Air Fryer French Fries Calories VS Deep Fried (Find Out)

French fries are the love of people of all ages because of their taste and crispiness. They are the most popular and common side dish of every food.

You can also eat them without any main course because their taste and flavor don’t need any other thing to eat with.

But you know the food that is prepared in deep oil has a lot of calories which are not good for health. So, here comes the Air fryer as a savior through which you can enjoy your favorite fried food with less oil and calories.

The Air fryer french fries have 176 calories per serving while Deep fried French fries have 471 calories per serving which are 2 times more than air-fried french fries.

Air frying french fries saves a lot of calories with almost the same crispiness and taste. Once you try air fryer french fries, I bet you would not deep fry them again.

To be more clear, let’s know the advantages of making french fries in an Air fryer.

Only a small amount of oil is required to cook french fries.
The air fryer cooks faster than the traditional cooking style.
It heats faster.
You will get crispy and crunchy fries from all sides.

There are enough advantages and reasons to make french fries in the air fryer.

But, when you make french fries at home they don’t come out as good and crispy as the ones we get in restaurants. So, here I’m sharing some tips to make you learn how to make restaurant-style french fries at home.

Keep reading till the end!

Table of Contents

How does an air fryer operate?

The heating mechanism and fan are housed in the upper portion of an air fryer. When you turn it on, warm air descends and circulates over the food in a fryer-style basket.

This rapid circulation crisps the foodstuff in the same way as deep-frying does but without the oil.

This is how you operate an air fryer:

Place your food in the basket
Set the time and temperature
Let the food cook

Tips to make crispy French Fries.

Russet potatoes are best for making french fries because they have very less amount of moisture in them and are dense while normal potatoes have too much moisture in them which makes them soggy while frying.
Always soak french fries in water after cutting them as it removes the excess starch and they do not get stick together.
To achieve the perfect level of crispiness, let french fries soak in water for 2-3 hours but if you are running out of time, at least give it 30 minutes to soak.
The fries must not have any moisture left in them after draining out the water. Make sure to dry them completely before putting them in the air fryer.
Never overcrowd the basket as fries will stick together and won’t come out crispy.
Make sure to shake the basket 2 to 3 times while making french fries to cook them evenly.
Season the french fries as soon as you lift out them from the air fryer basket as the seasoning will stick quickly to the freshly air-fried fries.
You have to eat them as soon as they come out because air-fried fries lose their crispiness faster than deep-fried fries.

Check out the following video to know how to make homemade crispy french fries.

How to make French fries in the air fryer?

Do Air Fried french fries taste as good as Deep Fried?

Yes, Air fryer’s french fries are good and tasty but there would be a slight change in texture because air-fried french fries are not as crunchy as deep-fried.

Second important thing is, Air fried french fries lose their crispiness more quickly than deep-fried french fries, so You have to eat them as soon as you take them from the air fryer.

In terms of crispiness, air-fried french fries are almost as good as deep-fried french fries because as you already know that air fryer works on the convention method which circulates hot air around the food to make it cook and the Maillard reaction helps to create the perfect crispiness on food.

To make it crispy, you can also use breadcrumbs to coat the food but that creates a mess in the air fryer basket because crumbs would fly around the place in the basket. So, to stop bread crumbs from flying around, egg yolks can be used.

Dip your food in egg yolk before rolling bread crumbs on it. You will be saved from the mess and the food will be delicious.

Calorie difference between Air-fried and Deep-fried food

It depends upon the food you’re cooking but it is no doubt that an air fryer saves more calories than a deep fryer.

Check out the following chart of food items and their calorie difference when they are air-fried and deep-fried.

Calorie Comparison Chart

Food items	Air fried calories	Deep fried calories
French Fries	176	471
Fish and Chips	600	1087
Chicken Breast	130	260
Onion Rings	176	411

Calories difference in Air fryer Vs deep fryer.

You can see the major calorie difference in food items so it won’t be wrong to say that an air fryer cuts down calories by a huge amount and that too while delivering similar taste and crispiness.

However, when talking about calories, there are other factors too that contribute to saving calories.

Ingredients

Ingredients play a huge role in cutting or adding calories. If you choose frozen chicken nuggets, onion rings, fish, and chips from the store-bought, their calories would be the same as mentioned on the package. By air frying, you will only save calories that would be added by deep frying it in oil.

Cooking Method

Air frying doesn’t involve oil as it works on the convention method. Hence, it saves calories. While deep frying involves a lot of oil which adds more calories to food.

Sometimes even without adding oil, high calories ingredients are used which makes food calories as high as in a deep fryer. So, it’s also the cooking method that cuts or adds calories to your food.

Eating Habits

Eating habits also contribute to calories because if you are habitual of eating deep-fried food 2-3 times a week, your calorie intake will be reduced if you replace the deep fryer with an air fryer.

But, if your calorie intake is already less and you hardly eat deep-fried food 1-2 times a month then an air fryer wouldn’t do much difference to your calorie intake.

Air fryer not only helps in reducing calorie intake but also helps in weight loss and I believe many people would benefit by replacing deep fryer with air fryer as it is a much healthy and wise option.

Why is deep frying so bad for you?

When you deep fry food, you immerse it in a tub of oil.

This dry-heat cooking method cooks the meal with fat, or in this case, oil. Frying is a high-temperature cooking procedure that cooks food once the temperature reaches around 400 degrees in order to generate a crunchy texture and golden-brown hue on the food’s outside.

Conclusion

In summary:

Air-fried french fries have way fewer calories than deep-fried french fries.
The amount of calories in air-fried french fries is 127 per serving while deep-fried french fries carry 471 calories per serving.
An air fryer is a healthy option for people who are used to eating deep-fried food.
Your cooking method also plays an important part in adding or cutting your calorie intake.
Air Fried food doesn’t make much difference to your diet if you’re already not a fan of deep-fried food.