I Made the Jumbo Crispy Fries from TikTok and They Were Not What I Expected

Whenever I’m scrolling through TikTok, I can count on coming across a handful of new recipe trends. I don’t usually run to my kitchen to make many of them (instead, I simply share them with my foodie BFF), but when I came across these crispy jumbo fries I was intrigued — not only because they are made with mashed potatoes (one of my favorite side dishes), but also because I am a sucker for french fries, tater tots, and everything in between.

While I was making this recipe, however, I felt a bit frustrated. Although I have mixed emotions about this recipe, I’ll let you be the judge of these larger-than-life fries. Read on to see how it went.

You start things off as you would with mashed potatoes: Boil a pot of water, peel the Yukon gold potatoes, and then give them a lovely jacuzzi treatment. After cooking the potatoes until fork-tender, transfer to a large mixing bowl and mash until smooth. Stir in salt, pepper, cornstarch, and any of your favorite spices (I added garlic powder and smoked paprika). At this point, I allowed the mashed potatoes to cool down until I could handle them with my hands. 

According to the video, the fries get their long shape by you gently rolling the mixture on a flat surface. After attempting to do this with the first three fries, I stopped because the potatoes were falling apart. Avoiding the unnecessary difficulty, I transferred the remainder of the mashed potatoes into a zip-top bag and cut a small slit in the bag’s corner to create a DIY piping bag. I piped the potatoes into four-inch strips and gave them an additional touch of paprika and olive oil spray on top. 

Often with trendy recipes, I find that they’re not thoroughly tested and getting to the finished product isn’t always the simplest. During my first attempt at baking the fries, I followed the recipe and cooked them at 350°F for 30 minutes. Half an hour later, I was left with soft fries that weren’t firm enough to be picked up or dipped. I cranked the heat up to 425°F and cooked the fries for an additional 30 minutes. Yes, these took an hour to crisp up. 

After allowing them to cool down a bit (the inside was steaming hot), I grabbed my favorite dipping sauce and went to town.

Get the recipe: Crispy Jumbo Fries

Sadly, I’ll be turning to my classic frozen tater tots the next time I’m craving crispy, fluffy, dippable potatoes. To start, I found these to be a bit too difficult to be a fun snack. The mashed potatoes fell apart as I attempted to roll them into long, fry-like shapes, and it took over 90 minutes to prepare from start to finish. I will note that I found the texture of the inside to be interesting, as it reassembled the creaminess of mashed potatoes with a firm outside. Despite the slightly creamy interior and flavor from the garlic powder and paprika, there wasn’t much excitement on my end about these fries.

1. Use a piping bag. The mashed potato mixture was too difficult to form by hand, so I recommend adding it to a zip-top bag and piping it instead.
2. Try a wire rack. When cooking the fries, I would suggest placing the piped potatoes on a rack to cook so that air can circulate under the potatoes and you’re ensured a crispy fry.
3. Turn up the heat. In addition to elevating the fries during baking, also increase the temperature to 425°F and the cook time to 35 to 45 minutes depending on how crispy of a fry you want. 

Have you tried this recipe for jumbo fries? Let us know what you thought in the comments.