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How to turn cold McDonald’s fries into the best hash browns you’ve ever tasted

Oona McGee Jul 14, 2025
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This hack from Japan will change the way you eat fries forever.

For fast food lovers in Japan, McDonald’s fries are a top place-getter on any respectable list of “world’s tastiest foods”. However, cold McDonald’s fries quickly lands on the list of “world’s worst foods”, because no matter how you reheat them, they never come close to tasting as good as they did when freshly made.

Still, the unfortunate reality is that there will be many times in life when you end up with cold McDonald’s fries — as a fast food lover, it’s simply unavoidable. But what if there was a way you could take those cold fries and turn them into something even better? That was the thinking of our reporter Ikuna Kamezawa when she let her fries go cold recently, and what she came up with was so good she decided to share the hack with us so that fry fans around the world can enjoy the fruits, or should we say “fries”, of her labour.

The first thing you’ll need for this hack is, of course, some cold fries, and, if you like, a hash brown because — spoiler alert! — this is what we’ll be trying to replicate.

▼ Taking a closer look at the hash brown…

▼ … Ikuna saw it had a rough, textured surface that kind of resembled chopped-up French fries.

In theory, Ikuna’s plan should work — she’d simply chop up the fries…

…and then shape them with an oval ring moulded from the hash brown before frying them.

However, after chopping up the fries, she saw they appeared to be hollow due to moisture loss and they failed to clump together like she’d imagined they would.

Running a quick search online to find a solution to the problem, she discovered that potato starch can be used as a binder so she quickly mixed in some potato starch she had at home…

▼ … but even this didn’t work!

The fries became stickier but they still wouldn’t hold together, so in the end she decided she would have to carefully place them into the mould while it was in the hot frying pan.

Splashing some oil in the pan, she placed the foil mould in the middle of it all and then carefully spooned the fries into it, dropping some by the wayside in the process.

After hearing the whole thing sizzle for a few moments, she flipped it over…

…and saw the bottom was a beautiful golden brown!

Surprised that her plan seemed to actually be working, Ikuna continued to fry her creation gently for around five minutes, even going so far as to remove the foil when it looked to be holding together.

The aroma was fantastic, making her salivate as the smell of refried fries filled her kitchen. When it was golden brown on both sides, she removed her masterpiece from the pan and stared in surprise at what she’d created.

Placing it side-by-side with the hash brown, Ikuna’s home-made version looked a hundred times tastier.

Now came the moment of truth, as she lifted the freshly fried creation to her mouth for a bite.

The crunch was simply out of this world, with the twice-fried fries oozing out oily potato deliciousness throughout her palate. If she had to describe it in detail, she would say it was like eating a bunch of French fry tips, but that doesn’t do justice to how delicious it is — in fact, it’s so good that Ikuna says it was the best potato dish she’s ever eaten in her life.

With a medium-sized order of McDonald’s fries, you can make three of these hash brown-like creations. After leaving them at room temperature for five hours, the flavour did drop a bit, but the crispy texture remained, making this is a genius-level hack.

After making these wondrous morsels, Ikuna says she’s scared of her own talents but she’ll definitely be making them again. And she now has four words for French fry lovers everywhere: You. Must. Try. This.

After making them once, you’ll never even think about going back to regular store-bought hash browns again. It just goes to show that even when your fries go cold, there’s always a silver lining — only in this case the silver lining is a literal rim of foil that’ll transform a bad situation into a golden opportunity!

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