13 Grocery Store-Brand Frozen French Fries Ranked From Worst To Best

Keeping a stash of frozen french fries on hand for meals or snack emergencies is a tasty habit to get into. They're more budget-friendly than fast food fries and can be ready within minutes, saving you a trip to the drive-thru and a ton of money in delivery fees and gas tank fill-ups. Sure, you could use hacks to make your homemade fries taste more like restaurant quality. But with so many store brands providing fries worthy of a place in your freezer, you already have your pick of shapes and formats, too, replicating the crispy spud sticks from your favorite eateries, with a bag costing about the same as what you'd pay for a single order. That's a setup that's hard to resist.

You should be aware of what to look for when picking out decent frozen french fries from store labels without having to sample the whole lot. So instead of having your own french fry free-for-all, I did the dirty work and had one for you. You can tap into my exploration of 13 fantastic store-brand frozen french fries from Kroger, Walmart, Albertsons, Costco, and Trader Joe's to learn which of these retailers offer the most premium choices and which could use a little reconfiguration. I would've thought most of these bags had an equal shot at success. After tasting the evidence for myself, I can safely say there's a distinction worth discussing.

You had to know Walmart would do more price-friendly things with its Great Value frozen fries than the other retailers. A bag of regular fries weighs in at 32 ounces and rings up at $2.97, giving shoppers a 27 cents per-serving option to help their french fry money go further. Getting more product for less money is always an attractive prospect ... unless the fries in the bag aren't worth the sizzle. This bag of fries was larger than the other standard options I chose, which was a good sign for plentiful enjoyment. I kept my fingers crossed for something comparable to the pricier options, or at least fries that beat the worst fast food fries as chosen by customers.

I learned quickly there's no sense wishing on a great fry from Great Value where the regular cut is concerned. The ho-hum-ness put my taste buds right to sleep. I longed for ketchup, ranch, mustard — anything to add a touch of flavor to the blandness here. But if the fry is the main event even without its stylish dressing added, then these skippable spuds don't stand up. Large quantities at bargain prices only work when you can enjoy eating them after buying them. With these fries, you can't.

True to form, Great Value crinkle cut fries are another Walmart bargain, the same 32-ounce, 27 cents per serving found in the other $2.97 bags. The strips seemed mega-sized, similar to the Great Value regular fries, and had a pallor that said they might need a little extra sizzle in the oven to get their crispness up to par. I was impressed by the substantial cuts on a second bag of Great Value fries; it seems that Walmart food producers engage due diligence when it comes to providing decently-sized portions.

While the finished fries were far from soggy in spite of the pale color, they were also less than pleasing taste- and texture-wise. I'd probably pass these off as fancy fries for youngsters who aren't well-versed in how a proper french fry should taste, and they'd probably go over like gangbusters. But in my personal fry-losophy, these Great Value taters are practically non-existent. I can feel them disappearing from my memory as I write this.

Garlic powder, yeast, and spices make the difference between a regular Great Value frozen french fry and one that's popping with flavor as a seasoned fry. Anyone intrigued by a fast food-adjacent fry that exits the oven with its own signature flavor can enjoy to their heart's content for a similar $2.97 price point for the 32-ounce bag; this turns out to be 27 cents per serving, one of the better prices on the market. It feels like you're getting something extra without paying more, which can be a big deciding factor for discerning shoppers. The coating certainly appeared to be authentic when the fries hit the baking sheet. All I needed was a taste test to know for certain.

And now I know: these fries are a second-rate attempt at a proper seasoned fry from a store brand. There's a little peppery punch to them, but what comes through even more (and less delightfully) is the batter flavor, which is greasier than it is enticing. I might spring for these if I had a large crowd to serve cookout favorites for, but I'd skip right over them when shopping for my own personal french fry needs. You should do the same.

Frozen seasoned fries get you one step closer to a real restaurant-level experience, a fact that Aldi taps into with its Season's Choice seasoned fries. The familiar garlic-paprika-onion seasoning blend is on hand to zest up your spud snack or add jazz hands to your main dish. The promise of extra crispiness sounded like a snazzy deal, though the fries straight out of the bag appeared a bit wan and unimpressive. I withheld judgment until I could taste the finished product, since no one eats a frozen french fry, and early impressions like this can be wholly deceptive.

Later impressions pretty much line up with the earlier ones; these fries are some of the most nondescript tater strips you could hope for. There's nothing radically endorsable here; the crispiness isn't all that great, and the flavor is nothing special. The best I can say is that at $3.29 for a 26.49-ounce bag and 36 cents per serving, at least you won't be paying a lot for totally mediocre food. So that's something.

Kroger offers a fair deal on its frozen fries in a crinkle-cut format, slapping a $3.29 sticker on the 32-ounce bags in my Arizona Fry's location, though that could be different in other regions. For 30 cents or so per proposed serving, you get the old-fashioned diner-style crisps that always seem a little more party-ready than the regular strait-laced fries. They hold sauces and sprinkle-ons better too, thanks to the groovy grooves and a slightly lumpier texture that comes from having so many crisped-up angles. They're also slightly larger than the plain-cut fries, which may appeal to shoppers who like a thick tater no matter how much zigzag frillery is present.

There's a slightly bolder flavor in the Kroger Crinkle Cut fries than in the other crinklers I sampled; the balance of seasonings may be responsible. The strips themselves seem a little larger than restaurant crinkle cut fries, too — an aspect that will make the food fill more of your plate with fewer pieces, if that's something you pay attention to. Even with all of that under consideration, this is one of the plainer fries in the pack. The only reason I'll go back for seconds is to finish the bag in my freezer.

Signature Select Crinkle Cut fries were like a long-lost twin to the Kroger and Great Value Crinkle Cut fries; they looked no different in size or shape when I opened the bag. This would make sense if the cutters used by most food producers are standard; but it also raised my suspicion that they may be created by the same french fry factory. If that were the case, there'd be no reason to spend more money on these. At 26 ounces, the bag is slightly smaller than the other grocery-brand fries; at $3.99, they're also considerably more expensive, breaking down to 36 cents per serving. That may sound like small potatoes, but it adds up for shoppers watching prices soar and wages stay the same.

Is it worth being so picky about your per-serving price for these fries? If crinkle cut fries are your jam, then yes; Signature Select serves up the best version of all the store-brand bags I tried. But if you like a fry with a little more oomph, you may find the cost a little prohibitive. This is your grocery money we're talking about, after all, and you should be absolutely satisfied with your purchases. I think there are better possibilities for you to investigate.

Kroger Regular Cut fries offer another $3.29 bargain bag in the Kroger company freezer, serving up restaurant-style frozen fries at 30 cents per suggested serving, give or take. Regular cut fries are generally dependable, and Kroger does a decent job with its other frozen food options. If these fries could come even within a whisker of doing the trick without disappointing, they'd be a fantastic substitute for the more expensive bags the store stocks.

Maybe that was too much to hope for in a frozen fry that doesn't appear to have too much ambition. As it stands, these Kroger strips hit right in the center of the teeter-totter; there's nothing offensive about them, and there's nothing dazzling about them, either. Kroger shoppers with limited funds who'd rather skip the higher-priced frozen french fries have a candidate in this package. And you can always ramp up the flavor with your own shake-over seasoning or a snazzy sauce to drizzle over them. Just don't expect these plain-old fries to knock your socks off all on their own, and you'll be fine.

Trader Joe's leaves the skin on and slices the wedges thin in its Handsome Cut fries stylings, a surprise find at my location, since this bag isn't listed among the website items. These look like nothing more than standard frozen fries, save for the bits of brown on the ends. I'm a huge fan of skin-on fries, so I had hoped for something a bit more substantial from the retailer. The lack of coloring on the uncooked fry was startling in its whiteness, yet refreshing in its purity; this is one french fry that doesn't try to fool you into thinking it's more colorful than it actually is.

Luckily, the pallor doesn't hold these handsome fellows back once they enter the oven. They're a thinner cut fry, but they're heartily flavored and sturdy enough to hold sauce of any consistency. I'd even consider them equal to the restaurant-style. I paid $2.99 for a 24-ounce bag, which nets out to around 37 cents per serving, making these one of the less cost-effective store-brand fries you can buy, but I think they're worth the extra spend.

Steakhouse style takes the lead in the race for a sturdier fry with more surface area and a greater expanse of fluff goodness inside. Steak fries from Signature Select come in a slightly larger bag than the thinner cuts — 28 ounces — but retain the $3.99 price point, rounding out to 44 cents per serving. These wedges are nicely sized, though there was a bit of variety in the bag; several strips appeared to be regular-cut, which may be an artifact of the potato shape before cutting. Whatever the reason, it was kind of disappointing to see smaller fries mixed in with the wider fries I'd paid for.

But wow, what a tasty turn when I sampled the finished fries. These strips have some sort of umami magic that gets caught between the fluffy middle and the slightly-crispy exteriors. They're a convincing replica of steakhouse-level fries that can hold their own next to actual steak recipes or your best homemade burger recipes. They may not be the best of the bunch, but they're pretty darn good regardless.

The wheat-based coating added to Trader Joe's Seasoned Waffle Cut fries give them the appearance of being dipped in fried chicken coating — dark, crispy, and tempting. At $3.99 for a 20-ounce bag, or 57 cents per serving, they're absolutely on the more expensive side of the spectrum. But that's true for many Trader Joe's items that turn out to be winners regardless. They're the most distinctive fries on the list, and just looking at them in the dish gave me great reason to believe they would also be among the tastiest. After all, those ridges and that coating are designed to hold extra flavor and maximize crispness. If the promise holds, these might be the fries to beat all others.

And the promise holds pretty darn well. The waffle cut makes them far more interesting shape-wise than any other store-brand fry on the market, and the seasoned coating gives them a fanciful flavor that doesn't need anything else. However, if you do choose to add a dipping sauce, you have plenty of surface area to apply it to. While you'll never mistake these for the stereotypical Chick-fil-A waffle fries, you should definitely consider choosing them for your home dining needs.

Fans of extra-thin shoestring french fries will be chuffed to know that the Albertsons-Safeway stores offer a super-skinny version of their favorite crispy taters. This bag is slightly larger than the company's other offerings, providing 28 ounces instead of 26 ounces for the same $3.99, but breaking down to 44 cents per serving, since the bag calls out 11 servings this time. Anyone looking closely at their shopping funds would call this a pricey purchase. The fact that the fries are so similar in shape and sized to fast food restaurant fries, though? That could swing the pendulum back in the direction of favorability. It all depends on taste and texture.

For anyone who loves a skinny french fry, Signature Select Shoestring cut is the way to go. The combination of taste and texture in a compact shape provides the best flavor-consistency combination for eating completely unadorned, though a little ketchup or fry sauce would be a welcome addition. The savory, starchy blend seems to cook up more readily when cut this thin. I had to pull myself away from the batch, knowing I had several more to test — they're that tasty.

Costco keeps overlarge bags of Kirkland fries in its frozen food section to lure unsuspecting shoppers into buying enough spud sticks to practically feed a whole neighborhood. A 5-pound bag of extra-crispy fries for $5.99 in my neck of the woods provides 27 servings at 22 cents per serving, which is a far better deal than other store brand fries offer. Sure, you need a membership card to make it past the roll-up gates, or a generous friend or family member to do the shopping for you. But it could be well worth joining up for a chance to enjoy restaurant-level potato strips that hit the spot for not a lot of cash.

And they are, by far the best basic fry in the freezer section anywhere. They brown up perfectly, crisp up nicely like the bag promises, and deliver a crunch-and-fluff combination that made me think I was dining at a fast-casual restaurant rather than eating them over my sink. A little extra spice in the flavoring could have pushed this bag all the way to the top. As it stands, it's a fantastic pick for those who like a more subdued fry instead of the fiery spicy kind.

Albertsons and Safeway make crinkle cut fries available in the freezer case to steer shoppers away from bigger-name brands like Checkers/Rally's and Arby's, both of which market packaged versions of their highly-seasoned popular fast food french fries. It's the same size and price as the other Signature Select fries, which puts these 36-cents-per-serving potatoes at a bit of a premium on the list. The ruddy color and lumpy texture indicated a solid impersonation of an actual restaurant-style coating. But finished quality will dictate whether it's worth shelling out the extra just to satisfy your french fry cravings at home.

If there were an Olympics for store-brand seasoned fries, this bag would walk away with the gold — and maybe the silver and bronze to boot. I was floored by how much power-packed flavor there was in these fries; the seasoning has a kick that lands in the back of your throat in such a fun and unexpected way. I had no idea Signature Select had such a hold on the seasoned fries sector ... and yes, they were absolutely extra crispy, as promised. This is a high-quality frozen food that tastes expensive, even though it comes from a grocery store freezer. This is my new top choice for store-brand frozen fries, and I'm pretty sure it's my preference over the bigger brands as well.

I shopped for the broadest variety of fries I could find under the best-known store-brand labels. With more upmarket choices like curly and seasoned fries available, I tried to trim the selections to the most standard options, though I did add a seasoned waffle-cut from Trader Joe's and a few seasoned picks from Albertsons and Walmart. This gave a bit of variety to the roundup without going too wild. I examined the per-serving price for each bag to clue readers in on just what they're paying for in each package, too. All prices reflect the current costs at stores in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

For the taste testing, I prepared a serving of each type and sampled a single fry — my go-to method. Any fries that called for a second sample due to their overwhelming goodness were deemed top picks; the remainder were organized by taste and texture. With a mix of standard, crinkle cut, seasoned, and waffle-cut fries on the menu, I was sure to zero in on the specific qualities of each to determine the difference they made, if any.