These Easy Loaded Bacon Cheese Fries are piled high with layers of crispy seasoned fries, creamy, flavorful cheese sauce, bacon and all the fixins!
Using frozen fries and a super easy cheese sauce makes these loaded fries a quick and easy choice for game day or any get together.
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Loaded Fry Ingredients
Frozen seasoned fries: I like using seasoned fries for this recipe because I just think they have better flavor. Hello, they're seasoned! However, you can use whatever fries you like best! I would stick with thicker cuts like crinkle or waffle, though, to make sure they can handle all the toppings!
Bacon: Instantly makes everything better! I like using thick cut bacon for this recipe, but again, use whatever you like best. Cook it up before starting your cheese sauce so everything is done at the same time.
Cheese Sauce: The best part! This cheese sauce is super easy to make. Read more about the cheese sauce below.
Scallions: I love scallions with bacon but you could swap in cilantro if you want to go in a Mexican direction.
Pickled Jalapeños: These add a nice acidity and crunch to brighten things up! Choose hot or mild- whatever your preference is!
Sour cream or Mexican crema: You can see I've used Mexican crema in the pictures here because that's what I had on hand. It's a bit thinner and less tart than sour cream. Either will work!
Easy Cheese Sauce
The cheese sauce is what makes these fries SO good and luckily, it's super easy to make! You'll start with a few tablespoons of butter and flour to make a roux. Then add milk and let that simmer a bit. Then you'll add your cheese. Mix in some pickled jalapeño juice and cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick and that's about it!
I like using a block of processed American cheese like Velveeta for this recipe. Hey, it's delicious and it melts perfectly! I am not too good for Velveeta. The cheese sauce should be the last thing you make before assembling the fries so make sure you have all the other toppings cooked, chopped and ready!
Layer, Layer, Layer!
I cannot stress this enough: to build the perfect cheese fries, you have to layer! We want to make sure each fry is covered in cheese sauce and all the toppings. Grab your serving bowl or platter and start by putting ¼ of the fries down. Then add some of the cheese sauce, bacon and green onions. Add the next ¼ of the fries and repeat until you've layered them all. The only toppings that I like to leave for the end are the pickled jalapeños and the sour cream because those are more of a garnish to me. If you want those in every layer too, by all means get them in there! Layers are your friend.
Recipe FAQ
I used seasoned crinkle cut fries here, but just about any type will do! I would stay away from shoestring or other thin cut fries because you want to make sure the fries can handle the toppings.
Sure, but they won't be as good. This is one of those recipes that's best eaten hot.
Yes! These fries are easy to customize to your liking. Try adding an additional cheese like crumbed queso fresca, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, or hot sauce!
Grab a fork and go to town.
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Easy Loaded Bacon Cheese Fries
Ingredients
- 1 ½ to 2 Pounds Frozen seasoned fries such as crinkle, waffle, or curly
- ¾ Pound thick cut bacon cooked, roughly chopped
- 3 Scallions green parts only, thinly sliced
- Pickled jalapeños to taste
- Sour cream or Mexican crema to taste
- Kosher salt to taste
For the cheese sauce
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 Cups whole milk
- 16 Ounce block processed American cheese such as veleeta
- 3 Tablespoons pickled jalapeño juice from the jar
- ⅛ Teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Bake the fries according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, prepare the cheese sauce. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking continuously, until light golden brown. Slowly whisk in the milk and lower the heat. Bring the milk to a gentle simmer and then add the cheese, pickled jalapeño juice, and cayenne pepper. Keep stirring the sauce until the cheese is completely melted and smooth. About 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt.
- In a large bowl or serving platter, build the loaded fries. Layer fries, cheese sauce, bacon and green onions. Repeat. Make sure to get the cheese sauce and toppings on every layer. At the end, garnish the fries with pickled jalapeños and sour cream or crema.
- Enjoy while hot!
NICE