If I am pressed for time, I microwave first to partially thaw (like 1-2 minutes depending on how many) and then bake. Cuts cooking time in about half, and I think they taste fine

If you are trying to save that much time, then go to mcdonalds drive through.

Not convinced you'd even save time. I bet they brown faster frozen if the oven is correctly pre-heated.

In the future, when buying, look at the cook times. Different cuts cook different amounts of time.

The bag (at least for Ore-Ida) usually says to keep frozen even while pre-heating your oven.

No you can't defrost them first. They are meant to be cooked from frozen. The bag probably says keep frozen. Follow the directions on the bag!

I make frozen sweet potato fries quite a lot - I've never defrosted them. They cook much faster than the package says.... mine are generally done in under 15 minutes.

I think defrosting them might be a bad move.

I don't make frozen French fries a lot but this week is crazy so I bought some.

Silly question maybe, but if time is crunched can I defrost the fries ahead of time so they will cook faster? Or will the defrosting somehow compromise the texture?