You guys love my Loaded Nachos so I thought I would share my loaded French fries – loaded Greek French Fries to be exact. Crispy baked crinkle fries – double baked with cheese and ground beef for the meat, and lots of spices and fresh veggie toppings along with a tzatziki feta cheese sauce, to give this dish loads of flavor. We love these loaded fries as a fun dinner, but they’d also be great as an appetizer, side dish, for game day, movie night or game night. The ultimate shareable snack for any occasion!
Ingredients for Cheese Fries
- FRENCH FRIES: To make loaded fries you’ll need fries of course! Free free to make your own French fries from scratch or use frozen fries for a faster snack – like I usually do as I hate deep frying anything. I like to use crinkle cut fries but feel free to use any size or shape you prefer like steak fries, wedge cut fries or waffle fries are also quite fun.
- OLIVE OIL: Just a little for cooking the ground meat
- GROUND BEEF: I use lean ground beef – I do not drain off the fat cause that is where all the flavor is but feel free to if desired. If you prefer to use a different ground meat you can do so also – ground chicken, ground turkey, ground lamb would also be great or even a little ground pork with the ground beef for more flavor.
- ONION & GARLIC: I like to use fresh onion and garlic to season the beef along with the powdered for more flavour. I used a yellow onion but feel free to use red onion or even shallots
- SPICES: I used a blend of spices that resemble the blend of spices in a Greek Style Gyro – so a blend of paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, oregano salt and pepper. Feel free to adjust amounts to taste.
- CHEESE: Use freshly shredded cheese – for a Greek cheese I recommend Kasseri cheese – which melts well or simply use cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese or a blend of the two
- SAUCE: For the Sauce whisk together Greek Tzatziki with crumbled feta to create a cheesy tzatziki sauce for the fries. Fee free to use as much of the sauce on the fries as you would like. Use store bought or homemade tzatziki. This sauce is optional but delicious – you could use your own sauce or dressing like ranch, garlic sauce, or lemony tahini or hummus.
- TOPPINGS: I kept things pretty simple – with the basics in a gyro or a souvlaki – Chopped tomatoes, red onions, and chopped fresh parsley and more crumbled feta and a squeeze of lemon juice doesn’t hurt either. More topping options below if you need more.
If you would prefer to load these fries up with more toppings here are some more options:
- Sour cream
- Sliced green onion
- Shredded cheese
- Bacon bits
- Ranch dressing
- Sliced jalapenos or pepperoncini peppers
- Shredded lettuce or cabbage
- Diced or sliced avocado (or guacamole)
- Tahini
- Hummus
- Hot sauce
How to Make Cheese Fries
- Cook Fries: Air fry, deep fry, or bake french fries in a single layer as per recipe below until they are golden and extra crisp.
- Cook Meat: Cook the ground beef along with the onions and garlic, spices and water.
- Cook Fries With Cheese & Meat: Sprinkle shredded cheese and cooked ground meat over the crispy fries and cook in the oven until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Add Fresh Toppings: Add any fresh toppings (like diced tomatoes or sliced red onions) and a drizzle of the tzatziki feta cheese sauce.
- Serve Quickly: Loaded Fries don’t sit well. I recommend having the meat, cheese, and all the toppings ready before the fries are pulled out of the oven. As soon as the fries are done, top them quickly, and eat and enjoy right away.
Loaded French Fries Make Ahead, Storage & Reheating
- MAKE AHEAD: Loaded Greek fries are best served warm straight from the oven so I don’t recommend making the whole dish ahead of time. You can prep and chop or shred all the fresh ingredients up to 1 day in advance and store them in seperate sealed containers in the fridge, which will save time when you’re ready to bake the fries and assemble! That goes for the ground beef as well – cook it as per recipe below – allow to cool then store in a sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to spread it over the hot fries and re-bake with cheese.
- STORAGE: If you do end up with leftovers (which is highly unlikely cause these are gone so fast!) store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- REHEATING: To reheat loaded fries, transfer them to a sheet pan and bake at 300 degrees for about 5 minutes or until warmed through.
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