These baked sweet potato fries will change your life. They are crispy, salty-sweet, and seriously addictive. The recipe is easy to make with a few tips and tricks guaranteed to give you maximum crispiness. The resulting fries are perfectly seasoned delicious fries that are sure to disappear immediately.
Now one of my favourite things about fries is their crispiness when it comes fresh out of the frier. It’s hard to mimic the same feeling without all that grease when you’re baking them, but the good news is that you can do it. It might take a few extra steps than simply slicing potatoes and throwing them in the oven, but SO worth it when you won’t have a soggy fry in sight.
How to achieve maximum crispiness when making baked sweet potato fries:
1. Cut even sized fries — this seems like a small step that’s easy to overlook when you just want those fries already, but makes so much of a difference! Uniform sized fries will ensure that they crisp up at the same time, so you won’t be left with any super charred or still soft ones at the end. Also, cutting them thinner also helps them crisp up.
2. Soak — Soak the cut fries in cool filtered water for about 20 minutes. This rinses off the extra starch and let’s them crisp up better.
3. Dry — Drying is equally important! Once your fries have soaked, drain and remove them on a kitchen towel and pat dry.
4. Coat with cornflour — This is the secret ingredient! Coating the fries with cornflour is essential when you’re baking them, and helps to give you a really crispy exterior. Just mix together any dry seasonings or flavourings (minus the salt… more on that later) you want to use with cornflour and toss the fries in them.
5. Don’t crowd the pan — Make sure your fries are in the pan in a single layer, and not overcrowding it. Bake in two batches if required, because otherwise all the fries won’t have a chance to crisp up.
6. Keep a check — As all ovens function differently, make sure you keep a check on your fries while they’re baking. It’s a good idea to rotate the pans once, halfway through cooking, as usually one side of the oven receives more heat than the other. When rotating, also give the pan a good toss. This makes sure that all sides of the fries get a chance to get crispy.
7. Salt at last — Once the fries are done, remove them from the oven and sprinkle sea salt. Using salt at the end ensures that your fries get crispy. Adding it in the beginning draws out moisture and results in soggy fries. Once salted, let them rest for a few minutes to crisp up further. They are ready to serve!
Want customised fries? You can:
— make it spicy: add any dry seasonings you like to the cornflour when coating the fries. You could use paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, za’atar seasoning, turmeric, curry powder, or any such combination
— amplify the flavour: instead of adding spices when baking, you can also add a spice mix in the end while salting. Think Indian rasam masala, za’atar, peri peri spice blend etc.
— add cheese: add grated Parmesan or any other cheese to fries hot from the oven (also add a few drops of truffle oil for the classic truffle parmesan fries flavour).
You can also make this recipe with regular potatoes, but I personally love sweet potatoes. They’re also a tad bit healthier. Though both potatoes have carbs, sweet potatoes have more fibre. They’re also slightly lower on the glycemic index. Beside the nutritional benefits, the sweetness wonderfully complements the savoury flavour of fries, making this recipe a crowd-favourite.
Serve the fries with any dipping sauce of your choice — on it’s own as a snack or appetiser, or as a side with a salad, sandwich, wrap, or burger. Enjoy!
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon corn flour
- Few fresh cracks of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon seasoning, if desired (smoked paprika, dried thyme, garlic powder etc)
- Sea salt, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 200 C.
- Scrub clean the sweet potatoes using a damp cloth. Slice it lengthwise into thick fries. Soak the fries in a bowl of cool filtered water for half an hour.
- Drain, and place the fries on a kitchen towel, pat them dry.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the dried fries along with the olive oil and toss to combine.
- Next, mix together the corn flour with the black pepper and whatever dry seasonings that you want to use. Add the seasoning mix to the bowl with the fries and toss to coat.
- Place the fries on a baking sheet, ensuring that they are spread out evenly across the sheet without overcrowding. Bake until the fries are slightly golden and crispy, rotating the sheets halfway in the middle for even baking.
- Remove the fries from the oven, and season with salt while they’re still hot. Toss to combine and wait for a couple of minutes for them to crisp up further. Serve with dipping sauce of your choice!
