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Golden, crispy and perfectly fluffy inside — this air fryer French fries recipe tastes better than your favourite takeaway

Name: Golden, crispy and perfectly fluffy inside — this air fryer French fries recipe tastes better than your favourite takeaway
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 400 g floury potatoes, we used Maris Piper; 1 tbsp. vegetable oil; Flaked sea salt, to serve

Get restaurant-worthy chips without the faff of deep-frying.

By The GH Kitchen TeamPublished: 17 April 2025

Recipe by Alice Shields

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bhofack2/Getty Images

Crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle – cooking chips in the air fryer really does give you the perfect French fry. Soaking your potatoes in cold water before cooking is the key to the perfect texture, so make sure you don’t skip this step; see our TIP for why.

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Yields:

4 serving(s)

Prep Time:

15 mins

Cook Time:

30 mins

Total Time:

45 mins

Ingredients

400 g floury potatoes, we used Maris Piper
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Flaked sea salt, to serve

Directions

1. Step 1Peel the potatoes, then cut into 1cm sized strips. Put the potato strips into a large bowl, cover with cold water and leave to soak for 10min. Drain, then tip on to kitchen towel and pat dry.
2. Step 2Tip into a bowl, drizzle over the oil and toss to combine.
3. Step 3Preheat the air fryer to 180°C. Arrange the chips in the air fryer basket – it doesn’t matter if they’re not in a single layer. Cook for 25-30min, tossing every 10min or so, until golden and crisp. Tip into a bowl and sprinkle over some flaked sea salt. Toss to coat.

Soaking the potatoes helps to remove some of the excess starch, which means the chips cook more evenly.

Floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, make the best chips because they have a nice fluffy texture when cooked.

We’ve simply seasoned with flaked salt, but dried herbs and spices, such as rosemary, thyme and smoked paprika, would also be delicious. Toss 1tsp of your chosen seasoning through before cooking.

For more air fryer inspiration, check out our favourite air fryer recipes.

For a chunkier chip, check out our air fryer chips recipe.

15 best air fryers for quicker, healthier dinners in 2026, expert-tested

The GH Kitchen Team

The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor ⁠Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce ⁠Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time

Recipe byAlice Shields

Former Senior Cookery Writer

Alice Shields is the Former Senior Cookery Writer for Good Housekeeping. A trained pastry chef, you’ll find her food styling on photo shoots, developing delicious recipes and writing about all things food. She loves to bake and her favourite pudding will always be a chocolate fondant. Originally hailing from Lancashire, she finally achieved her goal of getting a butter pie recipe into the magazine.

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