At their most basic, french Fries are potatoes, cut into matchsticks, deep fried and salted. So you might think that they are a safe option in restaurants. Unfortunately that frequently is not the case.

First, lets discuss what can go wrong with french fries

1) French Fries can be coated – Several restaurants coat their fries for extra crispiness and flavor. Several frozen brands also coat their fries. The potatoes are tossed in seasoned flour before deep frying. That flour may be loaded with additives, flavors, wheat, corn, or other items that you might not want your child to eat. I have not eaten in a Burger King franchise in a long time. You have to read the ingredients. Sometimes there are flavors that are OK and other flavors that are unsafe. For example there is a brand of sweet potato fries that I like. The plain ones are safe and the flavored ones are not.

2) Lack of dedicated frying oil – I know a restaurant that caters to the gluten-free community that puts fries on the gluten-free menu. Unfortunately those fries are cooked in the same fryer as the flour coated onion rings, flour coated chicken fingers. and flour coated anything else. When the fries go into that contaminated oil, they may be gluten-free but they come out cross-contaminated. You have to ask about the fryer. If they don’t have a dedicated fryer then the fries are probably not safe.

3) Problem Oils – Fries can be fried in corn oil, peanut oil, or soy oil, creating issues with allergens. They are also frequently fried in animal fat (tough for the vegans) or GMO oils like cottonseed, canola, corn and soy. So for those of us with other allergen issues it becomes time to play twenty questions about the oil with the server.

So what is a person to do?

If you can handle peanuts try Five Guys. Five Guys deep fries their french fries in pure peanut oil. The fryer is dedicated to french fries and they do not even offer any breaded fried foods in the store so there is very little chance of cross contamination. The fries have only three ingredients, peanut oil, potatoes and salt. Sure, they are a bit bland, but they are fresh hot safe fries eating out. I am actually not aware of any other fast food chains with low allergen fries. I do know that McDonalds has a dedicated fryer, but having watched the assembly of an order there, I would not feel safe at McDonalds, Burger King or any of the places that sells fried chicken.

If you want to make them at home, try Whole Foods Organics store brand shoestring fries. Alexia Organic Fries are also OK but you must get organic and plain fries. Other flavors may have GMOs, additives, or allergens. If you don’t mind GMOs then you can try OreIda or many other brands of plain french fries.

Despite the gluten-free manu and general gluten-free friendliness of the place, the fries at Outback Steak House are coated and the fryer is not dedicated. Applebee’s also uses a shared fryer (per their website).
TGI Fridays appears to be similar.

I wish there were more options when eating out, but this is an area where the options really are not there. Until other chains start to really take the situation seriously, your best bet is often to make fries something that you eat at home.

Although if you can handle peanuts and your child really wants to eat out, go to Five Guys.

issue for us but a huge issue for many of our friends. Five G