I’ve been to many restaurants and bars over the years and I’ve had my fair share of cheese fries. There’s nothing quite like a heaping plate of french fries covered in cheese, which is why I decided to give away my secret recipe to the greatest plate of cheese fries you will ever indulge in.
Sure, there are a lot of restaurants out there with cheese fries, but cheese fries are definitely not all created equal. Some cheese fries are made with nacho cheese sauce, some are made with melted shredded cheese, some are topped with bacon, some are topped with chili… some are topped with stuff I’ve never even heard of… stuff that shouldn’t be anywhere near french fries. But no matter how you create your cheese fries, the secret lies in the cheese you use… that’s it.
You could use the most amazing bacon in the world, or pulled pork that’s been smoked for days, but it doesn’t matter if the cheese you use is garbage.
So now that you’re mouth is watering for the name of this incredible food, let’s take a look at the recipe.
Cheese Fries Recipe
The Fries
Honestly, the fries don’t even matter that much so just use what you prefer. I tend to just use Ore-Ida Country Style French Fries or the Shoestring fries, frozen and then just throw them in the Air Fryer until they are nice and crispy.
If you don’t have an Air Fryer, which I highly recommend, you can always bake them or use a deep fryer. I just personally don’t like dealing with the oil that comes with using a deep fryer, and I feel like baking them doesn’t give you the same crispiness that I look for in a french fry.
Also, if you’re really lazy and don’t want to bother buying a huge bag of french fries and cooking them up, just swing by your favorite fast food place and pick up a large order of fries. The McDonalds fries will work just fine for this and nobody will judge you… too harshly.
So now that you’re sitting with a large pile of cooked up french fries, it’s time to bring in the star of the show… the cheese.
The Cheese
As I said above, the cheese is absolutely the key to any good cheese fries. You could have the freshest french fries, the most amazing bacon bits, great chili, whatever… but if the cheese is bad, it ruins the whole plate.
Don’t get me wrong though, when it comes to making nachos at home I can do the Kraft Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese on top of a pile of tortilla chips all day… but I don’t mess around when it comes to my cheese fries.
So now, without further delay, the star of the show, heaven in your mouth….
Merkts Cheddar Cheese Spread
That’s it, that’s the secret sauce.
I have written about Merkts Cheddar on this site before and can’t express how much I love their Sharp Cheddar Cheese Spread. I eat it on crackers, I put it on my burgers, I put it on grilled cheese, I put it on fries (obviously), I put it everywhere… it’s that good.
Places like Edzo’s Burger Shop and Buffalo Joe’s in Evanston have figured out that this cheese is absolutely amazing, which is why they drench their cheese fries in it (cheddar chips if you’re a Buff Joe’s purist). Cheesie’s Pub and Grub has also discovered the awesomeness that is Merkts cheddar and have incorporated it into one of my favorite grilled cheese sandwiches at their restaurants, The Mac (American cheese, Merkt’s cheddar cheese and homemade macaroni and cheese on Texas toast).
So there’s no doubt that this cheese is doing something right, but the best part is, it’s available at most local grocery stores (at least I think it is, their store locator is broken at the moment).
How to Make The Best Cheese Fries at Home
What You Need
As mentioned above, you only need two things for this recipe.
- French Fries (dealers choice)
- Merkts Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Preparation and Execution
- Cook the fries using your preferred method.
- Scoop Merkts cheddar into a microwave safe dish
- Place dish with Merkts cheddar into the microwave and nuke for 15 seconds.
- Check the cheese to determine if it’s melty enough, if not, nuke a little longer – try to do this in small increments as you don’t want to overheat the cheese, you just want it melty enough to pour over the fries (or dip into).
- Pour melted cheese overtop of fries, or set dish next to fries for dipping.
- Enjoy!
Seriously, that’s it.
You can always add things overtop of the cheese fries if you’d like; bacon, scallions, chili, pulled pork, tomatoes, onions… whatever, use your imagination, but at the core of this delectable dish is the cheese.
Based on 1 Review(s)
I have enjoyed these cheese fries since I was a little kid now 37 Irving’s has used this for YEARS in Wilmer the!!!
Love me some Irving’s!