Attention: these sweet potato fries will change your life. I’m serious! Salty-sweet, crunchy, and spicy if you wish, baked sweet potato fries are my favorite new snack.
These fries beat their plain jane, fried Russet cousins in terms of simplicity and ease; they require fewer cooking steps because they’re baked rather than fried. In fact, I learned how to bake these fries by learning from adorable Amy Cao’s aptly-named “Stupidly Simple Snacks” video series. You can enjoy sweet potato fries in 45 minutes, start to finish, with minimal effort.
Sweet potato fries pack a nutritional punch, too. One baked sweet potato contains over twice the amount of vitamin A you need for the day (source: Whole Foods). Trust me, it’s easy to eat more than one sweet potato worth of these fries!
According to The New York Times, sweet potatoes are complex carbohydrates that contain protein, which pretty much means that you can eat these fries with abandon. Trust me, I have tried and I can confirm that this is true. You can eat an entire sweet potato (or two) of fries and you will not feel hungry or tired an hour later.
I’m all for guilt-free indulgences, aren’t you?
- Sweet potatoes. I’d plan on at least one per person.
- Corn starch. A big sprinkle’s worth. (optional)
- Olive oil. A couple of tablespoons or so.
- Salt, pepper and spices. Amy suggested cumin, but I much prefer cayenne pepper, paprika or curry powder. Garlic is great as well. It’s up to you!
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into fry-shaped pieces (see photos). Try to cut them into similarly sized pieces so the fries will bake evenly.
- Toss the uncooked fries into a mixing bowl or a plastic bag, or just onto your baking sheet. Sprinkle with cornstarch (if using) and pour in a few tablespoons of olive oil, enough to lightly coat the fries. Season with salt, pepper, and spices. I’d try to use half a teaspoon per potato or so. Mix/shake to distribute evenly (corn starch should be evenly mixed in so there are no powdery spots).
- Pour the fries onto a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (aluminum foil produces mixed results). Arrange the fries in a single layer. It is very important to keep them in a single layer, otherwise they will never crisp up. Give each fry a bit of room on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the fries so they can cook on all sides. I find the easiest way to flip them is with a metal spatula. Section by section, scoop up about ten fries and flip them with a quick turn of the wrist.
- Bake for 10 to 15 more minutes, until the fries are crispy. You’ll know they’re done when the surface of the fries change from shiny orange to a more matte, puffed up texture. It’s essential to bake them long enough, otherwise they won’t be crispy. Don’t worry if the edges are a little bit brown, they will taste more caramelized than burnt.
- Commenter Jeni of Bear + Goose suggested adding a bit of corn starch to help make the fries more crispy. It totally works. I personally skip the corn starch most of the time because my fries get as crispy as shown in the photos without it, but I’ve heard from several people whose fries never turn out crispy enough… so try it!
- This sharp little Y-shaped vegetable peeler
makes peeling sweet potatoes a breeze and costs around six dollars.
Voila! Sweet potato fries. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you… they are addictive! Please try them and let me know what you think!























80 Comments
Love it! Mmm I wanna try some!
Hi Kate! Your write-up and photos are wonderful. I’m relieved they came out okay and cayenne pepper sounds like an excellent idea too. Thanks for sharing my video and the recipe xo
i love sweet potatoes! can’t wait to try this recipe out—looks so yum! thanks!
Holy moly!! These look DEEE-LICOUS! Sweet potatoes are my absolute favorite and I’ve attempted sweet potato fries several times, but they’ve never turned out looking these yummy. I’ll have to give them another shot with your recipe!
<3 kris&kel
http://www.krisandkel.com
Hi there! I tried these tonight and you’re right my life has been changed forever. I just have to work a bot more on the crispiness and then I might never eat anything else ever again.
So glad to hear it, Lesley! Try sprinkling the fries with corn starch before mixing it all up with olive oil. It really does help!
i love mine with sugar on top and dipped in ketchup
Yum! They look perfect. I love them with a nice and simple garlic aioli, too – my fave!
Hey Sarah! I have yet to try these fries with garlic aioli (I’m a ketchup fiend), but they are definitely amazing when baked with minced garlic!
Oh I am making these TOMORROW.
Thanks for sharing this wonderfully written and photographed recipe.
Love your site BTW.
Whenever I bake mine they do not turn out nearly as good as your look. I have made a mental note of what you did, and will definitely be making them your way. Thanks for sharing. I am your newest follower.
xo
no need to tell me twice! i LOVE sweet potato fries! best part is that you don’t ever have to actually fry them! i discovered that a little corn (or potato) starch will help them crisp up just enough! so delish!
Yum, yum! My kids would love these too. We’re featuring side dishes at the M&T Spotlight this week and I’d love for you to submit this: http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
I found this on foodgawker and it has become my go-to fry recipe! For me though, I find that baking them for only 15 minutes on one side is enough :)
Thanks for the tip about cornstarch to get them crispy (I’ve been searching for the secret to getting them crispy for awhile). I also have a tip to share: use a metal baking rack over top of a pan (in case any should fall through), and you shouldn’t need to flip the fries :)
luv the idea of using a metal baking rack w/pan underneath. especially because parchment paper only stands temps up 420 degrees..mine started browning w/in 5mins, turned the heat down & are baking 20mins befor first flip..dont have a baking sheet as of now. Question: recipe says sprinkle in corn starch at the end after oil & seasoning..then in a response to a person comment , you (Kate) say to sprinkle on befor olive oil & seasoning… which is it?.. or does it make a difference?.. thankyou!
Hi Crystal, how did the sweet potato fries turn out on the baking rack? I haven’t tried that trick yet. I don’t think it matters when you sprinkle on the corn starch, just be sure it’s mixed into the olive oil so there aren’t powdery white patches.
I do these with aleppo pepper and it adds a smokey, spicy character to the potatoes. One of my favorite snacks!
I usually end up burning the fries trying to get them crispy. I can’t wait to try your method with the corn starch! Thanks for the great tip.
My sweet potato fries were always a bit mushy instead of crisp like a french fry, until I prepped them the day before I made them (cut into fry size) and salted them. I left them overnight in the fridge and the next day when I baked them they were much crisper than when I had made them in the past.
Also nice for busy people. Prep the potatoes when you have time, bake them the next day when you are hungry.
That is a really interesting technique, Alyssa! I bet the salt helps draw out some of the moisture. I’ve come across a technique for crispy oven-baked fries made with regular potatoes that required soaking the cut fries in salt water (I think it was from America’s Test Kitchen). I’m intrigued.
accidental discovery of a busy single mom. :)
Another method that I have found works well is that I bake for a half hour at a low temperature around 275-300 degrees. This is mostly to remove some of the moisture. Then I crank up the temperature to 450 degrees and cook 10 minutes and then flip and cook for another 10 minutes and then they are nice and crispy. This works well for both sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. Sweet potatoes tend to have more moisture in them than regular potatoes and so it may take a little longer.
I put a cookie cooling rack on my cookie sheet and placed the fries on the cooling rack. I didn’t have to turn the fries and my cooking time at 450 was reduced to 20 minutes, and still nice and crispy.
Great idea, Stan! I’ll give that a try.
Made these a few nights ago as a side with these Green Chili Chicken Burgers http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/04/green-chili-chicken-burgers/ and I took your advice and used the 1/2 tsp of cornstarch and they were crispy and delish! Super easy and will be making these many more times!
I am about to put these in the oven, When they come out wonderful, I am totally posting about it on my site! Thanks for such a great recipe!
yes perfect great idea planning a dinning exp. with my fiance and my brother and his roommate havin good ol country fried catfish,talipa,your sweet tater fry recp,brwn beans,sweet corn (grilled), and good ol NDN frybread mmmmmthnk you for a wonderful recp. AHO!!!
I don’t know what I did wrong, but my fries were completely stuck to the pan. I used foil and plenty of olive oil and after 15 min, they were so stuck that I couldn’t flip them. What could I try differently next time?
Uh oh, I’m sorry to hear that! My fries stuck to the foil one time when I tried using another method that called for egg whites. I blamed the egg whites, but maybe it was the foil! Contrary to the photos above, I usually bake my fries directly on my non-stick baking sheet or on parchment paper. I have never had my fries stick to parchment paper. I just edited my recipe to reflect these tips, hope your next batch turns out great!
Thanks! Yeah, I’m guessing it was the foil. I usually bake on parchment, but I saw foil in the picture and went for it. I guess I learned the hard way. :) I’ll try the same method but with parchment next time!
Yeah, I’m sorry about that! I took down that photo since it’s misleading.
Must try sweet potato fries with a marshmallow cinnamon dipping sauce!! Sounds weird but think sweet potato casserole! Dee-lish!!
Hi Kate – tried these a few times and had varying results, but love sweet potatoes and will keep trying to perfect this.
First two times I put fries directly on an aluminum heavy duty baking sheet, but did not have significant issues with sticking or cleanup. This time I used same pans and used the parchment paper, but also varied by using the convection bake feature of our oven which I hoped would crisp them even more.
This time they came out very soggy and not sure what went wrong.
Hmm. I do not have any experience with convection ovens so I can’t say anything about that. I know I have had success using parchment paper so I don’t think that is the cause. I would guess that either the fries were overcrowded in the pan or that they weren’t baked long enough, but maybe it was due to the convection oven feature? I wish I knew!
I am going to try this recipe tonight. Hopefully is turns out well and I like them because it will be the first time I’ve ever tried a sweet potato. Fingers crossed!
Ok, so do I buy Sweet Potatos or Yams? I always get confused!
Sweet potatoes! Yams might work, never tried them.
Yams have significantly less sugar according to a vendor I talked to at the Farmers’ Market yesterday. I think they won’t be as tasty.
I just made this recipe. for the seasonings I used pepper, garlic salt, and some parmesan cheese. they turned out AMAZING. Will definitely be making this again
Glad the fries turned out well, Mike!
These came out delicious!! During the cooking process, I was so busy thinking about how excited I was for sweet potato fries, that I forgot the corn starch, but they turned out crispy and wonderful. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
To tell you the truth, I don’t usually add cornstarch, either! Glad you enjoyed the fries, I eat them for dinner more than I’d like to admit. :)
Just made these tonight and they were fantastic!! First time sweet potato fries actually came out crispy as promised! Thank you for sharing!!!
Glad to hear it, Emily! I eat these sweet potato fries for dinner all the time, seriously. :)
Beautiful Blog!
I find that whenever I bake sweet potato fries, they don’t have enough of a crunch to them. I’ll definitely try the cornstarch idea! Thanks :)
To add a bit of extra crunch, what about scoring the chips lightly with a fork to rough up the edges before baking? It works a treat with my baked potatoes every time I do a roast dinner, might work for this too!
Great idea, Tami! I’ll try that next time.
If you have not tried Old Bay on sweet potato fries, you should. Old Bay is a Maryland seasoning used on blue crabs. Very good as a seasoning for fries.
GREAT Recipe for flavor. I am however, often surprised that we use organics and create healthy recipes..and put them on aluminum foil, so the foil is heated and contributes to our possibility of Alzheimer’s.
Great recipe and flavor! I just made these for my roommates and they were amazing. The only thing that came out a bit different is that mine were not as crispy as I wanted them. I had to transfer them to my toaster oven for a bit. Any suggestions for next time?
Sigal, my only suggestions would be to make sure there’s ample space around each fry (don’t overcrowd) and be sure to bake the fries long enough. You could always move them up to the top rack of the oven for a few minutes if they are not crispy enough. Did you try the corn starch trick?
I googled sweet potato fries and then looked for a private blog, i.e. not Paula Deen or Epicurious. Yours was the first I clicked and voila – these look great and mine are going in the oven as soon as I finish writing this. I added the cornstarch as you recommend – I’ll try to post and let you know how they turn out. Wish me luck!
Thanks, Linda! Hope you enjoyed those fries!
We ate every single one! They were great and when my husband looked for ketchup we discovered we were out. He ate his half happily anyway. I don’t care for ketchup on sweet taters!
Nice simple recipe. Thanks for posting. These are great for a snack.
Glad you’re enjoying the fries, Laura! Thank you for commenting.
Just made these. Used white sweet potatoes as they are my favorite. They did not crisp up for me. I put the cornstarch on last as it said in the recipe. I put the cornstarch on first the next time I make them and see if they crisp then.
These are amazing, I’ve made them 5 times in the last 2 weeks! I almost always find a way to somehow mess up a recipe, but these came out perfect the first time! I used parchment paper and the corn starch and they came out wonderfully. Thanks for posting this!
Awesome, Meredith! I bake these for dinner all the time. I’ll never get tired of sweet potato fries.
I LOVE sweet potato fries. They are the perfect balance of health and comfort, sweet and spice. It’s hard for me to not like sweet potato fries, but these have been my favorite so far
http://trialbyfirewin.blogspot.com/2012/11/jerk-roasted-sweet-potatoes.html
I make these for my dogs :-) I usually eat about half before the little guys get them though. It’s a good protein filled snack that they absolutely love and I know won’t make their allergies flare up.. I do eliminate the spices when I make puppy snacks. Everything else is the same.
Cookie does love sweet potato fries, but then again, she loves everything! I’ll give her a few extra next time now that I know that you feed them to your dogs.
Hi, I just want to thank you for posting this recipe! Our whole family loves them! I like that my kids are getting extra veggies (not potatoes) and they taste SO good! Sweet Potatoes are a super food (vitamins). We serve them with BBQ sauce instead of ketchup. Thanks again!
I’m so glad your family loves the fries, Laura! I eat them for dinner all the time. (single girl life)
I absolutely love sweet potato fries dipped in a combo of melted butter and warm honey. Heavenly!
Just stumbled upon the recipe. Fries came out good! I used peanut oil instead since I’m out of olive oil. Turned out just fine :) Never will I buy the frozen kind anymore. Thanks!
I’m happy to hear that the fries turned out well. The frozen kind are so expensive!
Made these tonight. So delicious!!! My 14 mo old gobbled them up. Will definitely be making these again and again! Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so glad to hear that, Leslie. Thank you for commenting to let me know!
OMG! Cinnamon. Use cinnamon. Mmmmmm:)
I made these last week and posted the link back to your blog on mine! Yum, thanks!
http://rookietorockstar.blogspot.com/2012/12/meal-plannin-monday_17.html
I’m glad you enjoyed the fries. Thanks for linking over, too. Happy holidays!
Just tried these, thanks for a recipe that was easy to follow and produced great results. Used the corn starch and grape seed oil, salt and pepper…tasted great, looked like your pictures. Thanks again,
Thanks, Fred! Glad to hear the fries were a success.
I made these sweet potato fries tonight for dinner and they were so good. I will definitely be making a lot of them in the future. Thank you so much for your great web site.
I put a generous amount of cornstarch but they did not turn out crispy enough for my liking. It turned out okay for me. Thanks for the recipe!
I followed this recipe and mine were totally black :/
I tried this recipe and it is fantastic ~ cannot believe my teen loved them. Will be incorporating more of this healthy potato into our meals♥
Wonderful! Thank you for letting me know, Ann.
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