These Sweet Potato Oven Fries are a great way to get a veggie portion into your meal! Crisped in the oven - you won't miss the deep fryer!
I often buy the Alexia frozen Sweet Potato Fries from Costco. They are handy but they come in a really (really) big bag and it takes us forever to get through the bag.
So why not make my own? They are simple enough to make and you can control the amount of oil as well as any flavourings you may want to add.
One word of caution - I was picturing perfectly uniform fries cut from my our handy-dandy mandolin. Well.... that wasn't happening. The raw sweet potato is way too dense for the mandolin blade. I had visions of losing fingers or slitting my wrist if the potato slipped off the blade.
So.. back to the good old fashioned, peel and chop them on a cutting board! It doesn't really take much time.
I like fairly broad thick fries. If they are too thin they collapse when they are cooked. These have a bit of crunchy coating on the outside and have a bit of soft flesh inside.
You are going to peel and cut your sweet potatoes into wedges about ½" wide and ½" thick. Try to be as uniform as possible with the thickness so they cook as evenly as possible. You will definitely have shorter and longer fries from the shape of potato.
Then you are going to soak them in cold water for about an hour or even overnight. This serves to remove some of the starch from the inside of the potato.
Then you rinse them in a colander and lay them out on some paper towels. Pat them dry on top and bottom. They don't have to be perfectly dry but you don't want them dripping.
Tossing them in a bag with the cornstarch gives a coating that will help them crisp up in the oven. This is the step that takes them from soft and soggy to having some body.
You will need 2 sheet pans. You do not want to crowd the fries. The air needs to circulate around all sides of the fries or they won't be crispy. Line your pans with foil and spray with cooking spray. Spray well or you will never get the potatoes up off the foil!
Toss the fries with oil and whatever spice you like. I left mine plain and served them with a dipping sauce but you can add some chili powder, smoked or regular paprika, hotter chile powders such as cayenne, habanero or chipotle. If using a hotter spice- use sparingly - like a ¼ tsp.
I made my dipping sauce with light mayonnaise and ½ teaspoon of McCormick's Smouldering Smoked Applewood seasoning. It has kind of a mild South West feel to it. You could use paprika, Old Bay, Ranch mix....whatever flavour you like.
I served my Crispy Sweet Potato Fries with these Lemon Pepper Haddock Bites and Jim 'N Nick's BBQ Cole Slaw- a combination made in heaven to be sure!
Crispy Sweet Potato Oven Fries
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Save Print Pin FacebookIngredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- water
- 2 Tbsps vegetable oil
- 4 tsps cornstarch
- ½ tsps chili powder or spice of your choice (optional)
- sea salt for garnishing
Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon Smouldering Smoked Applewood seasoning or spice mix of your choice.
Instructions
- Peel sweet potatoes. Halve them lengthwise and cut them into ½" X ½" squares as uniformly as possible.
- Cover with cold water and soak for at least 60 minutes or up to overnight.
- Drain potatoes in a colander and rinse.
- Lay potato wedges out on a paper towel and pat dry top and bottom.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Line 2 sheet pans with foil and spray well with cooking spray.
- Put 2 tsps of corn starch in a large zip lock bag. Toss half the dry potato wedges in the bag to coat them lightly. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with remaining starch and potatoes.
- Toss potatoes with oil and spice if using.
- Arrange the fries on the foil sheet pans in a single layer with space between them. Do not crowd them.
- Bake 15 minutes and then flip each fry. Use tongs or a firm spatula.
- Rotate the pans when you put them back in the oven. Lower pan goes to upper rack and vice versa. Turn the pans so the back of the pan is now at the front.
- Check them after 15 more minutes. They should be browned and cooked through. Sprinkle them with coarse sea salt immediately after removing from the oven.
- Serve them with dipping sauce (optional).
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