Discover the Best Canadian Poutine Recipe Ever!

Poutine can be described as next level cheese fries. Yes, I have a recipe for Ultimate Mozzarella Cheesy Fries, but this isn’t the same. In popular media, you may see Americans try to claim their cheese fries are poutine.

The components for a classic poutine include fries, a thick and dark beef-based gravy, and cheese curds. That’s it!

Canadians are absolutely obsessed with poutine! If you’re downtown, you’ll see a poutine truck every couple of blocks. If a restaurant doesn’t have poutine as a side dish or a main, then they’re considered crazy! Not just fast food places, mind you (I love the McDonald’s poutine!), I mean all types of restaurants! You get poutine at shawarma places, at Indian restaurants (yup, you read that right), and Chinese restaurants. Everyone’s gotta serve up their own poutine!

I had my first poutine not too long after arriving in Canada. During my first year of university, peers in my residence were asking me if I’ve tried the poutine sold on campus yet. I said no and went rushing to try it. Okay, my life changed after that day! I would go to that little hut so often for a satisfying treat! I liked having the poutine and Italian sausage combo, yum!

If you follow my Instagram stories, you know that poutine has become king of my fast food options. When I’m not feeling like making a lunch, I almost always resort to getting a nice piping hot poutine!

I get so many messages from international followers being jealous that they can’t have this goodness! I don’t blame them! I’d be upset to leave this goodness too!

As you also see from my stories and posts, poutine has been one of the most difficult recipes for me to master! When you’re reading the components for this dish, yes, it seems simple, but to make it taste and LOOK (‘cause we eat with our eyes here!) like the classic food truck poutines, it’s been tough! You want the gravy to be seasoned perfectly, the right ratio of gravy to fries, the right plating… the list goes on! This has totally made me want to rip my hair out sometimes!

I mean, what I love about recipe testing is that it gives me an excuse to keep eating an awesome dish (and it gives me an excuse to keep ordering poutine to compare my version versus from the food truck!), but I know that this has been a long awaited one. There has been so much trial and error to get this right! But I really hope that this has been worth the wait! It’s been a long road, but at long last, here’s a classic authentic poutine recipe, so that you can enjoy this awesome delight wherever you are in the world!

What Makes for an Authentic Canadian Poutine Recipe?

Poutine originated in the province of Quebec, Canada, in the 1950s. The exact origins of the dish are unknown, but whoever came up with this dish, well… Thank you very much! French Canadians, along with the rest of the country, quickly picked up on this dish, and now it’s just an essential Canadian dish! To be honest with you, I don’t really know what else is classified as Canadian cuisine, besides things made with maple syrup.

Apparently, poutine is Quebec slang “a mess.” I just learned this now! Well, maybe looking at this dish, you think it’s a mess, but I always say that messy food is the most fun!

There are doubts about how to pronounce poutine. I say “poo-teen,” as the English-speaking Canadians pronounce it, but French Canadians say “poo-tsin”, where the first syllable is not as stretched out as the last.

For more information about the history and origins of poutine, be sure to check out this article by The Canadian Encyclopedia.

An authentic poutine has the three core components mentioned earlier - the beef-based broth, some crispy, thick-cut fries, and cheese curds.

Simple, right? Well, there is a debate about the cheese curds. Should the cheese curds be molten or not? My uncle, who lives in Montreal, always told me that they should not be molten, and I disagreed. I was proven wrong, though, as I’ve had my uncle’s stance confirmed by a fellow Montrealer YouTuber.

There’s your answer, but to be honest with you I do like my poutine to have the cheese molten. So, the recipe I’ll be sharing won’t totally be one hundred percent authentic, but if you want to not have molten cheese curds, then simply add your cheese curds on top at the end! I’ll be sharing tips and tricks to get those cheese curds molten!

As for the gravy, apparently canned broth is typically used instead of boxed. I’m using a boxed broth that I’ve come to enjoy after trying out many others. I haven’t seen a canned broth that I had wanted to try, but I would be willing to experiment further, and I’ve even thought about using a beef bouillon cube!

Cheese curds are cheddar, and you’ll find them available in yellow cheddar and white cheddar. Poutine traditionally uses white cheddar cheese curds, and that’s what I’ll be using here. To be honest with you, I’m not sure when the yellow cheddar cheese curds are used. I guess if you want to switch things up you can go for it!

Authentic Poutine Recipe Variations

As I mentioned earlier, nowadays you go to any kind of restaurant and there’ll be a poutine option or two on the menu. Food trucks have classic poutine on the menu as well as many variations. I’ve seen all sorts of fusion poutines!

I’ve had poutine with pulled pork, sausage, bacon and chicken. I’ve seen butter chicken poutine, shawarma chicken poutine, lobster poutine, garlicky mushroom poutine, poutine on pizza… basically you can just do anything with poutine!

My favourite way to enjoy poutine is just the classic way as I’m showing you here. Maybe it’s boring but I truly get the chance to appreciate the cheese curds, the gravy, and the crispy fries. With that being said, I don’t have any specific ideas to give you, but take inspiration from foods you like and use it as a topping for poutine and see what you think! Poutine has basically become a “blank” canvas like pizza now!

If you’re looking for fusion poutine recipes on the blog, then check out my Mexican Fusion Poutine and my Indian-Fusion Aloo Keema Poutine recipes! Let me know what your favourite fusion poutine recipe is!

Ingredients for Classic Poutine Recipe

Let’s break down the ingredients we’ll need for our poutine. The full ingredient list with measurements can be found in the PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD at the bottom of this post!

For the Beef Gravy

• Beef broth
• Butter
• All-purpose flour
• Worcestershire sauce
• Cornstarch
• Salt

For the Chicken Gravy

• 1 packet Roasted Chicken Gravy Mix
• Water, as needed

For the Fries

• Yellow potatoes
• Olive oil (or vegetable or canola oil if deep frying)
• Salt

For Topping

• Cheese curds

How to Make the Classic Poutine Recipe

How to Make the Fries

For Air Fryer Fries

1. Add the peeled, cut fries in a large bowl and fill with cold water and soak for about 25 minutes (see tip for a shortcut). In the meanwhile, set a large pot of water to boil.
2. Add soaked fries to the boiling water and boil for 3-5 minutes, or until the potatoes are partly cooked but still firm. Add only enough potatoes that will comfortably fit in your air fryer basket in a single layer.
3. Drain the potatoes onto paper towel and gently pat dry. Then, transfer the fries to a large bowl and coat with olive oil. Gently toss the potatoes in the oil and arrange fries in a single layer in the air fryer basket
4. Set Air Fryer to Air Fry mode at 400F and cook for 20 minutes.
5. If making a multiple batch, transfer the fries from the air fryer basket to a bowl/baking sheet and repeat steps 2-4 for the remaining portion of fries.
6. Once all the fries are crispy, you can toss all the fries in a single basket to refresh the fries at 375F-390F for 3-5 minutes. Voila!

For Oven Baked Fries

1. Preheat the oven to 475 F.
2. In the meanwhile, cut the potatoes into slices 1/4 inch thick. In a large bowl, add the fries and fill with water. Let the fries soak for at least 25 minutes.
3. In the meanwhile, set a large pot of water to boil.
4. Add soaked fries to the boiling water and boil for 3-5 minutes, or until the potatoes are partly cooked but still firm.
5. Drain the potatoes onto paper towel and gently pat dry.
6. Transfer fries to a large enough bowl and season with salt and olive oil. Layer a large baking tray with parchment paper and place the fries on it. Bake the fries on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until they are light golden brown
7. Once lightly browned, move the rack and tray to the lowest oven rack bake until crispy, flipping once to ensure each side is crisp.

How to Make 5 Minute Chicken Gravy

1. I used McCormick Roasted Chicken gravy for this recipe. Add the contents of the package in a saucepan and add the instructed amount of water.
2. Whisk well and bring the mixture up to a simmer.
3. Simmer until the gravy has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and set aside until fries are ready.
4. Bring the gravy back up to heat before serving and adjust consistency with water if required.

How to Make the Beef Stock Gravy

1. Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add butter and flour. Whisk well and cook out the roux, until the rawness of the flour is cooked out.
2. Add beef stock, 1/4-1/2 Cup at a time and whisk until you have added all the stock.
3. Add 1-2 splashes of Worcestershire sauce and bring the gravy up to a simmer and cook until reduced by half in volume.
4. Once the stock has reduced by half, season with salt and pepper. Prepare corn starch slurry by whisking together cornstarch with water.
5. Add slurry to the gravy and mix well.
6. Simmer until the gravy has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and set aside until fries are ready.
7. Bring the gravy back up to heat before serving and adjust consistency with water if required.

How to Assemble the Poutine

1. Add a layer of fries to a large platter/serving bowl and then add a layer of cheese curds. Pour hot gravy over the fries and cheese curds.
2. Repeat the same until you have the desired portion size and serve immediately.

Tips for the Best Poutine at Home

• DO NOT SEASON the French fries!! The seasoning from the gravy will help season the fries, anything extra will risk too much salt in the dish.
• Use reduced salt/no added salt broth to allow you to control the amount of salt and seasoning in the gravy
• I use a metal ring to tightly pack the poutine in my serving bowl which helps pack the heat in and make the cheese curds extra soft.