Baked Sweet Potato Fries
These baked sweet potato fries are the BEST! With a secret ingredient and a few simple tips, you’ll be making perfectly seasoned, crispy (healthy!) sweet potato fries at home.
It’s hard to beat a good sweet potato fry. The best sweet potato fries are crispy and perfectly seasoned. They combine sweet and savory flavors in the most irresistible way! Like our favorite Roasted Sweet Potatoes, roasting at high temperature brings out the flavor of the sweet potatoes in this easy sweet potato fries recipe. Looking for an air fryer recipe? Try these Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries.
I’ve tested batch after batch of baked sweet potato fries to find the best way to make homemade sweet potato fries that are crispy and flavorful. These fries are one of my very favorite sweet potato recipes. I love regular Baked French Fries, but I find this sweet potato version to be even more flavorful. Sweet potatoes pack a lot of extra nutrition, too!
If you search for baked sweet potato fries recipes, you will find all sorts of methods that promise you the crispy, healthier fries that you crave. When I’m testing recipes to share with you, my goal is always to find the best balance between taste and convenience. I’m not willing to take extra steps in the kitchen unless those steps make a big difference in the final product.
In the case of this sweet potato fries recipe, the biggest question was whether or not soaking the fries in water before baking produced a noticeable difference in crispiness. The theory is that soaking the fries removes excess starch, giving you crispier baked fries. In my kitchen, a side by side taste test of soaked and unsoaked fries showed that soaking makes baked sweet potato fries slightly crispier. But the difference was so small, it wasn’t enough to justify the extra step and time involved. Originally, I included the soaking step in this recipe, but I’ve since updated the method to skip the soak.
You’re never going to get oven baked fries to be as crispy as if you were to fry them in oil, but with this recipe your fries will have noticeably crispy outsides and soft centers. I’ve made at least fifty batches of sweet potato fries in my lifetime, and these are truly the best!
Tips for the BEST Baked Sweet Potato Fries
- Cut thin, evenly sized fries: Thin fries will crisp up better than thick fries. Cut your fries into 1/4-inch thick matchsticks. Try to cut all of your fries approximately the same size to help them bake evenly. You don’t need to peel your sweet potatoes before cutting them. The peel adds extra fiber and other nutrients, and I find that leaving the skins on makes the fries crispier.
- Coat the fries with cornstarch: Cornstarch is the secret ingredient for crispy sweet potato fries! The cornstarch will absorb extra moisture from the sweet potatoes to help them get crispy as they bake. I’ve tested this recipe with and without the cornstarch and the cornstarch really does make a difference!
- Season your fries well: Not only do we want our fries to be crispy, we also want them to be seasoned well! You are going to love the seasoning on these sweet potato fries. It’s so simple and so good! The ingredients for my sweet potato seasoning blend are chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and pepper and salt. Or, use this Cajun seasoning for extra spice.
- Use olive oil: Oil is needed to get a crisp exterior on your baked fries. I choose olive oil since it’s a healthier option. The oil also helps the seasonings to stick to the fries.
- Bake on parchment paper: Parchment paper will keep your fries from sticking to the baking pan. This saves you from the sad situation of stuck fries and also makes clean up easier.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan: This is crucial. You want to leave some room between each of your fries on the pan so that air can circulate around them. If the sweet potato pieces are too close or laying on top of each other, your fries will steam instead of roast and they’ll turn out soft. I find that one medium-large sweet potato’s worth of fries will fit on one baking sheet. If you’re using two sweet potatoes, use two baking sheets and rotate them halfway through the bake time.
- Bake at a high temperature: Cook your sweet potato fries at 425° F. A high temperature is essential for those crispy edges.
- Take the time to flip each fry: I know. You don’t really want to. But guess what? I timed myself and it took just two minutes to flip each fry over. Well worth it for evenly baked, crispy fries.
- Serve immediately: As the fries rest they will soften up, so these are best served hot out of the oven.
How to Make Sweet Potato Fries
First, preheat your oven with racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. This recipe makes two pans of sweet potato fries, enough to generously serve four people. You can halve the recipe to make just one pan of fries.
Next, cut the sweet potatoes into fries. To do this, first slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4-inch thick flat slices and then cut each potato slice into fries. Place the sweet potato fries in a large bowl, drizzle them with olive oil, and toss to coat.
Sprinkle the cornstarch and seasonings over the sweet potatoes. Use your hands to rub the cornstarch and seasonings into the sweet potatoes, until the seasonings are evenly distributed and you no longer see the cornstarch on the fries.
Arrange the fries in a single layer on two parchment paper lined baking sheets. Spread the sweet potato fries out so that there is a little space between each one.
Bake the fries in the oven for 15 minutes, then flip the fries and rotate the pans top to bottom on the oven racks. Bake for 10-20 more minutes, until the fries are crispy and brown on the edges. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
Honestly, these fries are so flavorful you don’t even need to dip them in anything, but if you want some dipping sauce ideas, try spicy mayo, BBQ sauce, aioli, ranch dressing or ketchup.
Serve sweet potato fries as a side dish with:
More Sweet Potato Recipes
If you’re looking for more ways to enjoy this nutritious vegetable, here are a few of our favorite sweet potato recipes:
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes, 2-3 medium, scrubbed clean
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch*
- ½ teaspoon chili powder*
- ½ teaspoon paprika, I used sweet paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F, with racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven.
- Cut the sweet potatoes into ¼-inch thick french fry shapes. (You do not need to peel the sweet potatoes.)
- Place cut sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat.
- Evenly sprinkle the cornstarch, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper over the sweet potatoes. Use your hands to rub the cornstarch and seasonings over the sweet potatoes, until you no longer see the cornstarch on the fries and the seasonings are evenly distributed.
- Divide the fries between two parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheets. Arrange the sweet potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheets, with a little space in between each fry.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pans from the oven, and flip each fry over. Rotate the pans in the oven from top to bottom and bake for 10-20 minutes more, until fries begin to brown on the edges and become crispy. Serve immediately.
Notes
- If you do not have cornstarch you can omit it. It gives the fries a slightly crispier texture but they are still delicious without it.
- The chili powder makes the fries slightly spicy, but not overpoweringly so. If you prefer no spice, you can omit it.
- This recipe makes two pans worth of sweet potato fries, and serves 4. You can halve the recipe and bake on one pan to make less fries.
They look good! The only time I’ve ever had sweet potato fries is at The Counter. Do they taste similar to that?
I think the sweet potato flavor comes through more with these homemade fries, maybe because you don’t taste the “fried” flavor as much since they are baked in the oven.
These look amazing, I can’t eat normal Potato Fries anymore they have to be Sweet ones!
Thank you! I agree, sweet potato fries are the best kind!
I love potatoes and I really liked this recipe! I have never tried to cook like this, but now I will try. I am sure it will be very tasty 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
Tried this recipe today. I didn’t have cornstarch on hand, but they came out yummy. Thanks.
Looks like you keep the skin on?
I do! It saves effort and we don’t mind eating it.
My fries are still getting stuck. It’s just to the parchment not the pan. The down side of the parchment seems to be that when flipping the fries, pieces of the parchment get stuck to each fri. Any thoughts as to how to fix this?
I may have found a solution. Admittedly, I wrote my last comment at the halfway mark while flipping the fries, and a little peeved it wasn’t turning out picture perfect. For the second half, I used tin foil and lightly brushed olive oil onto it. This seemed to make a big difference. The fries didn’t stick to the tin foil at all. Not sure why the parchment wasn’t working for me, but this seemed to do the trick. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m glad you found a solution that worked for you! In my experience, things stick more to foil than parchment. Maybe the parchment paper that you are using is a different kind than what I use. Anyways, glad you found a way to make this work for you.
I make sweet potato fries that I love but haven’t been able to get them crispy; I can’t wait to try adding cornstarch, thanks for the tip!
Also, did you let the pans preheat in the oven?
No, I did not preheat the pans.
This is my favourite recipe to follow when making my SP fries!
These turned out great! I’ve never been able to master a crispy oven sweet potato fry, but your recipe worked and it’s not fussy!
Look amazing, I seem to always forget cornstarch, would flour work in a pinch?
I’m not sure that flour would work the same way. If you don’t have any cornstarch I would just leave it out of the recipe.
Would I be able to prep these to the step before putting them in the oven and store them in a plastic bag or Tupperware in the fridge for a day or two?
I haven’t tried making these ahead. If you decide to try it, let me know how they turn out. 🙂
Good flavor but not crispy
Love these!!!! So does my 2 year old grandson!
This is the best recipe I’ve tried for baked sweet potato fries! I didn’t have time to soak them for the entire 30 minutes, but they still came out great!
Thank You for sharing all of your recipes ..everything is SO good!
Would arrowroot work instead of cornstarch?
Yes, that will work well!
When and how do tou use the olive oil?
Hi Erleen, Please see step 3 of the recipe. You toss the olive oil with the cut sweet potatoes before sprinkling on the seasonings.
We made these for the first time tonight and they are perfect! Kids are eating them right up. Taste just like a restaurant’s only not smothered in oil or salt. Will definitely keep this recipe!!
I made these and were delicious. The cornstarch made the world of a difference thanks so much for the tip.
I made these and they were delicious. After the 20 minutes on bottom shelf I stuck them under the broiler to crisp them up a little more. They were DELICIOUS!! Thank you for sharing this recipe. Will be on our rotation for sure
I followed the recipe as written, but the fries did not crisp up. They were soft and wilted. Tasted fine but disappointing. The only deviation was – I have a very large low rimmed roasting pan so I used that instead of two sheet pans. I did use parchment paper also. Won’t make again.
Made these again, request from visiting daughter. These turn out perfect every time.