Finding the Finest Fast Food Fries
As someone who loves fast food, I’ve eaten at a variety of places and have always found fries to be the most divisive topic. I’ve found the best burger, shake, ice cream, or drink at fast food places, but no one can seem to agree on a general answer to the best fry. It seems to be a controversial topic both in my life and on the Internet, with every list giving wildly different answers. Since no one could seem to agree, I set out on a mission to rank fast food fries.
This list is based on five categories, each ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 and then averaged out. The scores for crispiness, freshness, saltiness, and ability to stand alone - taste - are all ranked based on my subjective perceptions of the fries. The final category, cheap and plentiful, is a ranking based on the price per ounce, with the cheapest per ounce getting a 10 and the most expensive getting a 1.
So what makes a good fry? A good fry has to meet a few criteria. First, the fry has to be fresh, warm, and not soggy. Also, the fry should be crispy. Specifically, when you bite into it, the fry should be crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and the smaller pieces should be crisp, but not so crunchy that they leave a burnt taste in your mouth. Additionally, the fries should taste good, so they should be well-salted and stand on their own well, not requiring any sauce to be enjoyable to eat. Lastly, the fries should be affordable: you should receive fries proportional to the amount that you pay.
By those criteria, here are the best fast food fries, ranked in ascending order:
8. Burger King
Score: 4.2/10
Burger King might be the ruler of burgers, but it certainly doesn’t have the fries to match. The fries were warm but not fresh and had a strange coating that left an unappealing aftertaste in my mouth. They were also quite bland, barely having any salt or flavor. In addition to this, they were very soft, with no crispiness whatsoever. They were surprisingly cost-effective, but their price wasn’t enough to make up for their taste – a disappointing showing from such a popular fast-food restaurant.
7. Dairy Queen
Score: 4.4/10
An underwhelming score from Dairy Queen. While the fries were certainly fresh, they barely had any flavor or crisp to them. They were slightly soggy and bland overall. With some sauce, or -- hear me out -- dipping them in your Blizzard, they could be decent. But on their own, these fries don’t hold up.
6. Jack in the Box
Score: 4.8/10
Jack in the Box’s fries were mediocre in every way. They were fresh and warm for a minute but got soggy quickly. The crispiness was inconsistent within every fry, with some bites being perfectly crispy, others very soft, and others practically burnt. In terms of taste, they were very undersalted and fairly bland. Despite this, they had a bit of flavor to them, and the bites that were crispy tasted decent.
5. Wendy’s
Score: 6.2/10
While Wendy’s fries have had a ton of build-up around them overall, I found them disappointing. The fries were slightly warm and weren’t consistently crispy, having a bit of crunch but not very much. The smaller fries were overly crispy and the larger ones didn’t have any crisp at all. They were decently salted but needed some sort of sauce to have enough flavor.
4. Chick-fil-A
Score: 6.7/10
Whenever people talk about the best fries, Chick-fil-A’s waffle fries almost always come up, but I don’t think they lived up to the hype. To be sure, they were warm and fresh, and outstanding in crispiness. Very few places understand how to make a satisfyingly crispy fry, but Chick-fil-A does it well. The fries are crisp along the edges but soft in the middle. However, this could not make up for the taste. The lack of salt and flavor made this fry fairly bland and unappealing.
3. Kentucky Fried Chicken
Total Score: 6.9/10
KFC’s fries came as something of a surprise. I wasn’t expecting much out of fries from a fried chicken place, but they were very good. They were right out of the fryer, fresh and fairly crispy. However, the salting was variable, with some not having nearly enough salt, and others having way too much. This could probably be masked by a sauce, but on their own, the fries don’t hold up very well. Even though they were good, they were by far the least cost-effective fry, with a price of almost a dollar per ounce. But if you’re willing to pay, these fries are worth a taste.
2. McDonald’s
Score: 7.8/10
McDonald’s performed well. Their fries were good, with enough salt to be flavorful, a good taste, fresh, and warm. The only area where they underperformed was the crispiness of the fries. The fries were overall very soft, even the small pieces that are usually very crispy. The fries were delicious, but I wanted more. That being said, McDonalds was certainly the most cost-effective, being only 39 cents per ounce.
1. Five Guys
Score: 8.7/10
Five Guys certainly did not disappoint with their fries. Their fries were warm and fresh from the moment you took them out of the bag, a little hot but after about thirty seconds they were the perfect temperature. They were flavorful and well-salted, there was no need for a sauce to complement the flavor. The only complaint I had was inconsistency. Some of their fries were more or less salted than others, but it was kept within a reasonable range and barely affected the taste. Five Guys were by far the most expensive fries on the list, but you get an insane amount of fries for the amount you pay, having one of the cheapest prices per ounce.
Even though Five Guys has the best fries, if you’re looking for the best value, you’ll get it at McDonald’s. The cheapest fries on the list at only $1.89, they have the best value for what you get, and even though they aren’t the best, they’re pretty close and still very good.
I went into this thinking that I had an idea of what my favorite fry was, but I found myself surprised by some of the fries I hadn’t considered. I enjoyed Five Guys’ fries the most, but fry taste is very subjective, so I invite you to try them yourself and see what you think.