When it comes to making homemade French fries, the cooking oil you choose is as important as the potatoes. The right oil can make your fries crispy, golden, and delicious. Here are 14 of the best cooking oils for homemade French fries:

1. Canola Oil: It’s one of the most popular choices for frying due to its neutral flavor and high smoke point.

2. Peanut Oil: Peanut oil has a high smoke point and a pleasant nutty flavor, making it great for deep-frying.

3. Vegetable Oil: A mix of plant-based oils usually including soybean and canola, vegetable oil is affordable and widely available.

4. Sunflower Oil: Sunflower oil offers a light taste and a high smoke point, perfect for frying up batches of crispy fries.

5. Safflower Oil: With a neutral flavor and high heat tolerance, safflower oil is excellent for achieving golden-brown fries.

6. Corn Oil: Corn oil has a relatively high smoke point and imparts a subtle sweetness that can enhance your homemade fries.

7. Soybean Oil: It’s a commonly used frying oil in restaurants due to its high smoke point and economical pricing.

8. Grapeseed Oil: While more expensive, grapeseed oil has a clean taste and can handle the high temperatures needed for frying.

9. Cottonseed Oil: This oil is less common but provides good flavor and crispiness to fried foods like French fries.

10. Rice Bran Oil: Known for its health benefits, rice bran oil has a high smoke point which makes it suitable for frying French fries.

11. Avocado Oil: Highly praised for its nutritional profile, avocado oil brings a unique flavor profile and has an excellent heat tolerance.

12. Lard: For those not opposed to animal fats, lard can impart a rich taste to your homemade fries and provide them with an excellent texture.

13. Coconut Oil: Although it has a distinctive flavor that may transfer to the fries, coconut oil’s medium-chain triglycerides could offer health benefits.

14. Olive Oil (Light or Refined): While extra virgin olive oil isn’t typically recommended due to its low smoke point, light or refined olive oil can be used for higher temperature cooking like frying French fries but may offer some Mediterranean flair to the dish’s taste profile.

With these oils in your culinary toolkit, you’re sure to find the perfect match for your palate when whipping up your next batch of homemade French fries!