Have you tried McCain smiles in the air fryer? These cute air fryer smiley fries will sure make your day! This is a quick and easy snack, appetizer or side dish that’ll impress.
Switch things up and use these fun shaped potato fries instead of regular frozen French fries or crinkle cut fries when next you are having a burger. You can also dip these in your favorite dipping sauce or just enjoy as is.
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Table of Contents
Easy Air fryer Mccain smiles
These are cute lil smileys or emojis that are sure to impress. These mashed potato fries are one of our favorite frozen fries to make in the air fryer fryer.
Have you got a picky eater? These air fryer smiley fries is sure to impress them and get them munching away and that’s exactly what these air fryer dino nuggets do to kids.
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Why we love smiley face French fries.
It’s not such a difficult thing to love these fries I mean who wouldn’t love happy faces. Here are a few reasons we love McCain smiles
- Easy: These are convenient on many levels. Perfect for mid week dinner with a side of meats and veggies or after school snack.
- Picky eater approved: The glee in the kids faces will warm your heart. Have you tried the McCain Emoticon crispy mashed potato shapes
- Family friendly: Just about anyone can enjoy mashed potato fries.
Related: Frozen curly fries in air fryer, Air fryer frozen sweet potato waffle fries, How to air fry frozen French fries.
Where to buy Smiley fries
A quick google search ‘where to find Mccain smiley fries near me?’ will give you a list of nearby grocery stores where this delightful little smiley fries are sold.
Since you already here, you can use this dandy store locator if you in the US to find a store that sells it near you. Here are sites for our Uk readers and Canadians to find out if there are mashed potato fries in their countries.
Ingredients
- McCain Smiles
- Dipping sauce of choice
How long do you cook McCain smiles in the air fryer?
A few factors determine how long to cook McCain smiles in the air fryer. These include; size and brand of the air fryer, if you preheated or not.
In general, these potato smiles take less than 10 mins to get them from frozen to a piping hot potato meal.
How to cook smiley fries in air fryer
This is an overview of the recipe with step by step photos. Scroll down to end of post for a printable recipe card with the amount of ingredients and full recipe instructions.
Making it in a basket air fryer
Place smiley fries in the air fryer basket. No need to preheat. Set temperature to 400°F / 200°C and cook for 8 mins. Flipping half way through if needed.
Making Smiley fries in an oven style air fryer.
My instant pot vortex oven preheats automatically for 5 mins. Set time to 400°F / 200°C and timer for 7 mins.
When the preheat cycle is over. Place fries in rack and bake in the middle level for 6 to 7 mins or until Golden brown. Making the total cook time in the oven to be 11 to 12 mins.
How to store and reheat
I really don’t recommend storing already reheated smiley fries. When you are ready to eat, It will most likely dry out when reheat again
Therefore, It’s best to reheat the quantity you need at a time.
Air frying Tips
- These were tested in both a preheated and non preheated air fryer and the total time for both were very close. You really do not need to preheat your air fryer.
- Cook from frozen, no need to thaw.
- No oil needed. These come precooked and frozen.
- Do not overcrowd the basket to ensure a crispy outcome.
- McCain smiles happens to be one of the recipes I usually don’t need to flip over half way through cooking. They actually get heated through in my Cosori and instant vortex pro air fryers. How You can flip yours, there’s no harm in doing that.
FAQs
Can you deep fry McCain fries?
Deep frying is one of the options on the package of the smiley fries. To deep fry these, heat up the oil and fry for 2 to 3 mins.
Are Emoji fries available in the Uk?
McCain products are available in the Uk, however I couldn’t determine if these smiles are available there. I know Tesco does have something similar in the shape of stars. However you can’t use this store locator to find out if it can be found in the UK.
Can you cook smiley faces in an air fryer?
Oh yes you can! You can cook any mashed potato shaped fries in the air fryer and get delicious results.
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More air fryer recipes
- Air fryer loaded baked potato rounds
- Cottage potatoes in air fryer
- Air fryer home fries
- Potato wedges in air fryer
- Air fryer potato slices
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Air Fryer Yum’s Pro Tip! Air fryer temperatures may vary depending on size, make and model. When making a recipe for the first time, start with less time, check for doneness then add more time as needed.
Air fryer smiley fries
Ingredients
- 1 Bag Frozen McCain smiles (about 20 smiles)
- ¼ Cup ketchup
Instructions
Basket Style Air fryer
- Place Frozen smiley fries in air fryer basket. Set temperature to 400°F / 200°C and air fryer for 8 to 10 mins.
- Serve immediately
- I didn’t need to flip the smiles. If you find that you need to do so, you can use a pair of kitchen tongs or a small spatula.
Air fryer Oven
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F for 4 minutes
- While air fryer is preheating, arrange smiley fries in the air fryer rack.
- Bake in preheated air fryer oven for 6 to 7 mins. Add more time as needed. (Total time including preheat is 10 to 11 minutes)
- No need to flip the fries.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce
Notes
- These were tested in both a preheated and non preheated air fryer and the total time for both were very close. You really do not need to preheat your air fryer.
- Cook from frozen, no need to thaw.
- No oil needed. These come precooked and frozen.
- Do not overcrowd the basket to ensure a crispy outcome.
- McCain smiles happens to be one of the recipes I usually don’t need to flip over half way through cooking. They actually get heated through in my Cosori and instant vortex pro air fryers. How You can flip yours, there’s no harm in doing that.
Nutrition
Did you make this air fryer recipe? Awesome! Please rate it by clicking the stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ when you leave a comment below. If you loved it please share the link to this recipe with family and friends and in you favorite Facebook group.
Not a recipe. This is just a drawn-out explanation of how to heat up frozen fries. Hardly worth the space and effort it took to publish.
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your feedback. Not sure where you got the impression that this post was meant to be an actual recipe. It clearly states air fryer smiley fries (McCain fries).
Perhaps the 'Jump to recipe' button at the top caused the confusion. That is only there to help you get to the recipe card quickly and cannot be individualized for each page. So you'll find it in all recipe posts whether frozen of from scratch.
Feel free to look around the website for other potato recipes made from scratch you may like. Thanks again for stopping by.
Chichi