12 Fast Food Chains That Never Serve Frozen Fries

What's the best part of a fast food meal? Is it the burger? The shake? Those little pots of sauce? Nope — it's the fries. Fast food is simply nothing without the humble fry, with these crunchy, salty, fatty pieces of potato propping up your dining experience with their easygoing flavor and endlessly dippable nature. However, there's a massive distance between a good-tasting and bad-tasting French fry, and one of the biggest differentiating factors is whether it's been cooked from frozen or not. Fresh-cut fries have a slightly more natural, sprightly flavor and a better contrast of crispiness to softness than their frozen counterparts, which can often come out soggy and slightly dull-tasting. Frozen french fries can also have a weird uniformity that makes them feel artificial, whereas fresh-cut fries have a bit more character to them.

The problem is that a lot of fast food chains just don't care about these little extra bonuses that come with fresh French fries. Instead, they pump out frozen fries like there's no tomorrow, doing so because of their cheapness and ease of use. Thankfully, there are also plenty of fast food restaurants that understand the value of avoiding frozen fries at all costs, and which only serve fresh potatoes to their customers. Those guys are our favorites — and we're here to tell you which joints do it.

Perhaps the king of the fresh French fry, In-N-Out is renowned for its commitment to avoiding frozen potatoes at all costs. Instead, the burger joint uses only the freshest potatoes it can find. These potatoes arrive at each In-N-Out in their whole form, and they're then sliced by the employees on-site. Once the potatoes are peeled, they're then placed into a cutting machine, which immediately turns them into a fry shape. These fries are then placed in a water bucket, which preserves their freshness and color.

When the fries are ready to cook, the In-N-Out employee then places them in a rotating drum, which wicks away any excess moisture that might prevent them from frying properly. Finally, they're scooped into a metal bowl, and then transferred to the cooking fat. In-N-Out's fries are cooked in 100% sunflower oil, with the light oil helping them crisp without too much heaviness.

Unlike other fast food joints, In-N-Out fries aren't double-cooked, which can leave them a little on the limp side sometimes. To get around this, some people like to order them "well done" or "light well," which adds a little extra cooking time. This will give them way more crunch, although it can darken their color a touch too much sometimes. You can also perform this ordering hack for the crispiest fries at home.

We've gotta be honest: We're kinda obsessed with plant-based fast food. Some of the biggest fast food restaurants out there have been embracing plant-based options more and more, offering way more selection to their customers. Others, like Plant Power Fast Food, make plant-based options their central offering — and as you'd expect from a fast food restaurant that works largely with vegetables, Plant Power Fast Food seriously respects its potatoes. Plant Power Fast Food's fries are freshly cut and never frozen, and are made solely using Kennebec potatoes. One of the best potato varieties for French fries, their starchiness gives them a fluffy consistency, while their sturdiness stops them from snapping in two too easily.

Plant Power Fast Food's commitment to slicing their potatoes on-site gives each fry a touch of character. The fast food chain doesn't peel its potatoes, instead serving skin-on fries that have a touch of nuttiness in each bite. It also does the same thing with its sweet potato fries, which have an impressive balance of saltiness and sweetness. As for how you can order your fries, Plant Power Fast Food has a few options. You can go for plain, or opt for its Iconic Fries which are smothered in plant-based cheese, grilled onions, and its house sauce. Alternatively, its Carne Asada Fries gives you a vegan feast for the senses, without any meat in sight.

BurgerFi has not had the best run of luck in the last few years, but a recent purchase by the parent company of Savvy Sliders may see it start to grow once more. If it does, we're willing to bet it'll be promoting its fries pretty heavily. BurgerFi serves only fresh-cut fries at its various locations, and opts to use Russets as its potato of choice. It does this because of the high starch levels in Russets, which not only gives it a pillowy interior but which helps it brown beautifully on its outside. Plus, the combination of high starch and low moisture content means that Russet potatoes don't absorb as much oil when they fry, which stops them from getting weighed down with oil.

BurgerFi doesn't peel its Russets, and instead cuts them with their skin still attached. This gives each fry a knobby, slightly rough edge, which adds to its flavor and texture. To cook its fries, it first blanches them, and then cooks them twice in its fryers. This three-stage process may sound cumbersome, but it gradually crisps up the fries without burning them, helping to gradually wick away moisture and cook them through while avoiding any charring or heavy crunchiness.

If you want lightning-speed barbecue, then Dickey's Barbecue Pit is the place to go. The fast food barbecue chain slow-cooks its meats and then serves them to you in mere seconds, and it puts the same level of care into its fries. Dickey's only serves hand-cut fries, which it slices on-site daily. Like many other places that serve fresh-cut fries, the restaurant doesn't peel them — instead, it leaves the skins on, to give them added texture.

It wasn't always this way at Dickie's, though. Its move to make hand-cut fries standard across its stores occurred in 2022, after flipping back and forth between the frozen version and the hand-cut potatoes of yore. "We are thrilled to bring back our original, crispy french fry that is hand-cut, fried, seasoned to order, in-store with our classic Foo Foo Powder as a perfect side for your favorite barbecue," said Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. CEO Laura Rea Dickey to QSR Magazine. It also announced a new take on its potatoes, a Brisket Chili Beer Cheese Fries dish, at the same time. That Foo Foo Powder, incidentally, is a complex, spicy blend of seasonings that gives each fry an added kick. Sounds pretty good to us.

Wingstop doesn't just care about its chicken. The wing joint's French fries are the perfect backing singers to the restaurant's star attraction (its poultry), and they hit the spot thanks to their freshness. Wingstop's fries are cut fresh in each restaurant, before being fried to perfection. Each fry is adorned with a gentle amount of skin, which doesn't overwhelm them but instead adds a little extra interest.

Plus, we have to talk about that seasoning blend. Wingstop's fries take it to the next level by being not just coated in salt, but with a combination of spices, aromatics, and sweeteners that bring them to life. The exact seasoning blend isn't readily revealed by the fast food chain, but people who claim to have worked there in the past have stated that it's a combination of paprika, chili and garlic powder, salt and black pepper, and both white and brown sugar. These seasonings don't just add spicy complexity, but a huge amount of depth and a lightly caramelized note from the brown sugar. When you combine that with the freshness of the fry, things get pretty tasty.

If you haven't eaten at Mooyah yet, you might be about to. The fast food restaurant, which puts out burgers, fries, and shakes that rival the very best, is currently going through its biggest growth year to date, and will soon have over a dozen new restaurants. Part of its appeal as a restaurant is its ability to offer fast food that feels fresh, and its fries are some of the freshest around. Mooyah serves up hand-cut Idaho fries, which it either offers plain, with a green chile queso dip, or loaded with your choice of toppings.

The term "Idaho" when it comes to potatoes generally refers to two different types of Russet that come out of the state. Although Idaho used to also grow Kennebec potatoes pretty regularly, Idaho-based farmers soon realized that the Russet made for a better-finished fry. With their starchy quality and full flavor, we'd have to agree — and the ones you get at Mooyah are pretty good. Plus, if you don't fancy Mooyah's regular fries, you're in luck. The restaurant serves both sweet potato fries and homemade potato chips, with the latter being cut with their skins left on to give an extra pop of flavor.

Elevation Burger does things a little differently when it comes to its fries. The burger-focused fast food chain likes to hand-cut its potatoes instead of shipping them into its restaurants frozen, which helps them retain a fresher flavor. To reinforce this sense of freshness, it then fries the potatoes in olive oil, foregoing the standard choice of sunflower or canola oil for a slightly heart-healthier alternative.

Some folks can be a little tentative about frying with olive oil due to its lower smoke point, but it's worth remembering that it's only extra virgin olive oil that's super fragile. Refined olive oil has a smoke point of about 240 degrees Celsius, making it well-suited for deep frying. Although this refining process means that it has a slightly weaker flavor, it can still impart a light brininess on food that comes out in fries cooked in it — like Elevation Burger's offering. A touch of salt brings out that flavor even more, but Elevation Burger also has a few fry options that crank things up a notch. Its Elevation Fries are smothered in cheddar, house sauce, and grilled onion, while its Fiery Fries add hot pepper relish and jalapeños into the mix.

Dick's Drive-In is a blast from the past. Serving meals daily to hungry customers since 1954, this fast food chain prides itself on its seriously retro feel. Its prices are affordable, its seasonings and sauces are plain, and its menu has items like a root beer float and 2% milk. Eating here is like stepping back in time, and it has the cooking and preparation methods to back up that timeless vibe, starting with its hand-cut fries which are sliced daily.

Dick's Drive-In uses 100% Pacific Northwest potatoes (which is hardly surprising, given that it's a Seattle-based chain). Although it's difficult to know exactly what type of potato this refers to, it's likely that it's a Russet variety, with Russets being the predominant strain throughout the region. Russets are the secret behind why restaurant French fries taste better than homemade, and at Dick's Drive-In they make a fluffy, airy pile of potatoes. Plus, a portion of its French fries (which comes in just one size) will only set you back $2.80, while a plain hamburger is just $2.45. Come for the fries, stay for the prices.

Five Guys has always felt a little fresher than other fast food restaurants. While the likes of McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's can feel just a bit too processed, Five Guys food has a level of vibrancy to it that sets it apart. That vibrancy starts with its fries, which are pretty clearly cut on-site. Instead of having that weirdly uniform, pale appearance that frozen fries can have, Five Guys fries have a pleasing gnarliness to them and flecks of brown, nutty skin that clearly point to their freshness.

Five Guy fries are cooked twice, which helps to develop their interior while browning their outside properly. The fries are sizzled in peanut oil, which is not only cholesterol-free but which gives the potatoes a seriously crispy exterior. Peanut oil stays robust at high temperatures and doesn't suffer the same breakdown that other fats can, and it has a clean, neutral flavor that doesn't influence the fries too much. If you do want them slightly crispier than Five Guys normally offers, though, there's a fry hack that you can do at your local restaurant. Just ask for them "well done," and your server will cook them for a few minutes longer. This may not work at every Five Guys location, but more often than not you'll end up with slightly browner, even crunchier 'taters.

P. Terry's Burger Stand is a real throwback kinda place. From its design to its service approach, this fast food chain seeks to recreate the burger stands of yore, and it has the food to back up its aesthetic. If you need any proof of this, check out its fries. The fries at P. Terry's Burger Stand are freshly cut every day, with the restaurant going into great detail about how its operation works on its website.

P. Terry's starts with Idaho Burbank potatoes, a firm favorite among fast food chains for its ability to produce a perfect fry. The spuds are then sliced, skin and all, before being fried in 100% canola oil. One of the best cooking oils for homemade French fries, canola oil generates a crispy exterior and its high smoke point prevents the fries from burning. It also has a neutral, unassuming taste that doesn't affect the fries' flavor. Once the fries are cooked at P. Terry's, they head straight to the customer instead of sitting under heat lamps and growing soggy and tepid. P. Terry's points out that its natural approach means that its fries can vary slightly in terms of color and texture, but hey, we all kinda want that unique batch of potatoes, right?

Hopdoddy takes the trophy for the fast food chain with the most fun name around, and it has some equally fun burgers to back it up. Among the choices at Hopdoddy Burger Bar are the Ahi Tuna burger, the Mother Nature (which comes stuffed with caramelized onions and a fried egg), and the Terlingua, which is piled high with Texas chili and Fritos. With such wacky sandwiches that take time to make, you can imagine it might try and cut corners elsewhere — but instead, the restaurant commits to using only hand-cut fries to go along with its ambitious burgers.

As with other hand-cut fries from different fast food chains, Hopdoddy Burger Bar's potatoes come with their skins still firmly attached, giving them a little extra texture and excitement. However, unlike different fast food joints, Hopdoddy doesn't just stick to naked fries. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has some choice variations for its fries, including Chili Cheese Fries, Parmesan Truffle Fries, and Nacho Fries, which come piled high with a pico de gallo, sour cream, and a sliced avocado. Oh, and if fries aren't your thing, the restaurant also does crispy Brussels Sprouts leaves, which you can order with a truffle aioli or a green chile queso dip. How's that for selection?

Georgia-based chain The Varsity has a long, established history. The fast food restaurant was first established in 1928, and has since spread to have multiple locations across the state — and you'll likely be pleased to hear that it keeps things as traditional as its age would suggest. The Varsity's fries are freshly hand-cut every day, and made from Idaho potatoes. The fries are then dunked into 100% canola oil, with nothing but salt added to them to boost their flavor.

Plus, The Varsity's other side dishes keep things pretty simple and traditional too. Unlike some other fast food joints, The Varsity makes its onion rings from scratch. The rings are hand-battered on site and fried, giving them a dense, bready crunch that doesn't taste artificial or manufactured. All the better to accompany its classic mains, with The Varsity offering up a host of burgers and hot dogs, as well as chicken nuggets and chocolate and vanilla milkshakes. Honestly, guys, it doesn't get more American than that.