The Reason:
Sweet potato fries are delicious, not to mention healthier than regular fries. This one is double good, since you’re not actually frying the french fries in oil. Believe me, this is a much better use of sweet potatoes than those gross, marshmallow-topped dessert/vegetable dishes so popular around Thanksgiving.
The Journey:
The hardest part about this is peeling and chopping the potatoes. Sweet potatoes have a much tougher, sort of papery skin than a regular potato does, so you definitely don’t want that in there.
For my money, you want these to be pretty decent size. I guess that’s just personal preference, but they shrink up a little bit in the oven, so you want to start bigger than you want.
Once you have them chopped up, the rest is easy. Mix them in a bowl, put ‘um on a sheet, and bake ‘um.
The Verdict:
They’re great. We make these all the time, so obviously we like them. The kids love them too. It’s sort of a race to get a hold of any, since everybody gobbles them up as fast as possible.
The Recipe:
Modified from Ingrid Hoffmann’s Sweet Potato Oven Fries recipe.
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into strips
- 2 teaspoons olive oil (significantly reduced from original recipe!)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Coarse ground rock salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional, but we didn’t use any)
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil until the sweet potatoes are coated. Add the paprika, chili powder, coriander, salt, and pepper; toss to distribute evenly.
Arrange the coated fries in a single layer on the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack until the sweet potatoes soften. Transfer the pan to the upper rack of the oven and bake 10 minutes longer, until fries are crispy.
Shane Halbach 