Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
I had a major craving for French fries but had no russet potatoes on hand, but I did have sweet potatoes so I made these oven-baked sweet potato fries. I used my favorite baked french fry method, from my cooking bible, The New Best Recipe by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated. It was the right thing to do because they turned out delicious–soft on the inside and crisp on the outside. We all enjoyed these oven-baked sweet potato fries and thought they paired perfectly with the sliders I served them with.
Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients:
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into same-sized fries
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- Garlic powder, to taste
- Paprika, to taste
How to Make Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Peel the sweet potatoes then cut each potato lengthwise into the same size fries. Place the cut fries into a large bowl and cover with hot tap water; soak for 10 minutes.
Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle two tablespoons of oil on the baking pan followed by a sprinkling of sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, to taste. Set aside.
Drain the potatoes then place them on kitchen towels (or paper towels) and pat dry. Rinse and wipe out the bowl then dry it with a kitchen towel. Place the dried fries back into the dry bowl then drizzle the last tablespoon of oil onto the fries. Toss with your hands until evenly coated. Arrange the fries in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Season with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, to taste.
Cover the baking sheet tightly with tin foil and place it into the oven to bake for 5 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the bottoms are spotty golden brown, about 10 minutes. Using tongs, flip each fry, keeping the potatoes in a single layer, and rotate the baking sheet in the oven. Continue baking until the fries are golden and crispy, 5-10 minutes longer, rotating the pan as needed if the fries are browning unevenly.
Transfer the fries to some paper towels to drain. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into same-sized fries
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- Garlic powder to taste
- Paprika to taste
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes then cut each potato lengthwise into the same size fries. Place the cut fries into a large bowl and cover with hot tap water; soak for 10 minutes.
- Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle two tablespoons of oil on the baking sheet followed by a sprinkling of sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, to taste. Set aside.
- Drain the potatoes then place them on kitchen towels (or paper towels) and pat dry. Rinse and wipe out the bowl then dry it with a kitchen towel.
- Place the dried fries back into the dry bowl then drizzle the last tablespoon of oil onto the fries. Toss with your hands until evenly coated.
- Arrange the fries in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Season with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, to taste.
- Cover the baking sheet tightly with tin foil and place it into the oven to bake for 5 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake until the bottoms are spotty golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Using tongs, flip each fry, keeping the potatoes in a single layer, and rotate the baking sheet in the oven.
- Continue baking until the fries are golden and crispy, 5-10 minutes longer, rotating the pan as needed if the fries are browning unevenly.
- Transfer the fries to some paper towels to drain. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
That sounds delicious! I’m surprised such skinny fries need such a long cooking time.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Fabulous suggestion Pam
I love sweet potato and the combination with the paprika might be fantastic.
Cheers,
Lia
Sweet potato fries are my favorite kind of fries!! I love the seasoning on these 🙂
I love sweet potato fries! They look great with the dipping sauce on the side. A spiced aioli?
Love sweet potato fries. I’ll have to try this method.
Love anything with sweet potatoes! These fries look fantastic, Pam.
We love sweet potato fries! I’ll have to give this recipe a try as I’m not too happy with my attempts of making them…
I will make these when I harvest our next lot of sweet potatoes for sure
I’m pretty sure I could down the whole tray of these! No problem.
I am going to have to try those fries, they look awesome.
Not sure about the science here. Cook’s Illustrated recipe for making oven fries (regular potatoes) does include the step of soaking the potatoes in a hot water bath. They say that’s to draw out excess starch. In another recipe for Cook’s Illustrated fried sweet potatoes they indicated that Sweet potatoes have far less starch than regular potatoes and in fact they want to add more. So I made your recipe twice, once with the soak and one without. Everything else remained the same. The ones with the soak turned out hard on outside, but mushy inside. The other a bit less mushier, but almost the same. My opinion, the water soak does not pay a dividend, here.
Pam
Do you think I could cook these partially-like say to the point after they are in the oven covered with tin foil-and then finish cooking when ready to serve? I would do them partially a few hours before. Is this possible? I wanted to serve some regular potato oven fries and some sweet potato oven fries for friends on a modified keto diet.
Gail Kelly,
I’ve never tried making them in advance but I think they might turn out just fine. Please let me know how it goes if you give it a try.
-Pam