French Fry Seasoning

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This French fry seasoning recipe is packed with flavor and better than store bought! It's a savory blend of spices essential for making French fries, onion rings, and other foods even more delicious.

French fry spice in a spice jar with curly fries in the background.

What Is Fry Seasoning?

This savory blend of spices that is used to season French fries, zucchini fries, and other appetizers. It typically includes salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, herbs, and paprika. These spices help to enhance the flavor.

Fry seasoning can be purchased at most grocery stores. However, it is easy and inexpensive to make your own at home. Simply combine the desired spices in a small bowl and store them in an airtight container or spice jar.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

Make your own French fry seasoning at home. It's easy, economical, and it's so much better than anything you'll buy at the store. You can easily customize this recipe to be more personalized also.

Some like it hot, some like it sweet! Homemade French fry seasoning is:

Easy to make - In just minutes, you have a customized blend.
Economical - For just pennies you have a fry seasoning blend that is better than store bought, and for less money.
Lower Sodium - If you are watching your sodium, you can substitute a low sodium salt for regular salt.
All Natural - You have no anti caking additive added to the spice blend.

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What Is Fry Seasoning?
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Ingredients
How to Make Homemade Fry Seasoning
How to Use French Fry Seasoning
What to Use Fry Seasoning On
Related Recipes
Substitutions & Variations
Equipment
Storage
Tips for Success
Frequently Asked Questions
Food Safety
Some Other Recipes We Are Sure You Will Love
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Ingredients

Save a spice jar from your spice cabinet, or order spice jars off of Amazon. They are very inexpensive, and they come with a set of labels usually so you can label your homemade spice blends.

Garlic Salt - You can mix onion granules with salt to make your own garlic salt also.
Paprika - Use regular sweet, domestic paprika.
Italian seasoning - Or, a mixture of dried basil and oregano.
Onion powder - Look for fine onion granules if you can't find onion powder.
Black Pepper - Use fine ground black pepper.
Cayenne Pepper - Just a touch, or omit it if you don't want any heat at all.

various colorful spices in individual bowls on a white background.

Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to Make Homemade Fry Seasoning

I recommend using disposable gloves when blending spices, and if you still have one of the Pandemic face masks, wear one of them so you don't start sneezing. Black pepper, cayenne, and paprika can cause you to sneeze!

I've compiled a very short equipment list below, some or all of which you may already have on hand, that make blending your own signature spices easier.

Measure Spices

Measure out all the spices into a bowl.

various colorful spices sectioned in a white bowl on a white background.

Blend The Spices

Using a spoon or a mini whisk, blend all the spice ingredients together.

mixed spices in a white bowl, with a wooden spoon and with curly fried in the background.

Fill Spice Jar

Transfer the freshly blended French fry seasoning into an airtight container or spice jar. A mini funnel makes filling spice jars easy.
Store the filled jar in a dry cupboard.

PRO TIP: A few dry beans or grains of rice at the bottom of the spice jar will help keep the spices from clumping during storage. Homemade spice blends are all natural, they don't have any anti caking additives.

How to Use French Fry Seasoning

When Air Frying or Oven Baking, spray or brush food with a light coating of oil, then sprinkle the fry seasoning on before air frying.
When Deep Frying or Shallow Skillet frying, apply fry seasoning after frying and draining off excess oil.

What to Use Fry Seasoning On

This homemade fry seasoning is not only for French fries! Season vegetables, steaks, and burgers before cooking. Seasoning before cooking will help the flavors to penetrate the food. Try on other foods, including:

Onion rings - Great on our Air Fryer Frozen Onion Rings!
Fries - Try them on our Air Fryer Frozen Crinkle Fries!
Tater tots - Delicious on our Air Fried Potato Wedges.
Sweet Potatoes - Use it with our Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries.
Chicken nuggets - Sprinkle a little on Air Fryer Frozen Dinosaur Nuggets.
Fish sticks - Use instead of Blackening spice with Mahi Mahi.
Vegetables - Amazing on Air Fryer Zucchini Fries, or Roasted Rainbow Carrots, or Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash.
Chicken Wings - Season chicken wings with this savory spice blend before cooking the chicken wings.
Burgers - Try it on our Air Fryer Frozen Turkey Burgers, or homemade Turkey Burgers!

Full ingredient amounts and preparation instructions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Substitutions & Variations

The best part of making your homemade fry seasoning is that you can customize it to your own taste. If you like things spicy, add some cayenne pepper. If you like things smoky, add some smoked paprika. And if you like things sweet, add some sugar. The possibilities are endless! Some variations are:

Spicy - Use Hot Hungarian Paprika or increase the Cayenne.
Smoky - Add some Smoked Paprika or Smoked Mesquite powder to the blend.
Sweet & Savory - Adding a few teaspoons of sugar will give you a delicious sweet and savory flavor profile.

Equipment

Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Below are some of my favorite pieces of equipment that I use when making this fry seasoning recipe.

Storage

Store freshly made spice blends for up to 12 months in a cool, dark, dry cupboard. Adding a few dry beans at the bottom of the storage container will prevent caking and clumping.

Tips for Success

Use high-quality spices. This will make a big difference in the flavor of your fry seasoning.
Experiment with different spices. There are many different spices that can be used to make fry seasoning. Feel free to mix and match to find your favorite combination. Start with a small amount of spice and add more to taste. It is easy to add more spice, but it is difficult to take it away
Store your fry seasoning in an airtight container. This will help to keep the spices fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some common mistakes to avoid when making fry seasoning?

Using too much salt, not using enough spices, and not storing properly. Be sure to balance the salt with the spices in the fry seasoning recipe. And store in a cool, dark, dry cupboard.

How do you get the seasoning to stick to the fries?

Brush or spray some oil lightly over the food your are air frying or baking. Then add the seasoning blend. For deep fried or shallow fried foods, remove from the oil and sprinkle the seasoning on as soon as excess oil has drained away.

What are the ingredients in fry seasoning?

Typical ingredients in a fry seasoning recipe include salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. However, there are many different variations of fry seasoning, so you may find other spices like sugar, lime, and mesquite flavors included as well.

How much fry seasoning should I use?

The amount of fry seasoning you use will depend on your personal preference and the type of food you are seasoning. A good starting point is to use ½ teaspoon of fry seasoning per 1 cup of food. You can always add more seasoning to taste.

Food Safety

Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
Wash hands after touching raw meat
Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
Never leave cooking food unattended
Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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