Skip to content
Pinch of Mint
Search recipes
  • Five ingredients or fewer
  • Feeding a family

Triple-Cooked Chips

Triple cooked Chips

By Tom · Updated

Jump to recipe
  • Serves 4
  • About 1 hour 45 min
  • Takes a bit of care

Triple-cooked chips are all about the method. By cooking the potatoes three times, first in water, then at a lower temperature, and finally at a high heat - you get an crisp, blistered exterior with a light and fluffy middle. Triple-Cooked chips: how to make crispy chips with a fluffy centre.

Loads from YouTube only once you press play.

The recipe

Triple-Cooked Chips

Cooked three times, in water, then in cooler fat, then in hot fat, for a blistered, crisp outside and a light, fluffy middle.

  • Serves 4
  • 10 min prep
  • 21 min cooking
  • 1 hour 14 min hands-off
  • Takes a bit of care

Times and difficulty are our estimates from the method, not stopwatch figures.

Scale
4 servings
Measurements

Ingredients

Triple-cooked chips

Tick things off as you go — they stay ticked if you close the page.

A dotted underline means the amount has been rounded to something you can measure.

Method

  1. Step 1

    Prepare the potatoes (1 kg).

  2. Step 2

    Peel the potatoes (1 kg) and cut them into chips about 1-1.5cm thick, trying to keep them as even as possible. This means they will all cook at roughly the same rate.

  3. Step 3

    Rinse the chips thoroughly under cold running water until the water runs mostly clear. This removes excess surface starch, which can otherwise make the chips stick together and prevents you from getting that clean, crisp exterior.

  4. Step 4

    Place the chips in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the potatoes (1 kg) are tender but still holding their shape.

  5. Step 5

    The first cook is all about the inside. We aren't trying to colour the potatoes (1 kg) here - we're gently cooking them until the centres become soft and fluffy.

  6. Step 6

    Carefully drain and leave the chips to steam-dry for 10-15 minutes. The drier they are, the better they will fry.

  7. Step 7

    Transfer them to a tray in a single layer and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or preferably until completely cold.

  8. Step 8

    The second cook.

  9. Step 9

    Heat your beef dripping or oil to 140°C.

  10. Step 10

    Fry the chips in batches for around 5-7 minutes, keeping the temperature as close to 140°C as possible. They should be cooked through and beginning to develop a very light skin, but they shouldn't become deeply golden.

  11. Step 11

    Remove them carefully and drain on a wire rack.

  12. Step 12

    This second fry is where we start building the texture. The surface dries out and develops a firmer outer layer, ready for the final, much hotter fry.

  13. Step 13

    Leave the chips to cool completely again. You can refrigerate them for another 30 minutes, or leave them for several hours if you're preparing ahead.

  14. Step 14

    The final cook.

  15. Step 15

    Increase the oil temperature to 190°C.

  16. Step 16

    Fry the chips in batches for 2-4 minutes, or until deeply golden, crisp and beautifully blistered on the outside.

  17. Step 17

    The high temperature gives you that final transformation: a crisp, crunchy exterior while the inside stays light and fluffy.

  18. Step 18

    Drain on a wire rack and season generously with fine sea salt while they're still hot.

  19. Step 19

    Serve immediately.

  20. Step 20

    The key: don't rush the cooling and drying between each stage. That's what gives triple-cooked chips their characteristic contrast between crisp outside and fluffy inside.

Stay in the loop

Get new recipes in your inbox

Occasional emails with new recipes, cooking tips and what’s new at Pinch of Mint.

See our Privacy Policy for information about how your personal data is used.

More potatoes sides

Questions people ask

How long does triple-cooked chips take?

About 1 hour 45 min from start to finish: 10 min of prep, 21 min of cooking, and 1 hour 14 min hands-off while it waits. That figure is worked out from the method rather than timed with a stopwatch, so give yourself a little more the first time.

How many does it serve, and can I change that?

As written it serves 4. Use the scale control on the recipe card to change it: every quantity in the ingredients and inside the method steps updates with it. Seasoning, and anything measured in pinches or splashes, is deliberately left alone.

Can I see the ingredients in ounces and pints?

Yes. The metric and imperial switch on the recipe card converts every quantity, rounded to amounts you can actually weigh or measure rather than to four decimal places. Your choice is remembered for every recipe on the site.