Potatoes are stuffed with cheese and double-fried for this fan-favorite. These are the original Fries Quatro Queso Dos Fritos from Psych featured on Reddit! Perfect for parties and binge-watching the television show.
Last night, my friends and I watched a particularly hilarious episode of Psych called Truer Lies. In it, guest star Jonathan Silverman plays Lyin' Ryan, a compulsive liar.
In one scene, the police question him regarding a murder they suspect him of committing. As protagonists Shawn and Gus look on from behind a two-way mirror, this is how the scene unfolds...
Setting the scene
Lyin' Ryan: The night before, I went to this restaurant to get a basket of these things called Fries Quatro Queso Dos Fritos. You know, the ones where they inject potatoes with a four cheese mixture, fry them three quarters of the way, pull them out, batter them, fry them again, and then serve them with bacon and an ancho chili sour cream. Anyway, as I was sitting there, a car speeds right through the storefront across the street. It makes such a loud noise, I had to turn my head and look and that is when I overheard the guy with the curly-Q's on his face tell the other guy at the corner table about the assassination plot.
Shawn: Can this be true?
Gus: No way.
Shawn: I mean, is it even possible?
Gus: I couldn't imagine it.
Shawn: There's no way you can prepare a fry like that. That'd be way too much for the human palate to manage.
Gus: It would be a flavor seizure.
Oh, yes it is possible! Later in the episode, the twosome actually go to the restaurant where Lyin' Ryan ordered these, and try it themselves. Immediately, my friends and I knew we had to make these "Twice Fried Fries with Four Cheeses" ourselves. Although Lyin' Ryan describes these as battered, in the episode they definitely appear to be breaded.
This was likely an oversight by Ryan (who is a compulsive liar anyway), so we will bread ours instead, as it obviously was on the show. In our version we use regular dried bread crumbs, based on the image from the episode, but next time I may try panko instead because it's much crunchier!
We also use cayenne pepper because we didn't have ancho chili powder, but you can use whichever one you have on hand. Shawn, from Psych, suggests trying these with lemon garlic aioli, but we'll let you be the judge of that 🙂 Oh, and P.S., it doesn't travel well! Muahahahahaaa!!
How to make them
First you'll want to scrub your potatoes clean, lightly score one side with your paring knife, and cut them in half. Use a melon baller or small scoop to hollow out the inside making a pocket for the cheese.
Pack the cavity generously with shredded cheese. Don't skimp!
Use the mark you scored on the outside of the potato to line it back up, and adhere the two sides together using a few toothpicks.
Fry the potatoes in batches until tender. This is the first fry in this double-fried recipe. Remove the toothpicks before moving on.
Next create a breading station with flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs. Bread the potatoes in that order.
Fry the now breaded potatoes again, and serve atop a pool of bacon and chili sour cream. Viola! This one's a little weak on the cheese. Definitely pack in more for a super cheesy bite!
Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.
Well there you have it! Double-fried, quadruple-stuffed fried potatoes à la Pysch, one of the funniest shows no longer on television. If you love creating dishes inspired by television shows and movies (I know I sure do), definitely try these Fries Quatro Queso Dos Fritos. They will be a hit at your next party or Psych marathon.
Looking for other awesome appetizer ideas for your next party? I particularly love these Barceloneta Potato Bombas, yet another fried treat with potato on the outside and in this case a ground meat filling. French Onion Soup Dumplings are also a party favorite, and are smothered in cheese!
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also follow me on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Fries Quatro Queso Dos Fritos
Ingredients
- Peanut or canola oil for frying
- 12 small round potatoes such as baby white potatoes, scrubbed clean, skin-on
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend or use your own blend of Mexican-style cheeses, the sharper the better
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg beaten
- ½ cup plain bread crumbs or panko
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Cayenne pepper
Bacon and Chili Sour Cream:
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 2 scallions sliced, plus more for garnish if desired
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or ancho chili powder
- 2 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
Instructions
- Fill a Dutch oven 2-inches full with the oil and heat to 350 to 375°F.
- With a paring knife, lightly score 1 potato on its side and then slice it in half perpendicular to the score mark. This will help you know exactly which way to replace the potato halves. Use a small ice cream scoop or melon baller to scoop out the inside of each potato half, leaving no more than ¼-inch of potato inside the skin.
- Season the inside of each half with kosher salt, and then densely pack each half with ½ to 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese (that’s about 1 to 2 packed tablespoons per potato), depending on the size of the potato and its cavity (pack the cheese really well because when it melts it will shrink).
- Place the halves back together, using the score mark as a guide, and secure with a couple toothpicks. Repeat with the remaining potatoes.
- Using a slotted spoon or spider skimmer, gently place a few of the stuffed potatoes at a time into the hot oil. Fry for about 8 to 10 minutes or until tender (a toothpick should be able to pierce through the potatoes easily). Remove fried potatoes to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining potatoes in batches. Carefully remove the toothpicks, and allow the potatoes to cool slightly before proceding.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce by stirring together the sour cream, sliced scallions, and cayenne pepper.
- Fill one bowl with flour, one bowl with the beaten egg, and one bowl with the bread crumbs. Season them all with salt and pepper, and season the bread crumbs with some cayenne pepper as well. This will be your breading station. One by one, dredge the potatoes in the flour mixture, shake off excess flour, coat with beaten egg, allow excess to drip off, and then finally coat with the bread crumbs. Set aside on a plate until ready to fry.
- When all the potatoes have been breaded, and the oil is back to the correct temperature (350 to 375°F), use the slotted spoon or spider skimmer once again to gently lower the breaded potatoes into the oil. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes until golden. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt to season.
- Serve with the chili sour cream and crumbled bacon, and garnish with more scallions if desired.
Nutrition
*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.*
Koch68w
Try crushed Fritos. I used chili cheese Fritos and it was amazing.
kaylee
Question, do they travel?
Victoria
NOPE! 🙂
Kirstin
My first time frying anything myself so they turned out a little darker than they should have, but these were still amazing!! Huge fan, I will definitely make them again in the future
Mia
Soooo good! I made a few and they’re amazing. Every time I watched that episode I wanted to try them!!! Love this recipe!
I was wondering if I need to use flour if I airfry instead? (Also how you know the airfrying is complete, is it different from normal frying?) I’m new to cooking! Either way the recipe was perfect 🙂 I couldn’t believe how cute mine came out, thank you so much!!!
Victoria
Hi Mia!
I'm glad you enjoyed this recipe. It's so much fun to recreate it from the tv show!
I will be honest, I don't own an airfryer (yet) so I can't confirm the amount of time you'd need to cook them in there. However in regards to the flour, yes you'd still want to use it and here is why: The flour/egg/bread crumb breading technique is a tried and true method that you can use for all sorts of items (like chicken fingers, zucchini fries, etc!). Each ingredient serves a purpose. The flour sticks to the item which has a natural wetness to it. In this case the sheen of oil from the first fry. The dusting of flour then creates a dry surface so the egg will actually cling to it evenly. Then the bread crumbs can stick to the egg. It allows you to create an even breading that actually sticks to the whole surface (rather than having bits that fall off once you fry). If you skip the flour and only do egg and bread crumbs there's a chance the egg won't evenly coat the potato and then your bread crumbs in turn won't evenly coat it either. Whether you fry in oil, air fry, or oven fry a recipe, this method would allow you to have a nice even coating so I would suggest doing it in any case. I hope this helps! 🙂
Michelle
I love everything about this recipe! You can never have too much cheese!`
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
This is absolutely delicious! I love that it’s such a crowd pleaser for the whole family
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
These look absolutely incredible! We are all big fans of potatoes and cheese in our house so will certainly have to give this a try!
Heidy L. McCallum
What an awesome blog post and delish recipe! I made this the other night and the entire family went nuts over all the flavors and I have to be honest for once I thought I was winning the dinner war with the 3 of them!! I will be saving this recipe for sure.
Courtney | Love & Good Stuff
These look amazing! My daughter is a total potato freak and I know she would love a big plate of these!
Camille
These look so good and honestly so much easier than I would have thought! The fried potatoes look so good, and the bacon and chili sour cream rounds it out as the most delicious looking loaded potato!
Victoria
The ultimate experience is making these and eating them while watching the episode of Psych! It really is a flavor seizure
Caroldactyl
Made these when the last movie premiered and I may make them again for the sequel tomorrow!!
Victoria
That’s such a brilliant idea!! Perfect Psych movie snack