It’s another day, another hangover, another ketchup-stained pillowcase and surprise — there’s another bag of cold, half-eaten McDonald’s fries lurking sheepishly on your bed. Intrigued, you reach for them, but they’re limp and sad, a shadow of the crisp, golden-brown spuds they were last night.
Not to worry — they just need a little TLC. We asked the pros — a food scientist and a woman who eats French fries every day — how to reheat McDonald’s fries to make them delectable again, so grab that greasy sack and get ready for the best breakfast ever.
The Best Way to Reheat McDonald’s Fries, According to a Food Scientist
The real enemy when dealing with day-old fries is sogginess, and the best way to eliminate it, according to Rosemary Trout, program director of Culinary Arts and Food Science at Drexel University, is to stick them in the oven. Lightly coat a baking sheet with oil, spread your fries out so that none of them are touching and bake them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for three to five minutes.
“There’s enough oil in these fries that it will start to render out and re-crisp the outside,” Trout says. But don’t expect their original crispness and generous size — the water loss that occurs during baking will shrink them slightly.
The Best Way to Appreciate Old Fries, According to a Lady Who Eats Them Daily
When it comes to reheating, Marla “The French Fry Lady” McWilliams-Lopez, who eats fried spuds every day, suggests chucking them in an air fryer for a couple minutes, which should do a good job of re-crisping them.
However, McWilliams-Lopez admits to microwaving leftover fries on occasion, which is generally frowned upon because it can leave them flabby. But maybe a flabby fry isn’t so bad. “In my more mature years, I’ve learned to adapt and even appreciate a soggy fry now and then,” she tells me.
How sweet.
If you do go the microwave route, let your fries sit out at room temperature beforehand, layer a few paper towels underneath them, and again, spread them out so they’re not touching each other — that way, you mitigate any secondhand sogginess. Then, nuke them for 20 seconds until they’re hot enough.
So, uh, can I have a couple?
Ian Lecklitner
Ian Lecklitner is a staff writer at MEL Magazine. He mostly writes about everyone's favorite things: Sex, drugs and food.
