Nacho Fries Recipe

Homemade french fries perfectly seasoned with a spicy nacho cheese sauce for dipping, this Nacho Fries Recipe is the perfect copycat to the original.

It’s pretty obvious that I love a good copycat, and today’s Nacho Fries Recipe has been in the works since I first tried them at Taco Bell.

Irresistibly seasoned crispy homemade fries with a creamy, cheesy, slightly spicy nacho sauce?! Sign me up.

I absolutely love the challenge of recreating my favorite restaurant recipes at home. When I can make all of our staple dishes we order out all the time, I see that as a win-win situation.

The best part about this Nacho Fries Recipe is that we can have one of our favorite side dishes even when the restaurant decides to discontinue it.

Much easier than it looks, treat yourself and your family with this yummy, even better than the original copycat recipe today!

Some of my other favorite fry recipes that we have on our site include: Chili Cheese Fries, Oven Sweet Potato Fries, and Baked Asparagus Fries.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: 

• Customizable to fit your spice level.
• Easy-to-find ingredients make this simple to put together.
• It makes a lot to feed a crowd.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE BELOW): 

• Oil for frying
• Russet potatoes
• Cheez whiz cheese dip
• American cheese
• Pickled jalapeno juice
• Whole milk
• Sweet paprika
• Smoked paprika
• Chili powder
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

HOW TO MAKE NACHO FRIES RECIPE: 

1. Preheat a deep fryer or dutch oven with 4 inches of oil up the side of the pan to 325°F.
2. Place the cut potatoes into cold water while you are waiting for the oil to come up to temp.
3. When the oil is ready, take the fries out of the water a handful at a time and dry them off completely using paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. 
4. Add the fries to the oil and cook until they are just cooked through and soft, 6-8 minutes. Stir them around every few minutes. The fries will not have much color on them at this step. 
5. Place the blanched fries onto a wire rack that is placed over a sheet tray to catch any drips. Repeat with the remaining fries.
6. While you are blanching the fries, make the cheese sauce. Place the cheez whiz, American cheese, jalapeno juice, and milk into a medium-sized saucepan.
7. Place the pan over medium-low heat, stirring every so often to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Keep cooking until everything is smooth and melted together, up to 10 minutes. Take off the heat, add a lid to the pan, and set aside until serving.
8. When all the fries are blanched and the cheese sauce is ready, increase the temperature of the oil to 375°F.
9. In a small bowl, stir together the sweet paprika, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper, set aside.
10. Once the oil is up to temp. Add handfuls of the blanched fries to the oil. Cook until crispy and golden brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
11. Again, drain the fries on a wire rack over a sheet tray to catch any drips.
12. Repeat with the remaining fries. Once they are all cooked, add them to a large bowl. Add half of the fry seasoning and toss to coat the fries. Taste, add more seasoning to your liking.
13. Immediately serve the fries with nacho sauce.

DO I HAVE TO USE CHEEZ WHIZ?

While the cheez whiz cheese dip makes the nacho sauce as close to the original as possible, you don’t have to use it.

In place of the cheez whiz cheese dip, you can use equal parts of Velveeta cheese. If using the Velveeta, you may need to add more milk to get the consistency you are looking for.

CAN I ADD ANY ADDITIONS?

Yes! I sometimes like to add different goodies to the cheese sauce to mix it up from time to time.

Try adding some chopped-up pickled or fresh jalapeno, finely chopped chipotle in adobo, or a few splashes of your favorite hot sauce.

CAN THIS BE MADE AHEAD?

Yes, if you are looking to make this for a gathering but want to prepare ahead of time, you can!

The biggest time saver would be to blanch the potatoes ahead of time. Prepare the recipe up to step 5. Then, when you are ready to serve, just continue on with the recipe as written.

The blanched fries can sit out for a few hours at room temperature before the final fry, or you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days before continuing with the recipe.

HOW TO STORE: 

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze any leftover fries for up to 3 months, but I do not suggest freezing the nacho sauce.

To prevent steaming and the fries from turning soggy, I find the best way to reheat the fries is in the oven until crispy on a wire rack over a sheet tray.

TIPS AND TRICKS: 

• Use Velveeta cheese instead of Cheez Whiz, but you may need more milk.
• The fries can be frozen, see above on how to do that. I do not suggest freezing the sauce.
• You can add other additions to this recipe, see some of my ideas above.
• This can easily be doubled or tripled.
• Use your favorite cut of frozen fries instead of homemade in a pinch.
• You can make this recipe ahead through step 5.
• Use peanut oil for frying if possible, as it is a cleaner oil and doesn’t stink up the house as much. 

Craving Taco Bell at home? Then you have to give my Nacho Fries Recipe a try ASAP.

If you like this recipe you might also like: 

• • Wendy’s Chili
  • Texas Roadhouse Rolls
  • Copycat Captain D’s Crunchy Battered Fish Recipe

If you’ve tried this NACHO FRIES RECIPE let me know in the comments how it turned out! You can follow me over on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK to find some more of our mouthwatering recipes!