🍢 SNACK
Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips)
Thick-cut Bintje potatoes fried twice in beef fat, first low until soft, then hot until crisp and golden, shaken with salt and served in a paper cone with a dollop of mayonnaise, as at every Belgian frietkot.
Belgian · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 35 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~285 cal · 5g protein · 43g carbs · 10g fat · 6g fiber · 2g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Belgians regard frieten, frites in French, as a national dish, and they eat them less as a side than on their own, as a snack from a frietkot, the fry shack found on squares and roadsides all over the country. There are thousands of them. The fries come in a paper cone with a thick dollop of mayonnaise or one of a long list of sauces, eaten standing up with a little wooden fork. Fritkot culture is on the Brussels list of intangible cultural heritage.
Two things make them Belgian. The first is the double fry: thick-cut potatoes, traditionally the yellow Bintje variety, are cooked first at a lower temperature until soft right through, rested, then plunged into much hotter fat for a few minutes, which gives a crisp shell around a fluffy centre. The second is the fat. The classic frietkot fries in rendered beef fat, blanc de boeuf, which gives the fries their flavour and colour.
Where fried potatoes were first cut into sticks, Belgium or France, is an argument that has no end, but nobody disputes where the frietkot lives.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1 kg floury-waxy potatoes, ideally Bintje, Maris Piper or Yukon Gold work well
- 2 litres beef dripping (blanc de boeuf), for deep-frying
- to taste salt
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise, to serve
Instructions
- 1Peel the potatoes and cut them into sticks about 1 cm thick. Rinse them in cold water to wash off the surface starch, then dry them very thoroughly on a clean cloth.✎ Chef’s noteWet potatoes make the fat spit and stop the fries crisping; take the time to dry them.
- 2Heat the fat in a deep pan or fryer to 150 to 160°C. Fry the potatoes in batches for 6 to 8 minutes, until soft right through but still pale. Lift out and spread on a tray.
- 3Leave the blanched fries to cool for at least 30 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteMany frietkots blanch in the morning and fry to order; the rest lets the steam escape so the second fry makes them crisper.
- 4Heat the fat to 175 to 180°C. Fry the fries again in batches for 2 to 3 minutes, until crisp and golden.
- 5Drain well, tip into a bowl, shake with salt and serve at once in paper cones with mayonnaise on top.
Belgian frietkot tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Flanders. Beer is treated as an ingredient with a job to do. Dark ale gives carbonnade its sweetness, and the sharp edge comes from a slice of bread spread thickly with mustard and laid on top of the pot, which collapses into the sauce and thickens it while the beef cooks down.
🗺️
Belgium. Belgium punches far above its size, moules-frites, rich beer-braised stews (carbonnade), waffles, and some of the world's best chocolate and fries. French refinement meets Flemish heartiness at the table.
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Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Belgium
Carbonnade FlamandeBeef braised in dark Belgian beer with onions and a mustard-slathered slice of bread, sweet-sour, deep, and made for frites.
Belgian WafflesDeep-pocketed waffles, crisp outside and fluffy within, dusted with sugar or topped with fruit.
Moules-FritesA steaming pot of mussels cooked in white wine and shallots, served with a heap of crisp Belgian fries.
Browse all Belgium recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips)?
Thick-cut Bintje potatoes fried twice in beef fat, first low until soft, then hot until crisp and golden, shaken with salt and served in a paper cone with a dollop of mayonnaise, as at every Belgian frietkot.
Where does Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) come from?
Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) is a Belgian dish from Flanders, Belgium.
Can Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Frieten (Belgian Twice-Fried Chips) take to make?
About 1 h 25 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 35 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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