I’ve been dying to share this recipe with you all! I’m a huge fan of sweet potato fries, but I’ve never had much success with baked ones. It’s always been really difficult to get them nice and crisp! So I pulled out all of the stops to make these bad boys, and let me tell you, they’re some of the best homemade fries I’ve ever had! They’re crispy & flavorful and a whole lot healthier because they’re oven baked to perfection!
Today I’m going to share some of my tips & tricks for making the best sweet potato fries ever…. are you ready to gets started?!
First, try and make sure that your fries are all the same thickness <- this is a kind of a big deal. You want them to all bake at the same rate, that way you aren’t over-baking some and under-baking others. Once you’ve got them cut up, place them in a large bowl of ice cold salt water. Yes, you read that right. Salt water. Just toss in some ice cubes and about a tablespoon of kosher salt (the coarse stuff), that should do. Let them soak for at least one hour, more if you have the time. It’ll help remove excess starch which will help prevent them from sticking together.
When you’re ready to go, drain the water, toss the sweet potato sticks in a ziploc bag with cornstarch (it’ll help absorb excess moisture and keep the fries nice and crisp) and the seasoning blend and shake until coated. Then toss in a bit of oil (I used a blend of olive and vegetable because of the higher temperature) place on a hot sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper placed over top and make sure there’s plenty of room for the fries to bake. Overcrowding your pan will steam the fries and they won’t get nice and crisp.
Once they’re in the oven turn them just once and let them go until the ends start to get crispy. It’ll takes a little bit of time, but be patient… I promise the results are well worth it! Let the fries cool for a few minutes and then dig in! These sweet potato fries are absolutely delicious, I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we we do!
Perfect Baked Sweet Potato Fries Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into 1/4'' sticks
- 1 tbsp kosher salt - divided
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp coriander
- 1/8 tsp cumin
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- sea salt flakes - optional
Instructions
- Place the raw sweet potato sticks in a large bowl add enough cold water to cover the fries, then sprinkle 2 tsp. of the salt over the top. Allow to sit for 1 hour, or more time if possible.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a rimmed cookie sheet (standard size) in the oven to heat. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the sheet, set aside.
- Drain the fries and place in a large plastic bag with the cornstarch, paprika, garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander and cumin. Leave a little bit of air in the bag, zip and shake until evenly coated. Use the same bowl to toss the fries in the oil.
- Remove the sheet from the oven, place the parchment paper over top and then carefully toss the fries on, making sure they have space in between to bake (you don't want them to steam). Bake for 20 minutes, toss, then bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with sea salt and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy immediately!
I tried these tonight after a couple of sweet potato fries fails! I was so excited when they came out crispy!! However, they looked chalky from the corn starch. There wasn’t a difference in flavor just an apparent corn starch powdery look. Where did i go wrong?
Hmmm..that’s a good question! The only thing I can think of, is maybe you needed to shake it more?? I haven’t had them come out that way. You can try adding a little less.
This is my favorite sweet potato fry recipe I’ve found so far! Thank you!
You are so welcome! I am happy to know that you like them! Thank you!
This may sound dumb but when & how do you add the oil? It wasn’t clear to me
It is in step 3 🙂 You can add the same bowl you used to soak the fries or even pour it in the zip lock bag & shake. Hope that helps! Enjoy!
So my first thought, these are too spicy.. Followed by, I can’t stop eating these!!!
What is the purpose of the cornstarch? I think that is the thing that was a little ‘off’ for me, and thinking of omit or decrease next time. Is that needed to make the spices stick to the fries? (if so, maybe I’ll just cut quantity in half to suit my preference)
It’s to help keep them extra crisp, you could certainly cut down on it though 🙂
sweet potato fries are my favorite, these sound perfect! I need to go find some sweet potatoes stat 🙂
Thanks Emily! I’m still trying to convince Stephen that they’re the bees knees!