So I love fries and sweet potatoes, which has led me to make sweet potato fries pretty frequently.
I like mine crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and have tried different recipes.
Recently, I tried making two different recipe versions as the same time so I could give a fair comparison. I tried making one version with potato starch (which I read made the fries crispier) and one without. I used the same amount of oil and seasoning (salt and pepper) for both.
Many frozen sweet potato fries at the grocery store use a starch (varying from rice, tapioca, corn or potato starch) to coat their fries. According to the kitchn.com, any type of starch will make fries crunchier because “Pure starches have an uncanny ability to absorb moisture before being cooking by the oil and setting into a rigid (i.e., crispy) crust.”
Some sites recommend soaking fries overnight to get a crisp exterior but I haven’t ever tried that method, because AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!
Many recipes also encourage you to peel the skin off of your fries, but I like the sweet potato skin, and you are also throwing away an edible source that’s rich with nutrients when you are throwing this out!
Here’s how I made the potato starch fries (if you don’t have potato starch, any other starch you have at home will do). Recipe (only slightly revised) from kitchn
CRISPY SWEET POTATO FRIES
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons potato starch or cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat to 400°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper if desired.
- Peel and cut the sweet potato. Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut in half lengthwise. Turn onto the cut side, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch wide planks. Lay the planks flat and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick sticks or wedges.
- Coat the sweet potato in starch. Place the sweet potato in a large zip-top plastic bag or bowl, add the potato starch and shake or toss to combine until all the starch is absorbed into the sweet potato.
- Coat the sweet potato in oil. Add the oil and toss vigorously to coat.
- Transfer to 2 baking sheets. Divide the sweet potato among the 2 baking sheets and spread into a single, even layer, leaving space around each fry.
- Roast. Roast until some of the fries are just starting to brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove the baking sheets from the oven. Using a flat spatula or turner, flip the sweet potatoes. Place back in the oven, switching the sheets between racks, and continue to roast until the fries are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside, around 15 minutes more. They will crisp up a little more as they cool.
- Season and serve. Sprinkle with more salt if desired before serving.
NOTES
- These sweet potato fries are best eaten the day they are made.
- Do not flip fries more than once or the coating will mess up.
- The version without the starch was made the exact same way, minus step number 3. I found these to need a longer cooking time (this could have been because of their placement in the oven). They were still delicious, just not as crisp
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