Name: Zesty Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 4 Medium Sweet Potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into sticks; 2 tsp Kosher Salt; Cold Water, enough to cover fries; 6 tbsp Cornstarch; 4 tsp Smoked Paprika; 2 tsp Garlic Powder; 1 tsp Black Pepper; ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper; ¼ tsp Coriander; ¼ tsp Cumin; 6 tbsp Vegetable Oil; Additional Kosher Salt

Apples aren’t the only seasonal thing in at the farmers market. Root vegetables are also having their moment. Sweet potatoes in particular are in abundance.

There are many ways to serve up sweet potatoes – bake them, roast them, stick ‘em in a stew. But sweet potato fries are always a crowd pleaser.

We have been having a debate in our house since last year about whether or not to purchase an air fryer. I am generally all for the latest kitchen gadgets that make cooking easier. But it appears that most air fryers are large, countertop appliances and my counter space is already at a premium.

Last week, many vendors had air fryers on sale, making the idea even more tempting. But my husband did a little research to see what makes these things so attractive. It turns out that most air fryers are basically little convention ovens, a small box that gets hot and blows the hot air around to evenly cook up what you have put in it.

It just so happens that our oven has a convection option, as does our microwave. So, we have determined to try to use these features more to do what we would do inside of an air fryer.

What better item to experiment with than baked sweet potato fries? So, I set out to find a recipe that would make nice, crispy fries full of flavor. I found a recipe from www.lifemadesimplebakes.com to follow. I adjusted the recipe just a touch, and varied my cooking a bit, to better suit baking them using convection.

I chose this recipe because it is a savory mix of spices, not the often-used cinnamon sugar variation. I don’t know why, but I really don’t care for sweet sweet potatoes. Anyway, this particular recipe is a great mix of spice and seasoning, giving the fries an amazing flavor.

To better increase airflow to the fries and to improve the chances of crispiness, I chose to use perforated pans. The only pans I currently have that are perforated are round pizza pans, so I made them work. This recipe also preheats the pans, which makes the fries start to crisp up the second they touch the pan.

One of the trickiest parts of making sweet potato fries from scratch is preparing the potatoes. You need to wash and peel your potatoes, then cut them up as evenly as possible, preferably 1/4” sized sticks. Sweet potatoes are not the easiest root vegetable to cut. They are extremely dense. There are probably tools you can use to cut them evenly, but I chose to do it by hand, using a very sharp knife.

I had 4 potatoes to use, so I rounded up, so to speak, with the recipe. The original called for 3 medium and my potatoes were medium to large. So, to be safe, I doubled all the spices and cornstarch for the coating, and used 2 bags for coating the fries to ensure extra space for coating the fries really well.

The original recipe called for a full tsp of black pepper, and since I doubled it, that ended up being 2 tsps. That was really quite a lot, so I have cut that in half for my variation.

Another important step in preparing these sweet potato fries is to soak the potatoes after they are cut. This helps to remove extra potato starch, which can help them crisp up more while baking. You need to soak them at least an hour; more if you have the time.

I made these on a swimming night, so I cut the potatoes and set them in the bowl to soak while we were away at the gym. I had prepared the bags for coating before I left as well.

When we get back home from swim team, everyone is usually pretty hungry, so whatever I can do ahead of time helps a lot. Had it been a more relaxing evening, I may have thoroughly dried the potatoes With paper towels before coating them, but I skipped that step this time.

Another step to making your fries crispy is to flip them as best you can every 10 minutes while cooking, for even baking. If you are using convection, it allows you to place 2 pans in the oven at once and have them bake up the same. I choose to rotate the pans each time I flipped the fries.

After about 30 minutes or so total, you should have delightfully brown and crispy sweet potato fries. If you think they are not done enough, keep baking but keep a close eye on them.

They are best served warm, with some some extra kosher salt sprinkled on top. But they do reheat nicely the next day – if you reheat them in the oven at 350ºF for about 8-10 minutes.

Both of my girls were skeptical of these because they don’t generally like sweet potatoes. However, they were quite surprised to find they like them and ate the leftovers the next day.

These fries are a great accompaniment to almost anything. I am already thinking they might be the prefect side dish for leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.

AuthorMelissa JoyDifficultyIntermediate

Yields8 Servings

Prep Time1 hr 30 minsCook Time30 minsTotal Time2 hrs

4 Medium Sweet Potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into sticks

2 tsp Kosher Salt

Cold Water, enough to cover fries

6 tbsp Cornstarch

4 tsp Smoked Paprika

2 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Black Pepper

¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper

¼ tsp Coriander

¼ tsp Cumin

6 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Additional Kosher Salt

Wash, peel and cut the sweet potatoes into sticks, about 1/4” each. Do your very best to make them all the same width so they will cook similarly.

Place the fries in a large bowl, then fill with cold water until they are covered. Sprinkle with 2 tsps of kosher salt. Let sit for at least one hour.

While the potatoes are soaking, prepare 2 large zip top bags by placing half the spices and half the cornstarch in each bag. Set aside until your potatoes are done soaking.

After an hour, preheat the oven to 450ºF, or 425ºF if using convection. Preheat 2 large baking sheets in the oven. While the pans are heating, prepare parchment paper for each pan and set aside. I chose to use pans with holes in the bottom to achieve better crisping, but this is not strictly necessary.

Drain the potatoes, then place half of the potatoes into one bag of seasoning and toss to coat. Repeat with the last of the fries and the remaining bag of seasoning.

Place the potatoes back in the bowl they soaked in and toss with vegetable oil. It may be easier to do this one half at a time.

Remove the hot pans from the oven and place the parchment paper on each. Pour out half of the potatoes onto each pan and spread them out.

Place both pans in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the pans, flip the fries and alternate the placement of the pans. Bake for 10 more minutes, then repeat flipping and moving the pans. Cook for a final 10 minutes, or until the fries are nice and crispy on the edges.

Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with more kosher salt. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

They are best served warm, but if you do not eat them all in one sitting, you can reheat them in the oven again. They are the prefect side dish for almost every anything.

Ingredients