Cooking frozen curly fries in air fryer makes for an incredibly convenient side dish. They’re quick, easy, and even simple to make from scratch! On top of that, you can just get out a bag of frozen curly fries from the freezer if you’re not down for all that prep.
So, let’s learn how long they need in the fryer – and how to make them of course!
Table of Contents
- Answering Your Main Concerns: Curly Fries In Air Fryer, Time And Temp
- How Do I Make My Own Curly Or Crinkle-Cut Fries?
- How To Cook Frozen Curly Fries In Air Fryer
- Air Fried Curly Fries – Everything You Need To Know
- FAQs

Answering Your Main Concerns: Curly Fries In Air Fryer, Time And Temp
Curly Fries In Air Fryer Time
Whether you’re frying from frozen, thawed, or freshly homemade, it’s no surprise that air fryer curly fries don’t take too long. The longest you’ll cook the fries is sixteen minutes tops, which makes them a great, quick n’ easy side dish! So, let’s go over the different cooking times for these fries.
- Thawed Frozen Fries – 6-8 minutes total
- Frozen Fries – 10 minutes total
- Uncooked Fresh Fries – 14-16 minutes, depending on fry thickness
- Uncooked Frozen Fries – 15-20, depending on fry thickness
How Long To Cook Frozen Curly Fries In Air Fryer
Frozen curly fries generally cook pretty quickly. If you cook them at 400 °F, you can expect them to take around 10 minutes in total.
To cook curly fries from frozen, shake some fries into your air fryer until they’re in one layer. Cook your fries at 400 °F for five minutes, then take out the fryer basket. From there, simply give the basket a shake, then cook for another five minutes.
If you don’t have any more batches to fry, that’s it!

What Temperature Do I Cook Frozen Curly Fries In An Air Fryer?
Anywhere from 350 °F to 400 °F is considered suitable for cooking fries in the air fryer.
Regardless of whether you’re cooking frozen or fresh curly fries, the temperature tends to remain the same. If you’re worried about burning your fries, you can turn down the temperature a little when making fresh fries. Frozen fries however require the higher temperature in order to defrost completely so they can cook evenly.
How Do I Make My Own Curly Or Crinkle-Cut Fries?
To make fresh curly fries from scratch, we’re going to be following this recipe by YouTube channel ‘Cooking with Shotgun Red’, where they make these fries as a side for their Philly cheesesteaks.
In order to make these fries, I would recommend investing in a curly fry cutter. There’s really no other way to get those perfect curly fries! If you’re looking to make crinkle cut fries instead, I’d suggest the crinkle cutter linked below (it’s great for making chips too!).
Here’s a link for the curly fry cutter originally used in the video:
And here is a link for a crinkle fry cutter if that’s more your style.
Don’t worry, there are instructions on how to use both in the written recipe below!
How To Cook Frozen Curly Fries In Air Fryer
Serves: 2-3 people
Prep Time: | Cook Time: |
5-10 mins | 16-20 mins |

Ingredients
– 4 – 5 potatoes (russets are best for frying) |
– 3 – 4 tbsp of any type olive oil of your choice |
– 2 tsp of garlic salt |
– 2 tsp of garlic powder |
– 1 tsp of chili powder (optional) |
– 1 tsp of paprika |
– 1 tsp of salt |
– 1 tsp of pepper |
– Parmesan cheese to taste, grated (optional) |
Method
Frozen Curly Fries
Prep potatoes
Begin by peeling your potatoes, making sure to cut the end off each one so they are flat. You can cube these ends later and make cubed fries out of them. Once your potatoes are ready, place one in your spiralizer and turn the crank. When your fry is as long as you’d like it, simply cut it and repeat. Do this with all of your potatoes.
(Optional) Crinkle style
If you’re looking to make crinkle-cut fries instead, you should also begin by peeling you potatoes. After this, simply slice your potatoes lengthwise into two or three flat chunks. Then, use your crinkle cutter to cut each of these into three strips. Repeat until all the potatoes are done.
Oil it up
In a medium – large bowl, add in your curly fries and the olive oil. Alternatively, look here to choose from the best oils for air fryer french fries. Make sure your potato strips are evenly (thinly) covered in oil – shake them around or gently mix them with your hands if needed.
Season
Next, you can begin to season the fries. Just add in all of the seasoning (garlic salt n’ powder, chili, paprika, salt, etc) and mix or shake your fries once more. It’s especially important to mix your fries well on this step, otherwise your fries will be unevenly seasoned. At this point, you can sprinkle the potatoes with parmesan if you would like (and mix once more).
Cooking pt 1
After this, place the fries in a single layer into your air fryer basket. Set the temperature to 400 °F and cook for ten minutes.
Cooking pt 2
After the ten minutes, take out your fries and give the basket a shake to flip them. Place them back in for another four minutes, at the same temperature as before. These extra four minutes work to ensure your fries are not only fully cooked, but also crispy. After the four minutes, flip them again and place them in for another (final) four minutes. You can even leave them a touch longer if your like extra crispy fries!
Serve
And that’s it! It’s that easy to make air fryer curly fries. Serve with anything from air fry mini corn dogs to a stovetop quesadilla, or maybe some homemade Jimmy John’s kickin’ ranch dip! Regardless of what you decide to pair with these fries, you’re sure to impress your guests.

Air Fried Curly Fries – Everything You Need To Know
After all that, you can see that it’s not so hard to make curly fries in the air fryer (even from scratch) after all!
Just remember to keep a temperature of between 350 °F – 400 °F when cooking, and that fresh uncooked fries usually need a little longer. Pre-cooked frozen fries, the kind most people are interested in knowing about, only take 10 minutes to cook, while homemade fries may take as long as up to 20 minutes.
And remember that regardless of the type of fries you’re making in the air fryer, they need to be flipped at least once halfway through cooking .
FAQs
How Long Do I Cook Frozen Curly Fries In An Air Fryer?
To air-fry curly fries from frozen, it only takes about ten minutes. Cook them at 400°F for five minutes, before shaking the basket and cooking them for another five. It’s best to only load one ’layer’ of fries into your air fryer, as you’ll end up with unevenly-cooked fries if you put in too many.
How Long Does It Take To Cook Fries In Air Fryer?
This depends on what kind of fries you’re making – and I’m not talking about curly vs straight. Frozen fries, thawed fries, and fresh homemade fries all have different cooking times – even when it comes to the air fryer. For frozen fries, the cook-time is around ten minutes. Thawed fries are a little quicker, coming in at around eight minutes, while homemade uncooked fries are the slowest. They’ll generally take anywhere from between fourteen – sixteen minutes to cook, depending on the thickness of your fries.