She Who Must Be Obeyed grabs an order of sweet potato fries any and every time they’re on a menu, regardless of how lowbrow or highbrow the place might be.
It may have something to do with her Southern upbringing, though I think it’s more related to the fry’s crunchy outside covering a perfectly cooked, lightly, sorta fluffy and sweet inside. A sweet potato fry, done right, is one of those simple but 0h-so-good culinary works of art we all appreciate now and again.
We’ve dabbled over the years at making sweet potato fries and chips at home; like many of you it’s most often too damn busy and messy to whip up a batch of classic twice-fried real fries, though often the home-baked versions end up being a bit soggy.
Getting to the bottom of how to make the perfect and crispy home-baked sweet potato fry has been ‘on the list’ for a while, though real life has been pushing it to the back burner for months.
Finally this week I had a chance to talk live with a couple of chef friends and pick their brains on sweet potato fries and dig around for more tips and tricks; here’s the quick summation on how to get the perfect baked sweet potato fry every time.
Size matters. If a crispy fry is important in your world, slice your sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slabs and then cut each slab (stack 2 or 3 at a time) into 1/4 inch wide fries. Thicker slices and wedges are much more difficult to crisp.
To skin or not to skin that spud. Doesn’t matter.
Soak ‘em. Anybody who’s slung hash in a burger joint or pub that serves fresh, hand cut fries (as opposed to being dumped frozen out of a 50 pound sack) knows that a trick of the trade is to soak the freshly cut spuds in cold water for at least an hour and up to overnight. This removes (at least some of) the excess starch. Drain well and pat dry on a paper towel when you’re ready to go.
Shake ‘em. The crispiest home-baked fries have a coating of starch – for most of us that will be cornstarch, a common staple in the home pantry. Drop half your soaked fries (now dried) in a large resealable plastic bag, add 2 tbsp (per sweet potato) of cornstarch and shake, shake, shake. You don’t want the fries absolutely coated, just lightly dusted.
(Some fry gurus argue that the very best starch is a combination of cornstarch, brown rice starch and tapioca starch in a ratio of 2:1:1; if you’ve got ‘em, try it.)
Oil ‘em. While you’ll often see recipes tout the use of butter or olive oil, it’s best to use a high smoke point oil – rice bran, sunflower, peanut, even avocado oil. We like the flavor that coconut oil adds, though its smoke point is lower (350ish) and will often add a tbsp or two to the other oil of choice pending how big the fry batch is. Dump those starch dusted fries in a bowl and oil ‘em up.
Spice ‘em. With the exception of salt (hydrophilic and pulls water to the surface of your fry making it limp and wimpy), the sky’s the limit here. We usually just shoot from the hip with one or more of our family favorites (chile powder, granulated garlic, cumin) though some of the prepared or home-mixed Cajun spices pair damned well with sweet potato here.
The pan. There are several schools of thought here: bare pan, foil-lined and parchment-lined. We’ve done all three repeatedly and don’t see a hell of a lot of difference other than the parchment fry might take a but longer to crisp. Spray the bare and foil-lined pans with cooking spray (lightly).
The bake. Oven at 425. It’s critical that the fries be layered in the pan in a single layer and not touching. You’ll probably be doing two pans at a time here – start with one pan in the upper third and one in the lower; at 15 minutes carefully turn the fries and rotate the pans (front to back and top to bottom in the oven).
Another 10-15 minutes and they should be browned and completely cooked.
The rest. An oft missed step that wins the day – shut off the oven, prop the door open and let them cool and get more crispy for 10-15 minutes.
Salt, spice and serve. Now salt and add more spice as desired; serve ‘em up and go to it. Soak up the adulation of your guests. Gloat in your sweet potato fry prowess.
Enjoy.
