Air-fried “dirty fries” in 15 mins

Proper delicious fast food, taking about 10 minutes for cooking the fries and then a further 5 minutes of cooking to finish off.

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This dish is very much a guilty pleasure, but it is so delicious. Dirty, perhaps even downright filthy, but delicious.

If you’ve never had dirty fries, then I welcome you to one of the ultimates in comfort food: potato fries smothered in a smoky, sticky, cheesy and spicy sauce.

The contrast between crispy bits of the fries and the soft bits, all bound together in the punchy sauce, is wonderful.

It might seem bizarre, but it just works!

You can use a ready-made spice blend and bottled bbq sauce: simply toss together with the cheese and the cooked fries/potato wedges and finish in the oven/ air-fryer. If it’s a good bbq sauce it will still taste superb.

If you don’t have an air-fryer, this can be made in the oven at 190-200°C: it just takes about 15-20 minutes longer to cook in total, with the pre-heating of the oven and the like.

If using the air-fryer, why not embrace the sheer dirtiness of it all and serve up in the foil it cooked on!

I love eating these straight out of the foil! Alternatively, you can decant the mixture into a heat-proof dish for the final cooking.

If you have other veg that needs using up, add those to the air-fryer too: carrots and cauliflower are terrific. You can also throw in some cooked meat: left-over roast chicken is wonderful.

Fries, wedges or your own choice!

I often use frozen oven fries here: they take about 10 minutes from the freezer and are ideal when I crave a speedy bite such as this. I make up the sauce while the potatoes cook, so the dish then takes about 5 more minutes to finish off.

However, unpeeled potatoes (including salad potatoes) chopped into wedges or even halved if they are fairly small are also great here. This is also lovely made using left-over roast potatoes.

Either way, just cook the potatoes until they are to your liking.

Home-made spice blend

Instead of making the spice blend, you could instead use a bought cajun spice blend – or spice blend of your choice.

The spice blend itself is so easy to make: the recipe for it (below) makes more than you need, but the remainder can be kept in a small jar and popped into your spice cupboard to be used when needed. It’s also great as a rub for meats prior to cooking.

Cheese and jam!

I prefer using a smoked cheese: smoked Red Leicester is sublime, as is smoked Cheddar. However, if you can’t get a smoked cheese use a mature hard cheese for flavour. I tend to mix all the cheese in at once, but you can sprinkle some on top before the final cooking if you want a crispy cheese topping.

I use either bacon jam, chilli jam or bbq sauce as part of the “dirty” sauce, which adds a real punch of flavour and helps with the essential gooeyness of the finished dish! I’ve linked my recipes for these below, although there are excellent commercial varieties of these.

Air-fried “dirty fries” – serves 2-3

Spice blend (or use a bought Cajun blend):

• 4 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper

Fries:

• 2-3 handfuls of frozen oven fries
• 1 teaspoon spice blend
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

“Dirty” sauce (or use about 3 tablespoons bbq sauce and cheese):

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, peel & sliced thinly, with some reserved for serving
• 2 tablespoons bacon jam or chilli jam or even bbq sauce
• 2 teaspoons ready-made English mustard
• 2 teaspoons spice blend (above)
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (cider, red or white wine vinegar)
• 80g smoked cheese of choice, grated

Spiced crème fraîche:

• 3 tablespoons crème fraîche (or natural yoghurt)
• 1/2 teaspoon spice blend

• a couple of slices of pickled jalapeño, chopped
• the spiced crème fraîche
• a light sprinkling of the spice blend

(1) Make the spice blend by adding the ingredients to a small bowl and mixing well.

(2) Line the air-fryer tray with foil and add the frozen fries or potato wedges.

(3) Spoon over the oil and the spice blend and toss through the fries to lightly coat them.

(4) Cook the fries at 200°C for about 10 minutes until cooked (around 20 minutes for wedges). Meanwhile, prepare the “dirty sauce”:

(5) Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and add most of the red onions along with the spice blend, reserving a little of the onions to scatter over when serving. Cook for a few minutes to slightly soften the onions and then add the remaining dirty sauce ingredients apart from the cheese.

(6) Cook for a few minutes so the mixture breaks down a little and turn off the heat. Stir in the cheese.

(7) When the fries are cooked, add the “dirty” sauce and stir gently through the fries: you don’t need to worry about coating every piece of potato and don’t worry if a few break apart. Cook at 200°C for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling.

(8) Make the spiced crème fraîche by mixing the crème fraîche with the spice blend. Drizzle over the potatoes along with a scattering of the jalapeños, the remaining slices of red onion and a light dusting of the slice blend.