Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I've tried to make baked sweet potato fries several times with bad results. It's difficult to get them crispy in the oven. On my quest, I found a few recipes calling for cornstarch, which I thought was odd but gave it a shot. The first time I made this recipe, they were great. The second time, I used too much cornstarch and they were not good. ("Chalky" is not a good adjective to describe food) The third time, I measured out only 1 TBSP of cornstarch and they were great again. Chris hates sweet potatoes and actually enjoyed these. I served them with some Sriacha mayo (like the recipe) but they are good with ketchup too. Hope you enjoy!


Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• 2-3 TBPS olive oil
• Salt and pepper, or spicy seasoning salt
• Spoonful of mayonnaise and a squeeze of Sriacha for dipping sauce (optional)

Prep

1. Preheat your oven to 425°
2. Peel the skin off of your sweet potatoes with a potato peeler, then cut them into fries. I cut them in half first, then stood each half on its base, made slices, then sliced those across to make fries. I might actually go a little narrower with my fries next time to get them extra crispy.

3. In a large ziploc bag, add your fries, 1 TBSP cornstarch, about 1 tsp each of salt and pepper or 1 tsp spicy seasoning salt, and 2-3 TBSP of olive oil. Shake this all together to coat your sweet potatoes.

4. Line your largest baking sheet with either parchment paper or with foil and grease it well with olive oil. These babies like to stick. If you are making a bigger batch, definitely use 2 baking sheets.
5. Spread out your fries on the baking sheet, leaving space between each fry. This is important. If they are crowded on your baking sheet, they will steam and will sadly never crisp up.

Cook

1. Bake the fries in your preheated oven for 15 minutes, then take them out to toss them around and pop them back in for another 10 minutes or so. You may need to repeat the toss and bake until your fries are browned and crispy to your liking.

2. While the fries bake, you can mix your Sriacha mayo, which is really just a spoonful of mayo mixed with a squeeze of Sriacha.