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By using this method, you can enjoy them and not feel like your arteries are clogging with each bite like you would if you ate them in a restaurant!
Just be aware that french fries are made from potatoes, which are nightshade vegetables. These can sometimes trigger health issues for those that are sensitive. This is true even when they are organic and properly cooked in healthy fat.
The great news is that burger joints are starting to pop up all over that are making french fries the old fashioned way too! Here’s a link to my review of the best burger restaurant in my community and how they make them fresh and delicious.
By the way, if you take the time to make healthy french fries, be sure to use homemade fermented ketchup as the condiment.
Blanch the Potatoes First
One step that nearly everyone omits when making french fries at home is blanching the potatoes first before cooking them. This greatly reduces the amount of carcinogenic acrylamide that forms during frying.
Anytime starch is cooked, fried, broiled or baked, this chemical forms, and it is important to take the necessary steps to eliminate this from your food as much as possible.
Selecting a Healthy Fat for Frying
Cooking healthy french fries is all about selecting the right fat for frying. Tallow is the absolute best fat for making french fries! There really isn’t another traditional fat that comes close to the crispiness and flavor of tallow cooked french fries in my experience.
You can either render beef tallow yourself or buy it to make the french fries recipe below. If you wish to buy it, this is an excellent brand of tallow that I’ve vetted.
No Guilt Stovetop French Fries Recipe
No guilt recipe for french fries cooked on the stovetop using a healthy fat for frying. Includes traditional scalding of the potatoes first to minimize the formation of acrylamides.
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes preferably organic
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup tallow
- filtered water
- sea salt
Instructions
Thoroughly clean and chop potatoes into finger size pieces. Leave the skin on.
Place cut potatoes in a pot and add filtered water to cover.
Place uncovered pot on the stovetop and turn on the heat to medium-high. As the water begins to simmer, lower the heat to keep the water just barely simmering.
Remove the pot from the heat after 10 minutes, and drain the water.
Dry the potato pieces thoroughly.
Add tallow to a small fry pan and turn on the heat medium-low. Make sure the tallow is about 1/2 to 1 inch in depth in the pan.
Add a handful of blanched french fries to the hot oil and let cook for 3-5 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove the cooked french fries with a stainless steel slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with a paper towel. Sprinkle on sea salt while they are still hot.
Top up the oil in the pan so that it is the proper depth if necessary and then repeat steps 7-8 until all the blanched french fries are cooked and lightly salted.
Serve immediately.
Refrigerate any leftovers after coming to room temperature.
Low Carb Fried Chicken Recipe
Oh! Oh! It's only 9am and I am wanting some french fries!
My alternative, since for right now I have no beef tallow, is to oven bake my fries. Brushed with a bit of olive oil and salt, they are mmm…mmm… good!
But…they are not fried, which is what I am truly craving:(
Great video Sarah! I'd just like your thoughts on something. My grandmother used to save her bacon grease and my granddad would fry up sliced potatoes for breakfast several times a week using that grease. When my husband and I go camping I often take my store of bacon grease along and that is our camping "treat" that we add to our breakfast. We fry our sliced potatoes in cast iron pans over a fairly moderate heat and they are absolutely heaven. I'm just wondering what you think about using the bacon grease for this as I realize it is very different from tallow.
Can the tallow be saved and used again for fries, or anything else?
Hi Margaret – yes the tallow can be saved and used for something else. That 1/2 inch or so of tallow you saw in the pan that I used – most of that would be used up making 3-4 small batches of fries (1 large organic potato) to give you some idea. You would not have a lot left over.
Hi Cyn – the way you make them is wonderful too! Yes, I know what you mean. There is just SOMETHING about the crunchiness of the french fry though!
Hi Lisa, bacon grease is FABULOUS! Great idea!! I use mine for cooking up eggs – potatoes are a great way to go too! YUM
Sarah- do you think that lard would work as well? Since it is more easily aquired, I use it for some frying. I usually make my fries in the oven, also, but would love some crispy fries from time to time 🙂
One of the things I have been doing (also no beef tallow here) is using either coconut oil, or some good naturally-raised pork lard (I get the fat back from a farmer and render the lard myself). I use organic sweet potatoes, peel and cube them, then mix them with melted coconut oil, sea salt, cayenne pepper and some fresh rosemary. I then bake them on a cookie sheet with sides at 450 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees for another 10 minutes or so.
They are heavenly and I am very addicted to them!
Oh those look so good! I got some tallow from the grass fed beef I recently got from a local farm and I haven't done anything with it yet except put it in the freezer 🙂
If I recall correctly, I need to render it somehow to make it useable for frying, is that right? I know I've read it somewhere, do you have directions on your blog for that? or a video?? that would be awesome!
Thanks,
Tammy
Hi Tammy, do you mean you have the chunks of tallow right from the cow? If so, then yes, you need to render it which is pretty easy. Just cut up the tallow into pieces about the size of you hand and put in a baking pan and warm to about 250F. The tallow will melt and then you remove from the oven and sieve/pour the liquid tallow into glass mason jars for storage. The tissue leftover you discard. Freeze what you won't use in a month or two.
Do I need to do this with the fat I skim off my frozen chicken stock as well? Or can I just use it?
Great post!
We always use beef tallow for french fries, except when we use unhydrogenated real lard. It tastes and feels so good that we just cannot stand the factory oil fries anymore.
We get our tallow from US Wellness Meats.
Stanley
I have yet to get my hands on some beef tallow. This video making me want some now! Your french fries look delicious!
Thanks Coconut Mama. I have to say that once you taste homemade french fries made with beef tallow .. restaurant ones just aren't much appealing anymore! What a great way to teach your kids about how to enjoy quality food without the downside.
Sarah, thanks for the info. Yes, I meant the chunks of tallow right from the cow. I have a couple huge pieces in the freezer and was thinking it is something I should do pretty soon while I can still open the windows and let the house air out because it seems I remember reading that it kind of stinks up the house. LOL But I thought they did it on the stovetop? not sure but your way sounds pretty easy. It will be worth it to be able to enjoy some yummy healthy fries through the winter though 🙂 Thanks again!
Tammy
Hi Tammy, stovetop works too. I have just found it a bit easier in the oven in a big pan.
Hi! I am new to your site and when I saw this post, I knew I had to make them for my daughter's sleep over tonight! I only had rendered lard though…but they turned out GREAT! Thanks for the tips! Kelly
What a nice video making it not seem too overwhelming! My question – do you know about the practical differences, if any, in using kidney tallow vs. tallow skimmed from the broth when making beef broth? Every time I get a cow from our farmer, I make broth and get just tons of tallow from the broth, and use it for browning chuck roasts, etc. I do the same with my pork. But I don't know if there are any practical differences, other than the fact it's not great for a pie crust unless you're making beef pie! (The fat retains a meaty taste when it comes from the broth.)
Hi Lym,
The fat you are talking about from the beef stock is just beef fat, I think, not really tallow. And, yes, I have noticed quite a difference making french fries with beef fat versus the tallow. For some reason and I can't explain it, the fries never crisp up when I fry them in the beef fat. They get all soggy and fall apart. I don't know why this is but it doesn't happen with tallow which is that special fat between the kidneys.
I have a question about tallow – I rendered some a few months ago (from grass-fed beef from our Amish farmer) and put it in a quart jar and it's been sitting in the very back of my refrigerator. I just noticed what looks remarkably like MOLD growing in threads down the side of the jar and on the bottom. What do I do with this now? How long is freshly rendered beef tallow supposed to keep in the refrigerator? Can someone please email me? [email protected] I'm SO sad.
Janet, just scrape out the tallow that doesn't have mold on it and you can use that just fine (kind of like cutting mold away from cheese). It should last 6 months in the refrigerator easily.