The best frozen french fries? Taste testers found a clear winner.

Frozen fries can be the hero of a dinner when you’re pressed for time. A side dish you can toss straight from the freezer into the oven, and it’s ready in minutes? Something that pairs with an elegant steak, humble frozen nuggets — or a Caesar salad and a martini?

Often, the answer to “would you like fries with that?” is yes, please.

The hardest part, really, might be picking the best bag. Options in most grocery freezer cases can be overwhelming, and so to help you figure out which one you should toss into your cart, we put the most popular versions to the test.

We first identified the top-selling brands using market data from Chicago-based market research firm Circana, which draws its numbers from grocery, drug, mass-market, convenience, military and select club and dollar retailers. For “private-label” or store brands, we chose from several leading national retailers. And we added one additional widely available brand, Alexia, that has fans in our office.

To determine which fry style we would focus on to keep our test as apples-to-apples as possible, we contacted Ore-Ida, far and away the best-selling brand per the Circana data. The company says its bestseller is the “Extra Crispy Fast Food Style,” which pretty much mimics the fries you’ll find at a certain chain that rhymes with SmcShmonald’s. With that as our guide, we went with the skinnier, shoestring-style versions of the other brands wherever possible. Our tasting group consisted of nine brands.

We prepared each according to the package directions, using conventional ovens. An interesting note: Baking times varied widely, from 5 to 26 minutes (some brands suggested shorter times for half bags).

Seven testers gathered for a blind fry fest, awarding each sample a score of 1-10, taking into account taste, texture and appearance, for a possible high score of 70. It turns out, not all of those bags are created equal — there were a couple clear standouts from the pack and several brands to avoid. It’s worth noting that almost every one we tried seemed undersalted, so do be prepared to add a pinch if you like.

So which deserves a spot in your freezer? Here’s how these spuds stacked up:

9. McCain 5 Minute Shoestring Fries

Score: 17

Shiny objects are often better avoided, and that’s true of this oily fella (“these glisten in a slightly extraterrestrial way,” one taster said). This was the sole quick-cooking sample of the bunch — it’s ready in about a third of the regular oven time — and it seems convenience comes at a cost. A couple of tasters on our panel noted that these fries didn’t have a distinct, crisp exterior, and some found it uniformly flabby. “Bland as a board,” said one, though others complained of a “weird” and “off-putting” flavor.

(Price: $3.99 / 20 ounces)

8. Wegmans House-Cut Fries

Score: 18

Another oil slick of a fry didn’t win any fans, either. It left an impression, but not the kind you like: Two tasters complained that it left their fingers greasy. “Floppy” and “mushy,” and as one unimpressed taster said, “it really isn’t like a fry at all.”

(Price: $6.69 / 20 ounces)

7. 365 (Whole Foods) Organic Shoestring Cut Fries

Score: 19

Several people liked the appearance of this sample. “Looks golden and crisp,” said one. (Interestingly, this was one of a couple brands that contained apple juice concentrate, which the packaging said was “to promote browning.”) But many tasters bemoaned the lack of a plush interior — possibly because they were so skinny: “Not getting any potato innards here, it’s all crunch” was a representative sentiment. And these “bland” boys definitely could have used a shake or three of salt.

(Price: $2.99 / 16 ounces)

6. Great Value (Walmart) Thin Cut French Fried Potatoes

Score: 24

Some on our panel found these sadly lacking in potato flavor, and as starchy as a stiff shirt. “Kind of bready,” one described them. A couple thought they detected an off note from the oil (this brand uses sunflower oil) that gave it a “funny aftertaste.” But they got middle-of-the-road marks from a few, one of whom pronounced them “decently crisp.”

(Price: $2.97 / 26 ounces)

5. Strong Roots Crispy Skinny Fries

Score: 33

These fries did not live up to their moniker — tasters agreed that they were thicker than most, with one even likening them to home-style wedges. That beefier profile meant they weren’t as crunchy as some hoped, though they won plaudits from one for a pleasantly “creamy” interior. And others liked that they showed a bit of skin, which gave them a more natural, upscale look.

(Price: $5.99 / 20 ounces)

4. Alexia House Cut Fries

Score: 35

This one was divisive. Much like mattresses, it seems some people like ’em on the squishy side. “I’m biased, but I love a soft fry,” said one. Others, though, are firmly on Team Crunch. “So limp!” complained another. “I would be mad if someone served me this.” But this brand got plaudits from a few tasters for its spud-tensive flavor. “A little softer, but I appreciate how potato-y these are.”

(Price: $7.89 / 28 ounces)

3. Trader Joe’s Handsome Cut Potato Fries

Score: 36

Trader Joe’s contribution to the fry group chat is, much like the grocer’s corporate identity, a bit of an oddball. They’re irregularly cut, with some nearing steak-fry territory and others more shoestring-adjacent. Our tasters mostly appreciated the novelty, but it made for an uneven texture — “the larger ones are a bit floppy for me,” said one. It landed high on this list by getting lots of 5-point scores, meaning enough people found them to be, as one taster put it, “a perfectly acceptable fry.” And the price, the lowest per-ounce of our bunch, makes it a particularly good value.

(Price: $2.99 / 24 ounces)

2. Lamb Weston (Grown in Idaho) Super Crispy Shoestring Fries

Score: 45

The bits of skin visible at the tips on these were a bonus, according to our panel. “Craggy edges accentuate the crunch,” one said. “Earthy,” another said. There wasn’t quite as much variability among the fries as the Trader Joe’s version, but there was enough “to keep things exciting,” according to one taster. While the potato-forward flavor was near-universally praised, some wished the exterior was a little more substantial. “Like a mashed potato with a thin shell,” said one.

(Price: $6.09 / 28 ounces)

1. Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries

Score: 51

America’s best-selling fry won over our tasters, seeming to nail the best qualities of a British period-drama dreamboat: a crisp exterior, but soft inside, which one called a “great juxtaposition.” “Audibly crispy,” another enthused. “Would think that they were [freshly] fried if I didn’t know better,” agreed a fellow fan. Unlike most of the fries we tried, these seemed to have a discernible bit of coating (likely the food starch and rice flour listed as ingredients) that helped boost the exterior crunch. “Reminds me of a fast-food fry, which is what you want,” enthused one.

But as they did with so many of the fries we sampled, a couple tasters did say they would like them even more with a bit more salt — and to be fair, the packaging does include the instructions to “season to taste” — so you might want to wield your shaker accordingly.

Once we determined the Ore-Idas were our winner, we put them to a bonus test, making one batch in a conventional oven and another in an air fryer. The air fryer did offer superior results, with more even browning and a crispier texture. The oven fries, on the other hand, were browner on the bottoms than the other sides and they weren’t as crunchy as their appliance-prepared brethren. That said, the difference wasn’t huge, so if you don’t have an air fryer (or if you’re making a large batch that won’t fit into your machine), a regular oven will do just fine.

(Price: $7.69 / 26 ounces)