These crispy baked sweet potato fries are the perfect healthy side option! Serve these mouthwatering fries with chicken, burgers and more!
About This Recipe
This super-easy dish is a healthy alternative to your favorite deep-fried dish. Sweet potato fries are lighter and healthier. Plus, these wedges are baked in the oven so you avoid extra oil, but still get all the crisp crunch of classic french fries.
Crispy baked sweet potato fries make a great side to pair with just about any kind of entree. Whether you’re enjoying a juicy cheeseburger or a hearty vegan bowl, there’s nothing that can’t be improved with a few crisp sweet potato fries.
And did I mention that these sweet potato fries also make for a crunchy midday snack? These oven-baked fries are 100% kid-approved, go with any of your favorite dipping sauces, and never disappoint.
How To Make Actually Crispy Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries
There are a few key steps to avoiding limp fries and cooking your sweet potatoes to crispy perfection.
First of all, after you cut your sweet potatoes into fries or wedges, soak them in water for at least 10 minutes. This helps wash away some of the excess starch on the surface of your potatoes. The starch can prevent your fries from crisping up in the oven.
Then, when you remove the potaotes from the water, be sure to dry them as thoroughly as possible on a clean dish towel. Extra moisture will stay around and turn your fries soft, rather than crispy.
Finally, before placing them into the oven to roast, toss your sweet potato wedges in a bit of cornstarch. I add salt and pepper at this step too, to make sure the fries are well seasoned and flavorful. The cornstarch helps absorb moisture on the potaotes, keeping them crispy and dry in the oven while they bake.
How To Make Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Fries
In this recipe, I use cornstarch to make the sweet potato fries extra crispy. Although, if you’re out of cornstarch, you can substitute it with regular flour. However, I think that cornstarch is not only tastier, but it is also completely gluten-free!
This sweet potato fry recipe is naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and fully vegan. That’s why it’s so great to feed a crowd. Regardless of dietary preferences, everyone can dig in!
Frying Vs. Baking: Which is Easier?
You can achieve great crispiness by baking or frying sweet potatoes. But which method is easier? In truth, both techniques are easy to do in your home kitchen, but it depends on your preferences.
For example, frying can sometimes be a quicker process than baking. It only takes a few minutes in heated oil to fry sweet potatoes. However, baking cooks the sweet potatoes more evenly. Plus, there’s no worry about oil splattering. And finally, baking can be healthier than frying because it uses much less oil.
Ultimately, it’s important to note that if you do fry your sweet potatoes, do so in a well-ventilated area. Frying can create some strong fumes that can be left behind after cooking.
Many of our readers like to do a fun at-home taste-test. Make two batches of crispy sweet potato fries, but fry one in oil and bake the other batch in the oven. Taste them with your friends and family and let us know which is your favorite!
Tips and Tricks to Flavorful & Crisp Sweet Potato Fries in the Oven
Want to add extra flavour to your crispy sweet potato fries? This recipe calls for a simple seasoning of slat and pepper. However, you can mix up the flavours with your favourites spices. Add paprika, red pepper flakes, cumin, dried herbs or other spice blends just after you take them out of the oven. This will bring new and fun tastes to your popular side dish.
You can even double this recipe and make several different flavoured sweet potato fries to serve up.
How to Serve and Store Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Like most crispy foods, these fries are best when eaten hot, right out of the oven. They’ll lose some of their crispiness over time, so I don’t recommend storing them for later.
Related Posts
Wondering what to serve with a big batch of oven-baked sweet potato fries? Well you’re in the right place. Here are my favorite main dishes to pair with crispy fries:
- Crispy Fried Chicken without Buttermilk
- Juicy Chicken Burgers
- Garlic Butter Chicken Bites with Lemon Asparagus from Blondelish
Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
- 5 sweet potatoes
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- Pepper to taste
- Salt to taste
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (or 400 degrees Fahrenheit/Gas 6).
- Wash and peel 5 sweet potatoes. Cut them into chip-sized strips and soak them in water for 10-30 minutes. Dry with a paper towel.
- In a mixing bowl, add 3-4 Tbsp cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Toss the sweet potatoes in this mixture until they are fully covered.
- Add enough olive oil to coat the fries, and then toss and mix everything again.
- Spread the coated sweet potato fries on a non-stick pan and bake for 10-15 minutes. Check on them frequently to ensure that they are being cooked through, but not burning to a crisp!
- Serve as a side to your favourite main dish and enjoy it over and over!
What a great idea! I usually just add salt and pepper, but never thought to make them crispy like this. Delicious!
I can’t believe how crispy these come out in the oven. Great tips!!
I love baked sweet potatoes, so I am definitely giving this recipe a go! Thanks so much, bookmarked to make this weekend 🙂
These sweet potato fries are my new obsession! So crispy and perfectly seasoned. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it Tawnie!
Oh my goodness! These were such a hit today during lunchtime! My hubby and son absolutely loved these! They were gone so fast, but they were so delicious and very tasty. I will be making these again!