Homemade Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing (Recipe + Pics)

Made this for my cheat day yesterday to celebrate the end of my 6 months of eating at maintenance and kick off my bulk.

For the homemade ranch its pretty easy. I suggest doing this the night before you make these to let the ranch dressing settle down and blend in the fridge which makes it better. I don't have step by step photos here because its fairly simple to do.

Chop up about 1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley, 2 tablespoons worth of chives and put them into a mixing bowl. Then take 2 cloves of garlic(1.5-2 teaspoons worth of the already minced stuff in a jar if you are not using a bulb) and mix it with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and mash it into a paste like substance. Throw this into the bowl with the chives and parsley. Then take 1 cup of mayo, 1/2 cup of sour cream and mix it all together in the bowl. Finish it off by pouring in buttermilk slowly and stirring until you get your desired consistency. Since I am using this as a dipping sauce and not a dressing I like it a little bit thicker.



As far as the fries go its also simple but its a process. Another thing you need to prep overnight are the potatoes. For this recipe I took 3 large potatoes from the grocery store, which weighed 2.25 pounds combined. Cut them up into strips and soak them overnight.



Heat frying oil(I use peanut oil) in a skillet to 400 degrees. Then fry the potatoes and shred cheese while you are at it. My rule of thumb is 1/3 to 1/2 pound of cheese per potato(or per 0.75 lbs of potato). I went with the high end 0.5 pounds since it was my cheat day after all.



You will know the potatoes are done once they are not soggy to the touch with your tongs, but instead are crisp and firm, and also they will begin to show a golden brown color. Here are what the potatoes looked like when I took them out. You can go browner than this but I felt like it was a good stopping point as I do not want them TOO crispy.



Place on paper towels to dry, sprinkle salt and garlic powder and whatever else you want to on there, make sure at the very least you sprinkle salt.

Now the key to good cheese fries are to do it in layers. You don't want to have just a single layer of cheese/bacon/green onions on the very top, because then the fries that aren't on the top won't get any of the action. I do 3 layers. I take 1/3 of the fries, then 1/3 of the cheese and bacon and green onions, broil until melted, and repeat twice. I also will sprinkle a little bit more salt on the fries before sprinkling on the cheese/bacon/green onions.

For this I used a pound of cheddar, 1/2 pound of colby jack, Oscar Meyer bacon bits and fresh green onions. I usually use actual bacon pieces from bacon I cook myself but did not this time. I prefer to use shredded cheese off the block instead of bagged shredded cheese because it melts far better and is much more "moist", I feel the pre-shredded cheese dries out a bit too much.







Once you are done with the 3rd layer and its melted it should be ready to go. Since its just a broil no need to wait to cool down. If you did it right it should be nice and stringy.





FULL RECIPE

Fries:

3 large potatoes cut into strips (about 2.25 pounds)
Oil for frying(I used a quart of peanut oil)
1-1.5 pounds of grated cheese off the block
Bacon Pieces/Bacon Bits
Green Onions(optional)
Salt to taste

Ranch:

1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of sour cream
Buttermilk
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp chives
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt