Everything You Need to Know about the Five Guys Fries
With the excellent burgers at Five Guys, it’s hard to really care about the fries here. And when you get to try the hot dogs, the grilled cheese, the veggie cheese sandwich, and even the BLT, thoughts about the fries can go out the window.
Yet fries aren’t the same, as you might have noticed when you visit a lot of fast-food joints. The fries here at Five Guys are actually great. In fact, we’re not the only ones to say that. One Business Inside survey involving 3,000 respondents actually had the Five Guys fries on top, edging out the fries from McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Arby’s, and Wendy’s.
Here are some more facts about the Five Guys fries you might care about:
They’re Always Fresh
The guys at Five Guys aren’t kidding when it comes to the freshness of their French fries. You might have noticed large bags of potatoes stacked all around the place when you come to a Five Guys location. Those might be displayed for marketing purposes, but they’re not mere props. They’re not like the other fast-food joints that get their fries already sliced and then frozen.
They really get fresh potatoes, which come from northern Idaho. They then slice and fry the potatoes in-house. To speed things up, they have this “monster cutter” device that slices each potato quickly.
Then they pre-fry the fries. This lets them perform their “mush test” to see if the fries were cooked properly or undercooked. If everything seems okay, they put the fries back in the deep fryer for about 2½ minutes. The ultimate aim here is to get some sort of baked potato inside.
Lots of Fries, Lots of Calories
Even the small order of fries here at Five Guys doesn’t seem all that small, and that’s evident when you consider the calorie count. That “small” serving of fries comes with 530 calories. That’s a lot of calories, especially when you consider that you’re getting only 510 calories from a “large” order of McDonald’s French fries.
It doesn’t really matter that these are fresh fries, and that they’re cooked in pure, cholesterol-free, 100% peanut oil.
Go with the large fries, and you’re also getting 1,310 calories. That’s as many calories as you get from the Five Guys patty and bun, plus the milkshake.
According to some experts, you can burn off those calories with some brisk walking for 2 hours and 23 minutes. That’s a lot of exercise to add to your schedule.
And if you’re really concerned about your health, that’s not the end of the bad news. You’re also getting 1,327mg of sodium and 57g of fat.
The Topper Is an Illusion
Yes, you’re getting a lot of fries with each order when you get them at Five Guys. It really seems like you’re still getting more than your money’s worth. That’s because it seems like you’re also getting a “topper” or an extra scoop of fries in the bag.
That’s the insider scoop that came from a former Five Guys employee. These workers are told during their training that the topper is merely an illusion to make the customers feel better about their purchase.
Of course, you can always ask for the cup of fries with no topper. But why do that? Illusion or not, the topper won’t hurt!
French Fries Options
Go to most other fast-food joints, and you only have 1 type of fries. That’s the situation with McDonald’s, for example.
At Five Guys, you have 2 types of fries to pick from. You can go with the regular fries, or you can go with the Cajun fries. That means they’re dosed with large amounts of Cajun spice for some extra oomph.
The Cajun fries even cost about the same as the regular fries. In fact, it’s even slightly cheaper. Go with the regular fries, and the large fries cost $6.93. But the large Cajun fries are only $6.92.
French Fries Hacks
As they are, there’s nothing really wrong about the Five Guys fries. Heck, as they were voted as the best in a survey, they must be really good. But there’s really nothing wrong if you want to tweak them a bit to really get what you want.
One common hack gets you a crispier version of the fries, which is great. You won’t have to deal with limp fries. All you have to do is to specify that you want your French fries “extra well done”, and the folks at Five Guys will take care of it.
You might also want to try it “confetti-style”. To get this, get a packet of the BBQ sauce and a packet of the mayo, and mix the sauces together. Sprinkle some of the Cajun seasoning. Now dump the fries in the bag, put the sauce mixture in, and you end up with lightly coated, Cajun-speckled fries!