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There are two ways to get guaranteed crispy sweet potato fries. In your oven (yes!) or in a deep fryer. Even deep frying plain sweet potato fries won't get them crispy. You need a tiny bit of the secret ingredient - cornstarch.

Right here, right now, I’m going to teach you how to make crispy sweet potato fries—despite the fact that they are not real fries. They are imposters, stand-ins, the understudies of the fry world, only to be eaten when a proper french fry is unavailable.

After years of testing (and disappointment), I’ve cracked the sweet potato code. Whether you deep fry them or bake them, these sweet potato fries will actually be crispy. Guaranteed.

But they're more guaranteed if you do them in the deep fryer.

Here's what you need to do to create this perfect sweet and spicy lunch or side dish.

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes
Cornstarch
Olive Oil

Cut your sweet potatoes into fries. Let them soak in water.

2. Put a bit of cornstarch in a bag or bowl with a lid.

3. Shake the fries around in the cornstarch.

4. Lay the fries on a baking sheet.

5. Drizzle with olive oil.

6. Mix in the oil.

7. Separate fries on the pan and cook 'em.

10 years after posting this I'm still using the cheapest, most basic vegetable peeler around and it's pretty much every cook's favourite.

It's the Maybelline mascara of the vegetable peeling world. A reliable workhorse.

Table of Contents

Dipping Sauce

Meanwhile you can make the dipping sauce. Mix together ½ cup of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce and ¼ teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

You can adjust the proportions to taste. Mix it up and taste it then adjust as you like.

Saturated and Unsaturated Fats

Saturated Fats for frying

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Lard
Tallow

Monounsaturated & Polyunsaturated Fats for frying

Olive Oil
Canola Oil
Peanut Oil
Sunflower Oil

You can use as much or any oil that you want.

(The more oil you use for oven baking the greater chance the fries will be crispy )

TIPS

Cut the fries to about about ⅜ths of an inch. Bigger than that and they'll burn before they cook.
Arrange them so they have space between each fry. The less of them on the pan the better they'll cook. Too many shoved together and they'll never get crispy. They'll just steam. So do NOT overcrowd the pan.
Check them after 15 minutes, flip them over (you might have to use a spatula depending on how "non stick" your pan is) and return to the oven if necessary for another 5 minutes. The timing really depends on the size of your fry, the heat of your oven and how well your pan conducts heat.
Do NOT use too much cornstarch. It will lead to heartache and raw, powdery tasting fries.
A dark, metal baking sheet will give the best results but ...
Sweet Potato Fries will get dark fast because of their high sugar content. Don't forget to flip and turn them or they'll burn.

Deep Frying

Cut the fries, soak them in water for at least an hour and coat them with cornstarch as with the above recipe.

Instead of baking, pre-heat the fryer and fry until crispy.

This is how I do them when I'm in a rush. They're always crispier than those from the oven, but far less healthy.

See? I'm a french fry professional.

Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip

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Servings:

Author: The Art of Doing Stuff

Ingredients

2 large sweet potatoes
1 Tablespoon of cornstarch
*Dipping Sauce*
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon or more Sriracha sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 or deep fryer to highest setting
Peel sweet potatoes, slice into medium thick slices (closer to thin than thick).
Soak potatoes at least 4 hours in water.
Drain water from sweet potatoes and shake dry with your hands.
Put 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch into food safe plastic bag.
Dump sweet potato fries into bag, blow some air into it, and shake bag until fries are coated.
Place fries on cookie sheet, drizzle with a couple Tablespoons of olive oil.
Toss fries until evenly coated with oil.
Arrange on cookie sheet(s) with lots of space in between fries to prevent steaming.
Cook in hot oven for 15 minutes then check.
The fries will release from the pan when they're ready to flip the same way a steak would.
Flip fries, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes.
(cooking time depends greatly on the quality of your baking sheet so keep an eye on them)
Dipping Sauce: Mix together mayo, pepper and Sriracha sauce. Adjust to your taste.

Notes

Do NOT use too much cornstarch. It will lead to heartache and raw, powdery tasting fries.
A dark, metal baking sheet will give the best results.
Sweet Potato Fries will get dark fast because of their high sugar content. Don't forget to flip and turn them.

Please note : This recipe does have a bit of a learning curve. It may take a few attempts to get your proportions of corn starch and oil correct. It took me several years to figure out how to do this, but with these instructions it shouldn't take you more than a couple of tries.

Now that I've run you through all of this and convinced you it's the way to cook sweet potato fries, I'm going to try a new experiment with blanching the sweet potatoes in water and THEN baking or frying them. I will keep you updated.

Or as we say in the sweet potato world - I'll keep you in the loop regarding the sweet potato scoop.

Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip

Dipping Sauce