I wouldn't bother doing potatoes from the raw state, without soaking. It will take about a half an hour and the texture won't be nearly as rewarding. They just don't get very crispy without that cold soak.
The soaking, Mr. Nasr said, is the secret to the crisp texture of the fries. It draws out the starch, making them more rigid and less likely to stick together. The cooks fry them twice, first blanching them until slightly limp in peanut oil heated to 325 degrees, and again in 375-degree oil to crisp and brown them.
Soaking the potatoes after they're cut draws out some of the starch which is naturally present in potatoes. This will result in a crispier fry. A thirty minute soak in cold water does the trick but you may soak them longer if you want. After soaking, be sure to dry the potatoes before you fry them.
Soaking potatoes helps to remove the excess starch from the potatoes. Removing the starch helps the potatoes cook crisper.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes.
The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.
Soaking raw potato slices in water for 15-30 minutes before frying or roasting helps reduce acrylamide formation during cooking. (Soaked potatoes should be drained and blotted dry before cooking to prevent splattering or fires.) Storing potatoes in the refrigerator can result in increased acrylamide during cooking.
Why is my food not crispy in the air fryer? If the air is not hot enough, or if you overcrowd the basket, your food will not come out crispy. Preheat the air fryer for at least 3 minutes, and work in batches if you need to.
It cuts calories by 70% to 80% and has a lot less fat. This cooking method might also cut down on some of the other harmful effects of oil frying. The reaction that happens when you fry potatoes or other starchy foods makes the chemical acrylamide, which research links to greater chances of getting cancer.
Prevent lingering smells by soaking your basket in warm soapy water. You can also try cutting a lemon in half, rubbing it in the basket, and letting it sit for 20 to 30 minutes before washing your air fryer basket. You can also consider using a mild vinegar solution to alleviate foul smells.
Allow them to soak, 2 to 3 hours. (You can also stick them in the fridge and let them soak overnight.) When you're ready to make the fries, drain off the water and lay the potatoes on 2 baking sheets lined with paper towels. Blot with paper towels to dry them.
While you are air-frying
Add water to the air fryer drawer when cooking fatty foods. Adding water to the drawer underneath the basket helps prevent grease from getting too hot and smoking. Do this when cooking bacon, sausage, even burgers if they are particularly fatty.
Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of your potatoes, how much you cook and the size of your air fryer. Try to choose a wider potato, as the slices will shrink quite a bit.
It's important that the potatoes are uniformly sized for even cooking. Add the potatoes to a large bowl of cold water and soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight).
It's best to parboil the potatoes first before pan frying to get cooked tender inside. In my experience, not boiling the potatoes first will result in not well cooked inside but crispy outer potatoes. Unless you are cutting the potatoes extra thin (which makes it like potatoes crips) then it's best to boil first.
Removing the starch reduces the carbohydrate content, which is helpful when you're following a low-carb diet. In addition, cooking high-starch potatoes makes them soft and crumbly. Remove the starch when you want to cook crispy potato dishes, such as chips, French fries or hash browns.
The downside
Air-frying also produces high temperatures at a very rapid rate, thus making it extremely easy to burn food. And charred food may be carcinogenic. In addition, Cucuzza adds, because most devices cook 1 to 3 pounds of food at a time, it can be challenging to air-fry meals for a large family.
So if you often eat deep-fried foods, switching to an air fryer could be helpful. If you're cooking a food that you wouldn't normally add fat to when you cook it, whether that's ready-made oven chips, bacon, sausages or breaded chicken, being cooked in an air fryer is unlikely to make it healthier.
Plus, potatoes cook faster in an air fryer than they do in an oven. Baking a potato in the oven takes about an hour. However, an air fryer is essentially a small convection oven, cooking a potato in just 30-40 minutes. Air fryers also use less energy than your oven.
Your air fryer French fries could come out mushy or soggy if you don't air fry them at the right temperature. Follow my directions and you should be fine! Another thing to look out for is an overcrowded basket. If the hot air is unable to pass between the potatoes, they won't get crispy.
This is because your air fryer fries have either been cooked on a temperature that is too high or that you have not soaked them or added enough oil. It's like when you fry onions on a heat that is not hot enough.
You can limit the amount of acrylamide in air-fried food by cooking it for the shortest amount of time and at the lowest temperature necessary to achieve perfect results. French fries should be cooked until golden-brown, and meat should be cooked to a safe internal temperature.
In principle, acrylamide can be removed from the food as vapour by choosing suitable temperature and pressure conditions. The possibility to reduce acrylamide levels in foods by means of its physical removal has been already investigated (Zhaoyang, 2003).
Acrylamide can be reduced by not cooking food at a too high temperature for too long. Consumers should aim for a golden yellow colour or lighter when frying (including air frying), baking, toasting or roasting food.