Baked Garlic Cilantro Fries

Baked fries are awesome to make at home because they're pretty easy (especially if you have a mandoline slicer) and also really delicious. One of the baked fry recipes I make most often is this one, garlic cilantro fries. They're so good and so simple. I will note, though, that I had a lot of trouble with fries sticking to the baking sheet when I first started making baked fries. I tried lining the baking sheet with foil, like most recipes recommend, and they still stuck. I have found that the key to nice crispy fries that don't stick is to line the sheet with parchment paper. If you don't already have this in your kitchen, you can easily pick it up from any grocery store. Highly recommend using it for fries! They come out so much better than any other method I've tried.

Ingredients:

2-3 russet potatoes, cut into thin fries
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped, or 1-2 tsp. dried cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Soak thinly cut fries in cold water for 5-20 min, depending on how much time you have. You can skip this step, but the fries won’t be quite as crispy.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Drain fries and dry with paper towel.
5. Toss the fries with the olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. If you are using dried cilantro, you can also add that here.
6. Spread seasoned fries out on a baking sheet in a single layer.
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on the temperature of your oven and desired crispiness of fries. Flip the fries every 15 minutes while baking.
8. Remove fries from over, toss with cilantro in a bowl (if using fresh).

This recipe was adapted from "Baked Garlic Cilantro Fries" from The Talking Kitchen (http://www.thetalkingkitchen.com/baked-garlic-cilantro-fries/).