Make Sweet Potato Fries
Sweet potato fries are a fun, sweet alternative to standard French fries. These tubers are also slightly more nutritious than their more ordinary counterparts. While both have similar amounts of calories and carbohydrates, sweet potatoes are loaded with antioxidants like beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E, to name a few. Sweet potatoes also have a lower glycemic index, so they do not raise blood sugar levels quite as high. All of this combined means that the sweet potato fry is a worthwhile alternative to try.
Contents
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes, about 2 lbs. (900 g)
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 2 Tbsp (28.3 g) brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp (14.3 g) salt
- 1 Tbsp (14.3 g) pepper
- 1/2 tsp (2.4 g) paprika
- 1/2 tsp (2.4 g) cinnamon
Servings
- 3 to 6 servings
Steps
Preparation
- Peel the sweet potatoes. Place the blade of a sharp knife or vegetable peeler at the top of on sweet potato and drag it down the length of the potato peeler, applying just enough even pressure to remove the skin. Continue peeling off strips of skin until the entire potato is skinless. Repeat with the other two potatoes.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the ends off your sweet potatoes. Do not cut off much; a small 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch (1/2 to 1 1/4-centimeter) slice on both ends of a potato should suffice. Doing so will prevent your fries from having small, pointy tips, which is important because these little pointed tips tend to burn quickly and taste bad.
- Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Use a sharp knife to cut each sweet potato into two equal halves, cutting from the top tip to the bottom, leaving you with six halves.
- Cut the halves into quarters. Use a sharp knife to cut each half in half crosswise, cutting from side to side instead of from top to bottom.
- Slice the quarters into equal wedges. Each wedge should ideally be around 1/4-inch (1/2-centimeter) thick and 1/4-inch (1/2-centimeter) wide, but the length of the wedges can vary depending on personal preference. Wedges between 3 and 4 inches (7 1/2 to 10 centimeters) in length are usually a pretty good size. Regardless of what you choose, however, try to keep the majority of your wedges uniform in size.
- Note that you can also use a crinkle cut knife to produce crinkle cut sweet potato fries. Similarly, you can use a knife or mandolin to cut the sweet potatoes into disks.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 degrees Celsius). Prepare a shallow baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable spray or by covering it with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Place the sweet potato wedges into a large bowl and add the oil. Mix the wedges into the oil using your hands or a large wooden or plastic baking spoon. Keeping mixing until you can see that each wedge is coated in oil.
- Sprinkle the sugar over your fries. If you are on a low-sugar diet, you can skip this step, but sugar does enhance the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. Sugar also helps to caramelize the fries.
- Sprinkle the salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon over your fries. Salt and pepper are fairly standard, but you can leave out the paprika and cinnamon if either taste does not appeal to you. Try to sprinkle your spices over the top of your fries evenly to make mixing them easier.
- Mix the sugar, spices, and the sweet potato wedges. You can use your hands, but you may find that your hands attract the oily spices, robbing your fries of them. Instead, use a plastic or wooden baking spoon to reduce the amount of spices lost during the mixing process. By the time you finish mixing, you should be able to see spices coating each wedge.
- Spread the wedges out onto your prepared baking sheet. Spread them out into a single layer. Fries that overlap one another will not cook evenly, so if you have too many fries to fit onto one baking sheet, it is better to use a second baking sheet than to allow your fries to pile up.
- Bake your fries in the prepared oven for about 15 minutes. At this point, the tops should begin to look slightly browned. Take the fries out and flip them with a flat spatula or hamburger flipper before returning them to the oven and baking for another 5 to 15 minutes.
- Remove the fries when they look well browned. Test one of the fries by breaking it open. The inside should be fairly tender. You can taste one to determine its doneness, but make sure that it has some chance to cool before doing so to prevent your mouth from getting burned.
- Allow the fries to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve them hot as a side dish or snack.
Deep Frying
- Boil water in a 5-quart (5-liter) pot. Heat the water over medium-high heat.
- Dunk the sweet potato wedges in the boiling water. Cover the pot and allow the wedges to boil for 10 minutes before removing them. Pat the sweet potatoes dry with a clean towel or paper towels.
- Fill a 5-quart (5-liter) deep fryer or Dutch oven with oil. Leave only 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of empty space in between the surface of the oil and the rim of the fryer. Heat the oil to a temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit (148.9 degrees Celsius).
- Add a handful of sweet potato wedges to the hot oil. Fry the wedges for 3 to 4 minutes or until they just begin to brown.
- Remove the wedges from the oil with a slotted spoon. Set the sweet potato fries on several layers of paper towel. The paper towel absorbs some of the oil, helping the fries drain. Allow the wedges to cool for at least 10 minutes, but do not keep them for more than 2 hours.
- Repeat the frying and draining process with the remaining wedges. Only fry a handful of sweet potato wedges at one time.
- Reheat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) when ready to serve. By this point, the fries should have cooled off significantly and need to be re-fried to heat. Even if the sweet potato fries have not cooled completely, you should still re-fry them to finish cooking them.
- Drop your fries into the oil a handful at a time. Cook the fries in the oil for an addition minute until they puff up. Continue re-frying handfuls of sweet potato wedges until you have finished the entire batch.
- Remove the fries from the oil using a slotted spoon. Drain them on dry paper towels for one minute.
- Combine the sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Toss the seasonings together to thoroughly combine them.
- Add your sweet potato fries to the seasoning bowl. Gently toss the fries or shift the bowl around until the fries are thoroughly coated.
- Remove your fries from the bowl and set them on a platter. Serve the sweet potato fries as a side dish or snack.
Tips
- You can also try other spice combinations instead of using paprika and cinnamon. Garlic powder will give you more savory fries, while pumpkin pie spice will impart a richer, sweeter taste. Chipotle powder or Chinese five-spice will create a spicier batch of sweet potato fries.
Things You'll Need
- Baking sheet
- Non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper
- Sharp knife
- Vegetable peeler
- Large bowl
- Plastic or wooden baking spoon
- 5-quart (5-liter) pot
- 5-quart (5-liter) deep fryer or Dutch oven
- Paper towels
- Slotted spoon
