French fries transcend fashion. Food trends come and go but chips persist as a source of comforting joy, something we all badly need this winter. For many, that will mean sun-gold chips doused in salt and vinegar, ketchup or mayo. But why stop there?
With budgets tight, loaded fries are currently enjoying a bounce as a relatively affordable, filling treat. Last year, Burger King introduced jazzed-up fries (topped with cheese sauce and/or bacon bits), as did several big-name pub chains. In that same period pub chip sales were up 15%, according to analysts Lumina Intelligence. These brash stacks of top-loaded fries, a street food staple, are going mainstream.
Not that you need to go out to enjoy loaded fries. Think of them as hot nachos: a comforting carb-y base, where toppings are limited only by your imagination and what ingredients you have handy. “It’s in desperate situations the most creative toppings come about,” says Meriel Armitage, chef-owner at Club Mexicana in London.
The Guardian asked the experts to share their wisdom.
The fries
Rules? There are no rules. These are loaded fries. From heaped skinny fries, which invite runnier toppings to drip through their gaps, to experiments with loaded roast potatoes (shout-out to Manchester’s Butty Shop), any form of crispy potato works.
Whether using frozen oven fries or triple-cooking chips from scratch (a tip from Welsh BBQ wizards Hang Fire: use chicken stock when first parboiling your potatoes), a robust, well-bronzed chip is preferable. Undercooked chips too readily absorb moisture and, “once loaded, turn to mulch,” warns Zoë Perrett, co-owner of burger brand Slap & Pickle.
Assembly
“Pile it high does not apply,” says Perrett, who prefers an even layer of “crisp, well-drained” fries in a shallow vessel. Go high and under the topping you may find “a layer of nude, probably soggy fries”, she warns.
You can avoid that issue by patiently layering fries and sauces. Either way, distribute toppings “evenly, so there’s a bit in every bite”, says Perrett. Finely dice them, if necessary. Add any sauce or stew-like topping first, as “edible glue” to which other ingredients will adhere. Thicker, creamier, reduced sauces work better than watery gravies. You want toppings that will sit on fries, rather than soak into them.
Think about balance. For example, “offset soft pulled meats with something crunchy or dry,” Perrett advises. But beware items such as prawn crackers that wilt in moist heat.
Professionals dress loaded fries with zigzagging sauces and scatterings of pomegranates, red chillies or quick-pickled pink onions. But, at home, don’t sweat the aesthetics.
Toppings
Murgh makhani: “At home, this is an addictive go-to dish,” says Aktar Islam, chef-owner at Opheem in Birmingham. Toss chopped chicken tikka with shallots and coriander (if using leftover chicken, ensure it is piping hot), then mix that into creamy makhani sauce (AKA butter chicken). “Adapt supermarket versions to your preferred spice levels,” advises Islam, who embellishes his with Kashmiri chillies. Serve with raita.
Maple and spice: To invigorate four to six portions of chips, create a powdered spice mix with: 6.5g each white pepper, sugar, onion powder; 1.5g each five spice, smoked paprika, black pepper, salt; and 0.5g star anise. Multiply amounts to make a larger batch. It will keep in an airtight container for a month. Erchen Chang, co-founder of Bao in London, sprinkles this mix over fries, then coats them in maple syrup: “As sugar absorbs into hot fries, it becomes slightly crunchy around the edges. It’s delicious.”
Chaat masala chutney: In designing fries for its Worthing Kitchen pub spinoff, Brighton’s Curry Leaf Cafe took inspiration from the textural and flavour interplay of bhel puri and other chaat snacks – but using skin-on fries as a base, rather than puffed rice, crushed puri or samosa pastry. The result is fries tossed with sweet and sour chaat masala spice mix, topped with three chutneys: mango, mint and chilli, date and tamarind, finished with crispy onions, crunchy sev noodles, pickled pink onions, spring onion, chillies and coriander. You can buy almost all those components premade in Asian food stores. Look for MDH brand chaat masala.
Japanese curry and lime pickle: Chips with curry sauce is one of British food’s greatest double acts, and many chefs now use Japanese curry sauces (commonly served with katsu breaded chicken), as an improvement on mild, sweet chip-shop curry sauce. You can make your own but packet curry roux blocks, such as S&B’s classic Golden Curry, “taste better with chips”, says Armitage. Nina Matsunaga, chef-owner at the Black Bull in Sedbergh, ups the ante by dressing curry fries with squiggles of “very spicy” smooth lime pickle and topping that with strong cheddar. Melt the cheese under the grill and garnish with coriander. “It sounds weird, but really isn’t,” she says.
Fermented tofu: Amy Poon, from sauce maker Poon’s, swears by fermented tofu mashed with sesame oil over fries. Preserved in brine, rice wine and seasonings, and available in Chinese supermarkets, the tofu is, she says, “deliciously complex: tangy, faintly cheesy, sweet, salty, creamy. Think roquefort.” Sprinkle over sugar, chillies and chopped spring onions to taste.
Kimchi: Judy Joo, chef-founder of Seoul Bird in London, uses “spicy, umami” kimchi (drained and diced – she names Bibigo’s as an off-the-shelf option), under a layer of grilled mature cheddar, garnished with hot sauce, sour cream, red onion, jalapeños and coriander. “The jalapeños and kimchi cut through with the right sharpness and heat,” says Joo. Ratios are freeform: “Like nachos, put as much or as little on as you want.”
Double chicken: After roasting a small chicken, Kenny Tutt – Brighton’s Patty Guy – sometimes serves the meat with fries, topped with crispy onions, chives and a “chicken gravy mayo”, created by folding warm roasting juices into mayonnaise (3tbsp per 100g of mayo). You could triple the poultry action by adding chicken gravy, too.
Nacho taco fries: These are like “extra naughty” loaded nachos, says chef Sam Evans, co-author of Hang Fire Cookbook: Recipes and Adventures in American BBQ. To serve two as a sharing main, toss 500g of fries in half a 25g packet of taco seasoning. Make a thick béchamel sauce (flour and butter roux, 450ml milk and a splash of cream). Add the remaining seasoning and melt in 250g of burger cheese singles, 75g mozzarella and 100g mature cheddar. Stir until smooth. To assemble the dish, take a large bowl and alternate layers of fries with sauce and scatterings of minced pickled jalapeños, deseeded diced tomato and diced red onion. Pour the remaining sauce on top and garnish with coriander and more onion, tomato and jalapeños. Add sour cream and guacamole on the side.
Veggie lasagne fries: “Firstly, apologies to anyone remotely connected to Italy,” says Evans as she explains this redeployment of leftover meat-free bolognese made with a 50:50 red lentil and minced soy protein mix. For two people, make or buy 450ml of béchamel (see above), add 125g each of mozzarella and cheddar, and prepare 500g of chips. Cook three lasagne sheets (“green spinach ones look great”), and, making two horizontal and two vertical incisions, cut each into nine pieces. In a dish, repeatedly layer the fries, pasta pieces, bolognese and béchamel. Top with the remaining cheese sauce, plus parmesan, mozzarella and cheddar. “Grill until bubbling,” says Evans, who, to bring a modicum of “freshness” to this carb’n’dairy doozy, adds chopped chives and flat-leaf parsley.
Cacio e pepe fries: “A revelation,” says Leyli Homayoonfar, the intrepid owner of Caerphilly’s Bab Haus, who swapped the spaghetti in this dish for fries. For each portion, whisk an egg yolk (“this replaces the starchy pasta water to create that creamy texture”) with a handful of grated pecorino, fresh black pepper and salt. Toss plenty of fresh hot chips in the mix to coat them and gently cook the egg.
’Nduja sausage, hot honey and cheddar: He may hold a Michelin star at Upstairs restaurant in Lichfield, but off the clock, Tom Shepherd loves loaded fries. “I’ve had curry, chilli, chicken caesar salad, even tuna mayo on fries,” he says. This riff around the soft, chilli-mined sausage ’nduja is, he says, “the best to date: savoury, sweet, salty, spicy”. As a sharing dish for two: tear 200g of ’nduja into 2cm nuggets and, in a tray, add salt, one garlic clove, one rosemary sprig. Jostle everything in a little vegetable oil. Roast the sausage at 200C (fan-assisted) for 10 minutes. Place 500g of hot skinny fries in a bowl, then top with ’nduja and the roasting juices. Drizzle over chilli honey (Shepherd uses Rowse’s Chilli Fusion), a smoky, BBQ-style mayonnaise (such as Johnny’s hickory), and 100g of mature cheddar. Grill and top with sliced spring onion.
Baked bean and hummus: A dollop of hummus offers saltiness, “that lift of fresh, zingy acidity” and a creamy textural contrast to the stodgy beans, says Armitage. Finish with sea salt, chilli flakes and, if you are “feeling bougie”, drizzle over tahini.
Mapo no-tofu fries: “I like to make Chinese mapo tofu sauce, without the tofu, and cover fries with it,” says John Javier, chef at London’s the Tent (at the End of the Universe). For four portions of fries: in a wok, fry 400g pork mince, 120g sliced onions and four chopped garlic cloves in oil. Set the cooked ingredients aside. Heat the wok to almost smoking, and carefully add 100ml vegetable oil and 72g doubanjiang (fermented broad bean chilli paste). Cook the paste until dark red and add 40ml shaoxing rice wine to deglaze the wok. Reduce the liquid by around 20%. Add the cooked ingredients to the wok, with 40g caster sugar, 50ml light soy sauce and enough water to cover the mixture. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Thicken the mapo by slowly adding cornflour slurry (equal parts cornflour and water, whisked smooth) to create a gravy consistency. It will thicken more as it comes to a boil. Serve over fries, topped with grilled mozzarella and spring onion.
Ice-cream: “Surprisingly, hot fries melt the ice-cream rather than the fries getting cold,” says US food writer Capri Cafaro, who likens this sweet and savoury novelty to dunking fries in a milkshake. Place scoops of softened chocolate ice-cream on the chips with chocolate sauce and crushed biscuits. “It’s not for the faint-hearted,” says the United We Eat author, “but it’s a great birthday dessert. Kids love it.”
Leftovers: Loaded fries love leftovers. “Go crazy with what you have in the fridge,” says Armitage, who likes grilling vegan cheese over fries and adding a plant-based chilli, tomato salsas and chilli lime salt. Akwasi Brenya-Mensa, owner of Tatale in London, reheats red red, a Ghanaian bean stew, and loads it on fries with chives, sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese.
Sauce, ‘bits’, seasoning
Loaded fries aren’t always teetering stacks crowned with Korean fried chicken or shredded birria brisket. There are simpler ways to transform chips.
Chef James Cochran’s jerk salt – a 50:50 mix of sea salt and dry jerk seasoning – offers the heat and “bold, punchy” flavours that turbo-charge fries, says the owner of London’s Valderrama’s. Combine salt and seasoning in a spice grinder and tumble chips through it.
Tutt tops chips with garlic aioli, parmesan and chives: “Three ingredients, absolutely delicious.” Cardiff pop-up the Two Anchors serves a similar garlic butter, parmesan and parsley fries, which were inspired by a diner. “We grill scallops with garlic butter and spotted one customer drizzling it over her fries,” says co-founder Rosie White.
Armitage augments fries with Marmite and grills them with vegan cheese, while Jess Karia, from hot sauce retailer Bauce Brothers, makes spicy mayo: mix gochujang paste, miso, soy sauce, honey, hot sauce and rice vinegar into mayonnaise, to taste, and add water if required, to make a sauce. Then slather it over fries gilded with parmesan, coriander, sesame seeds and spring onions.
• This article was amended on 10 January 2023 to correct the spelling of Sedbergh.
