Tornado Potato is a deep-fried spiral potato on a stick. It is a popular food truck item here in North America and it is surprisingly very easy to make at home. I know a lot of you hate deep-frying so I will be showing an air fryer method as well.
I remember the first time I had a Tornado Potato was at the Richmond night market in Vancouver. Almost every other person I saw was eating one so I couldn't help but buy one myself. The line was super long and it took me over 30 minutes to get one. But once I had that first bite, it was 100% worth it.
The potato was thin and crispy and so fun to eat. I have researched a few methods and really anyone can make it at home very easily. All you need is a potato, a skewer, and a sharp knife.
What potato to use?
I would highly recommend a starchy potato like Russet potatoes or Yukon Gold. I found that they got crispier than waxier potatoes. Another thing I noticed is that wider potatoes were harder to cut, so try to use ones that are less wide.
How to create the potato spiral?
There are a few different methods out there but in my opinion the easiest method is just to stab the potato with the skewer and start slicing it with a knife. You might think it is hard to rotate but it is actually very easy. Here is a video I took of me doing the process:
I found that thinner skewers worked better than thicker skewers because it was easier to stab through the potatoes. Try to keep your slicing about ¼-inch thick. This ensures the potato is thick enough to not break but also ensures it is thin enough to get crispy.
Deep-frying vs air-frying
I deep-fried the tornado potato at 350°F for 4-5 minutes on each side. One important thing is to make sure the oil covers at least half the potato so that both sides can get cooked. I had to cut my skewers about 1 inch so they would fit in my pot.
For the air-fryer method, I increased the temperature and time to 400°F for 18 minutes because air-frying usually takes longer to crisp up. Both methods turned out amazing, but I think extra oil in the deep-frying helped the potato to become crisper and also more tasty. But air-frying was much easier so I will most likely do that next time.
Tornado Potato
Ingredients
- 2 Russet potatoes (or Yukon Gold)
- 2 metal or wooden skewers
- salt and pepper
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Insert the skewer through the potato and push the potato to the center of the skewer.
- Use a pairing knife to start cutting the potato from top to bottom in a ¼-inch thick spiral (see the video).
- Working from the middle, slowly pull the spiral outwards so that it fills up the skewer. Make sure not to pull each section too far or the spiral can break.
- Deep-fry at 350°F for 4-5 minutes on each side or spray with oil and air-fry at 400°F for 18 minutes, flipping once in between. If your skewers are too long, use scissors to trim them.
- Immediately sprinkle on salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Ethan Saw
This is very bad looking, but taste great 👍 surprisingly. Great recipe