) is to take these and layer them inside your hamburger to add a crunchy texture. You can do this with potato chips, too.

Waffle Fries

You've probably had these at Chick-fil-A. Waffle fries are cut in such a way that the resulting french fry is flat and looks like a waffle with indentions in it. But the indentions go all the way through.

These types of fries are enjoyable and easy to eat in the car. They're also great to be used as the base of the plate for other meals like nacho fries and gravy fries. Be careful when you pull these out of the oven though, because they can be hotter than expected in the center.

Sweet Potato Fries

If you have never tried them before, you don’t know how good sweet potato fries taste. Even though sweet potato fries aren’t as crispy as usual ones, when mixed with seasonings and served with sauce, they taste luscious.

To be honest, the sweetness of sweet potato makes fries taste good even without seasonings.

Newfie Flavor Fries

Newfie flavored fry types are extremely interesting to cook and to eat. They're named as such because they come from Newfoundland. Sometimes, but not always, the fries will have stuffing within them.

But what is unchanging is that they're served with beef gravy, and often with dressing, onions, spices, butter, and even cheese curds. You could argue this is a variation of poutine, and it wouldn't matter. They're delicious and you need to try them.

Cottage Fries

Cottage fries are perfect for dipping in sauce or mayonnaise. Potatoes are sliced flat like a disc and could be thick or thin, depending on the taste.

Some peel the skin before cutting, and some do it with the skin. Both, deep frying and baking in the oven are options for Cottage fries. There isn't much difference in taste. But when served with gravy, it definitely tastes great!

Disco Fries

Usually disco fries are made with crinkle cut fries as the base though you can use different cuts of fries, it doesn't matter. A plate or bowl of these will then be drizzled with gravy and melted mozzarella cheese. If you let the restaurant choose how much gravy and cheese to add on, you won't get enough in my opinion, so ask for it to be heavy!

Tater Tot Fries

Some argue that these are not fries, but many consider this as fries since it is actually deep-fried in oil like other fries. They are usually served with sauce, and if prepared well, they taste amazing.

The making process of tater tot is pretty time-consuming. First, the potato needs to be boiled and then grated. People from different parts of the world mix the grated potato with different seasonings. Many will eat tater tots and types of onions together, especially onion rings or blooming onions.

And then it needs to be shaped like nuggets by hand. Like others, these types of fries can also be baked in the oven, but for the crispness, people prefer deep frying it in oil. Some people put egg and cheese in the center, which definitely tastes delicious.

Shoestring Fries

These kinds of fries are thin and long. They are way too crispier than the standard french fries, but they get softened pretty quick. So, they needed to be eaten as soon as possible.

When seasonings are sprinkled over shoestring fries, they taste better than they do without seasoning.

Matchstick Fries

Even smaller than shoestring fries are matchstick fries. They're less long, but even thinner if that's possible. They're very crispy, with the breading almost equalling the mass of potato. You'll definitely be eating these with a fork. Trying to dip them into ketchup will result in you losing them in the sauce or spilling ketchup on your carpet.

Potato Skin Fries

Ever heard of Skin fries? After boiling the potato when the skin is peeled, the skin comes off with some potatoes attached to it. Since the skin is thin, when it's deep-fried it looks like chips.

They become very crunchy. And trust me, when paired with proper seasonings they taste even better than regular fries.

Poutine

It came from a Canadian province. Poutine is normal french fries with seasonings and then topped with curds and some gravy. People customize it differently — some add sausages, mayonnaise, and a little vinegar.

Poutine can be topped with cheese as well. In some cities, poutine is served with cheese and meat toppings.

Potatje Oorlog

Potatje Oorlog means War fries. It came from Belgium, and it has an unusual combination of some items. War fries are regular French fries paired with small diced raw onions, mayonnaise, and satay sauce.

It is flavorful because of the seasoning they use in the fries. Those who don't like eating raw onions might not find it tasty at all.

Patatas Bravas

These types of french fries are a Spanish potato fried dish. The potato is cut pretty differently compared to standard French fries. For potato bravas, they make big pieces of potatoes, each piece would be equal to 3-bites.

They season the pieces with spices and herbs. These fry styles cannot be baked in the oven; it needs to be deep-fried in oil. And then served with a special sauce. People like to eat pieces by dipping them into the sauce.  Due to the seasonings, potato bravas taste a little bit different.

Types of Fries to Try to See How Far This Food Can Go

The list of different kinds of fries doesn’t seem to end. People are always experimenting with different items and coming up with new and different types of fries. With that said, wrapping it up, hope this guide helped.

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