29 People Who Are Worse At Cooking Than You

The solution is quite simple – you need to pre-soak your cut fries in water first, 30 minutes for Russet potatoes, and 45 minutes for sweet potato fries. I know, on the surface it doesn’t make sense to add more water, but there’s a good reason. Like most vegetables, potatoes have a high water content. And if that water is allowed to remain before roasting, the fries will partially steam in their own juices instead of baking. By soaking in water, the starch is pulled out of the potatoes’ fibers, which reduces the internal water content – so your fries will bake instead of steaming.