Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip

http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/guaranteed-crispy-sweet-potato-fries-sriracha-mayo-dip/

The following recipe and commentary is from Karen:

Sweet Potato French Fries? Yikes!  They’re usually a  soggy mess.

I’ve oven baked them, par boiled them and deep fried them and they don’t get crispy.  They get brown, but not crisp.

Finally, I’ve figured out how to make crispy sweet potato fries and the best part is you can do them in the deep fryer or the oven!  Either way, you’ll end up with crispy fries.  Guaranteed.

Here’s what you need to do …

Sweet Potatoes

Corn starch

olive oil

Salt  

Cut your sweet potatoes until they’re a medium thickness.  Not hugely thick cut and not shoestring.

Let potatoes soak in water for an hour – half the day.  (not mandatory, but recommended)

Drain and salt the sweet potatoes.

Preheat oven to 425°

Throw a Tablespoon or two of cornstarch into a plastic bag.

Dump a handful of sweet potatoes into the bag with the cornstarch.  You don’t need to dry them with paper towels or anything.  Just drain the water and then give each handful you drop in the cornstarch a good shake.  Twist the top of the bag so it forms a balloon with some air inside and shake the fries around until they’re lightly coated with the cornstarch.  This is important.  Too much water and too much cornstarch and you’ll end up with a goopy mess.  Plus your fries will taste like cornstarch.

Put in a bowl and toss with 2 tbsp olive oil (or you can do this right on your cookie sheet). 

The more oil you use the easier time you’ll have of getting the fries crispy but the less healthy they will be.

I usually go the totally unhealthy route to ensure the fries are crispy. 

Using your hands, make sure the fries are well coated.

Put your coated fries on a non stick cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt. 

Arrange them on the sheet again, so they have space between each fry.  The less fries on the pan the better they’ll cook.  Too many shoved together and they’ll never get crispy.  They’ll just steam.  Pop the fries into your preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Check the fries after 15 minutes, flip them over (you might have to use a spatula depending on how “non stick” your pan is) and return to the oven if necessary for another 5 minutes.  The timing really depends on the size of your fry, the heat of your oven and how well your pan conducts heat.