I have a confession. I am not only addicted to desserts; I have a serious obsession with sweet potato fries. Well, if we’re being honest, I have an obsession with ALL things sweet potato. Baked sweet potato wedges, sweet potato casserole, sweet potato chips, sweet potato chili, and my mom’s brown sugar glazed sweet potatoes (my favorite Thanksgiving side dish). I make these baked sweet potato fries at home all the time. Since they’re baked and not fried, I feel good about snacking on them or serving them up with dinner. The “recipe” is so simple, I never thought to share it on my blog. But the time has come; I can no longer keep my love for these cinnamon-spiced fries a secret. The first step is to start with some sweet potatoes. The amount of potatoes depends on how many fries you want to make. For the two of us, I always use 2 very large sweet potatoes. Sometimes three, which makes a ton of fries. I’ve never complained about snacking on the extra sweet potato fries, that’s for sure. If you’re baking for just yourself, I’d use 1 large sweet potato. If you’re making the fries as a side dish for a family of 4+, I’d use 1 small size sweet potato per person depending how hungry you are. Wash, peel, and chop the sweet potatoes up into french fry shapes with a very, very sharp knife. When I first started making these fries at home, the shapes of my fries were all over the place. I didn’t cut them very neatly at all. But I’ve picked up on french fry shaping; it takes practice. They all won’t be perfect. I like to cut the fries to be a little thin. Not shoestring-style and not too thick. About 1/4 inch wide. Like so: Here’s a trick I’ve learned over the years: toss your fries into a touch of cornstarch right after you slice them. I do the same thing when making cinnamon sugar sweet potato fries, too. This creates a very thin layer of coating and help the fries get crispy in the oven. To coat, toss the fries and cornstarch in a large bowl or throw both into a large ziplock bag and shake shake shake. The second option is obviously more fun. You want cornstarch to go onto the fries before the oil and the spices or else your fries will have large white lumps and taste like cornstarch. After they’re coated with cornstarch, sprinkle with a touch of olive oil (or coconut oil) and cinnamon-sugar. The oil will help your fries crisp up in the oven. Instead of coating in cinnamon-sugar, sometimes I sprinkle the fries with a touch of salt and cayenne pepper. Or just simply sprinkle with salt. The spice is totally up to you and what you like. Line the fries up on a Silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Try not to crowd them and make sure they have a bit of space in between each other. The less fries on the pan, the better. Too many fries shoved together and they’ll just steam—not bake. Bake for 15 minutes at 400F degrees. Remove from the oven and flip them over. Bake for another 10-15 minutes. Make sure to rotate your pan during the bake times or else you may get some burnt ends. My oven has hot spots, so I always make sure to rotate the pan. Here’s another handy trick. Turn the oven off completely and crack open. Keep the baked sweet potato fries inside and allow to sit there for about 30+ minutes. Sitting in the oven as it cools down, rather than sitting at room temperature, will help your fries get crispier. The crispier, the better in my opinion! Obviously you may not have time for that step, so it’s not mandatory. But I try to plan ahead so I have time. No matter what you do though, some fries will still be soft. There is just no way around it with sweet potatoes because of their moisture content. Using a couple of these tricks certainly helps in the crisp factor though. Now it’s time to gobble them up. I love making these because sweet potatoes are (1) cheap (2) readily available year-round (3) nutritious (4) don’t spoil quickly (5) easy (6) delicious. The second I was finished with this photoshoot, I downed the fries in minutes. I honestly don’t even think I took a breath of air. I could live on sweet potato fries for the rest of my life. I love their crispy ends and soft centers! PS: Did you know that 1 sweet potato contains over twice the amount of vitamin A you need for the day? Yeah. And trust me, it’s easy to eat more than one sweet potato worth of these fries! If you love them as much as I do, try my sweet potato turkey chili for dinner. And for dessert, brown sugar sweet potato pie or even this bourbon sweet potato pie. Sweet potato pie is very similar to pumpkin pie, but with more substantial texture than it’s custard-y pumpkin counterpart. It definitely deserves a spot in your roundup of favorite Thanksgiving pies! And don’t forget these crispy baked onion rings for another homemade side option.
