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Here’s how to make sweet potato fries: the best you’ll have at home! They’re incredible: baked until crispy and seasoned to perfection.
Hello, fry lovers. Meet our new favorite healthy fries: the World’s Best Sweet Potato Fries! Ok, we’ll admit: we haven’t performed a scientific survey to validate this claim. However: we’ve made a lot of homemade fries. In fact, you could call us fry experts. This recipe is the culmination of years of research: our quest to find the best crispy baked sweet potato fries you can make at home! All our knowledge from regular French fries translates to this master recipe, plus a little secret on how to make them crispy.
4 tricks to crispy baked sweet potato fries
There are lots of people who claim to have the secret to the best baked sweet potato fries. Here’s the the problem with sweet potatoes: they have more moisture than a typical russet potato. So it’s tricky to get them to crisp up unless you deep fry them. Here are four tricks that make baked sweet potato fries come out crispy:
- Soak for 10 minutes in cold water. This really works! Soaking removes excess potato starch, resulting in maximum crispiness. The best part: you can do this while you preheat the oven, so there’s no time lost.
- Coat in cornstarch. Cornstarch helps to form a crispy coating for sweet potatoes, which can turn soggy and limp in the oven, unlike a russet potato.
- Place on parchment paper. Don’t use a Silpat or silicon baking sheet, which can make for soggy fries! Paper is the way to go.
- Spread apart on the baking sheet. Spread the fries as far apart on the baking sheet as possible: this allows for maximum airflow and enhances crispiness. Bake a maximum of 2 pounds of potatoes in the oven at once.
Ingredients for sweet potato fries
These sweet potato fries require only a few ingredients to make fry perfection. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Small to medium sweet potatoes: Weigh out 2 pounds when you buy them: they vary in size widely, so it’s easiest to specify weight. Some sweet potatoes can be massive: these are hard to cut and don’t make pretty fries. Look for small to medium sized sweet potatoes for the best looking fries.
- Olive oil
- Garlic powder and onion powder
- Cornstarch
- Salt
How to cut fries by hand
Cutting fries is easy: but there are a few tricks! For sweet potato fries, we like to leave the peels on. That way you get all the nutrients and don’t have to waste time doing it! Here’s our method and see below for a video:
- Slice off the ends of each potato, then slice off part of the side to make a base.
- Place the potato half cut side down and cut off a 3/8-inch slice, then lay the slice on its side and cut it into several long 3/8-inch wide strips.
- Repeat until all potatoes have been cut into fries!
Cutting sweet potato fries with a fry cutter
You can also use a fry cutter to cut fries! This is only for the most serious of home cooks, because it’s a unitasker (only good for one thing) and rather large. We got one because we make a lot fries around here! It makes for beautifully perfect fries. Here are some notes:
- Sweet potatoes are more difficult to cut with a fry cutter than russet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are much tougher than russets, so they take much more strength to pass through the cutter. We struggled here, but eventually made it work (with Alex’s muscles). We don’t necessarily recommend using a fry cutter, but it did work.
- The fry cutter works brilliantly for russets and other vegetables. Here’s a link to the French fry cutter we use.
Why these are healthy sweet potato fries
These sweet potato fries aren’t fried, so we think you can call them healthy fries! Here’s why these are a healthy, whole food version of the standard comfort food:
- You’ll just use sweet potatoes, minimal olive oil and a bit of salt. These are all healthy, whole food ingredients. They’re basically roasted potatoes!
- The serving size is moderate. The serving size is much less than a restaurant would serve, so that helps to keep the calories down.
Seasoning and dipping sweet potato fries
Once you’ve cut your fries, seasoned and baked them: you’ll want to start sneaking bites right off of the baking sheet! In fact, it’s hard to actually get them on our table because we want to devour them so quickly. You definitely don’t need a dipping sauce with these. But if you love a little flair (we do), here are some seasoning mixes and sauces for dipping:
- French Fry Seasoning Adds a pop of flavor to homemade fries! We added just a sprinkle.
- Aioli Recipe or Garlic Mayo Aioli is perfect for fries! Make it the traditional way, or use our faster cheater’s method (garlic mayo, as shown in the photos).
- Pesto Aioli Our favorite flavored aioli tastes just like a creamy pesto!
- Creamy Cilantro Sauce, Creamy Cilantro Dressing or Cilantro Lime Ranch Bright green cilantro sauce also pairs well with sweet potato: here are three different versions.
This sweet potato fries recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
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World’s Best Sweet Potato Fries
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 3 to 4- Diet: Vegan
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Here’s how to make sweet potato fries: the best you’ll have at home! They’re incredible: baked until crispy and seasoned to perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small to medium sweet potatoes*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Evenly space the oven racks to ensure even cooking.
- Cut the potatoes into fries: (Watch this video or use a fry cutter.) Wash the potatoes, leaving the skins on. Slice off the ends of each potato, then slice off part of the side to make a base. Place the potato half cut side down and cut off a 3/8-inch slice, then lay the slice on its side and cut it into several long strips. Repeat until all potatoes have been cut into fries. The pieces can be uneven, but aim for as uniform of thickness as possible**. See the video for full instructions!
- Soak in cold water (10 minutes): Place the cut fries into a medium bowl and rinse with cold water until water is clear. Then fill the bowl with cold water and allow to rest for 10 minutes (while the oven preheats). Then drain the potatoes and dry them thoroughly with a clean dish towel.
- Season the fries: Place the fries in a large bowl; drizzle with the olive oil, then add the garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and cornstarch. Mix thoroughly to combine. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the fries on the paper, placing them as far apart as possible.
- Bake: Bake 15 minutes on one side. Remove the trays from the oven and flip the fries. Place them back in the oven (on reversed oven racks for even baking) and bake 16 to 19 minutes until the fries are dry and slightly browned. Watch them carefully as the cooking time can depend on the thickness and your specific oven. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
*Weigh out the potatoes for accuracy. Sweet potatoes vary widely in size so it’s easiest to specify quantity by weight instead of a number of potatoes. Small to medium potatoes have the best shape for fries.
**You can also use a fry cutter; it’s a little harder to use on sweet potatoes but still works (see above).
Category: Side Dish
Method: Baked
Cuisine: American
Keywords: Sweet potato fries, healthy fries, how to make sweet potato fries, best sweet potato fries, homemade sweet potato fries
More sweet potato recipes
The humble sweet potato is one of our favorite ingredients for healthy meals! Here are more sweet potato recipes to try:
- Dice them up to make roasted sweet potatoes
- Make them into an easy dinner with sweet potatoes with Thai peanut butter sauce
- Top them with salsa and black beans as Mexican sweet potatoes
- Grate them into sweet potato hash browns
- Fire up the grill for grilled sweet potatoes
- Make a big pot of sweet potato chili
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
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