How Does Wingstop Season Its Fries?

Wingstop is known for its wings, but its fries have a major following too. These aren't your standard fried potatoes that are just salted and plated. Wingstop has its own special formula that its crew members shake on; it's a little sweet and very salty, peppery and something else. Although Wingstop proper has chosen not to disclose the ingredients of their fry seasoning, several versions exist on the internet and social media. 

There are even Reddit comments where alleged restaurant employees reveal the recipe for the fry seasoning. The recipes seem to have two ingredients in common — salt and sugar. However, extant variations include brown sugar, Stevia, oregano and other ingredients. The most popular seasoning recipe combinations are sugar, salt, pepper, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder. A few recipes include paprika as well, which we certainly get a sense of when tasting. They're fries, after all, so if you just season sensibly you can't go too wrong. 

The sweetness is key to the Wingstop recipe, but some people are not fans. Making your own seasoning mix is a good way to adjust the sugar in the fry seasoning. Adding brown sugar would bring a deeper, more molasses-like flavor that may be a little too intense for the Wingstop fry recipe. Stevia is a good substitute but comes with its own flavor limitations. Granulated sugar seems to be the best source of sweetness for those just looking to duplicate Wingstop fries. Pepper is another key ingredient that a few recipes omitted. 

The Wingstop fry seasoning obviously has black pepper. It's the one spice in the mix that can be visibly verified. The chili powder and/or paprika also seem to fill another visible component of the spice blend — the redness of the mix. Paprika and chili powder are also two spices that go well with one another. That's why it feels right to have paprika in the recipe. One usually follows the other in similar spice mixes.

Make up a few different versions of the spice mix and set it aside in different containers. Then, fry store-bought frozen fries or make your own fries with cut and deep-fried potatoes. Air-fried fries may work, too. Sprinkle the spice mix on the fries and taste; until Wingstop gives us official word, any decent dupe will take some trial and error.