By Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- 5(6,176)
- Notes
- Read community notes
These addictive seasoned "fries" from Mark Bittman are actually baked, but we promise you won't miss the grease. The spice mix – garlic powder, paprika, salt and black pepper – can be used on regular potatoes as well (you'll just need to increase the baking time a bit).
Featured in: Yes, Healthful Fast Food Is Possible. But Edible?
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 2pounds sweet potatoes, peeled
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1teaspoon garlic powder
- 1teaspoon paprika
- 1teaspoon salt
- ½teaspoon black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
173 calories; 5 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 365 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Step
1
Heat the oven to 400.
Step
2
Cut the sweet potatoes into sticks ¼ to ½ inch wide and 3 inches long, and toss them with the oil.
Step
3
Mix the spices, salt and pepper in a small bowl, and toss them with the sweet potatoes. Spread them out on 2 rimmed baking sheets.
Step
4
Bake until brown and crisp on the bottom, about 15 minutes, then flip and cook until the other side is crisp, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Ratings
5
out of 5
6,176
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Cooking Notes
Patrick
I find using parchment paper helps with the crisping. And sliding parchment paper onto a pre-heated stone rather than a sheet pan yielded the crispiest (but keep an eye on them, they cooked a bit faster this way). Lastly, thinner cuts = crispier.
Rosemarywc
great seasoning! to make the fries crispier, I heated the baking sheets until a drop OF water bounced on them then tossed the fries on - cooked till crisp then turned. Preheating the sheets really helps the crisping.
Jen
Soaking them in water beforehand to reduce starchiness (a few to several hours is good), slicing them thinly, and lastly, using 1-2 teaspoons of corn starch (use tea towel to dry first, put in ziplock bag with the corn starch and shake, then add oil and seasonings) will increase the crispiness of your sweet potato fries. My two kids can polish off three sweet potatoes by themselves this way!
bluetomatoes
Placement in the oven matters a lot. Those in the pan on the top rack were much crisper than the ones in the middle rack.
Rotating front to back and switching shelves helped a lot.
Stephen Prescott
The ultimate crispy secret,... bake on a rack on top of a baking sheet. And the best part, you don't even have to turn because the heat circulates all around!!!!
Judith Rae
No need to peel the sweet potatoes.
Mary Ellen Cummings
After 3 tries, got it perfect. One pan, preheated in a 425 degree oven. Potatoes cut uniformly; a critical step. Used spice mix. Used parchment. Cooked for 12 minutes, tossed and cooked a further 12 minutes.
Thomas
I'm not sure if it would help with sweet potato fries, but when I make regular oven potato fries the trick to get them crispy is to wash them in a bowl, after cutting, to get some of the starch off and then to thoroughly dry them with paper towels before mixing with oil and seasoning. I only bake one sheet at a time and only as many as can loosely fit on the sheet in one layer.
Mike in Minneapolis
I set the oven at 450 and got some reasonable crispness on the fries. Next time I might either go to 475 or turn on the broiler for the last 1-2 minutes. But 400 is definitely not high enough.
Jon
Absolutely do not listen to the corn startch idea... the fries stuck to the tin foil and ruined them.
Roni Jordan
Found this recipe last night for my son, who wanted to make sweet potato fries that wouldn't get mushy. He made 1/2 batch, with two sweet potatoes that weighed about 1 lb, in our Breville countertop convection oven. He cut the potatoes and tossed them with 1 tbsp EVOO a couple of hours before dinner, tossed with the seasoning mix just before baking, and preheated the baking pan so they'd start to crisp up quickly. Worked like a charm His verdict - delicious!
Kate
Parchment paper helps. No peeling of course. I prefer to season them fresh from the oven. Not only tastes better, but I can toss a few to the dog. Sweet potato is very beneficial to dogs.
Sue C.
Answered my own question with internet search. Sweet potatoes come in several varieties. The darker variety (which I think of as "yams" are not really yams but "jewel" variety sweet potatoes), tend to be more moist (and I think, tastier) than the lighter variety. The variation in success in crispness is likely to be due to the variety of sweet potato, as well as cooking method.
Karen
I made the mistake of trying to cook two pans in the oven for a larger group. They came out soggy and inedible. I will try them again, but only ONE pan this time.
ER
I find using parchment paper helps with the crisping. And sliding parchment paper onto a pre-heated stone rather than a sheet pan yielded the crispiest (but keep an eye on them, they cooked a bit faster this way).
Preheating the sheets really helps the crisping.
Mary
This was the best sweet potato recipe ever. I could not stop eating it. Actually, I didn't. I just ate those without the chicken I had prepared. They really need NO sauce - the seasonings were the bomb!!!!
Mel
I find that cubing sweet potatoes is way easier than making fries so I use the seasoning for the fries and use the cooking directions of the smoked paprika recipe
Donaldo
One pan, preheated in a 425 degree oven. Potatoes cut uniformly; a critical step. Used spice mix. Used parchment. Cooked for 12 minutes, tossed and cooked a further 12 minutes.
heather
I did this but did at 450 and added Honey and Rosemary
Dml
Next time will try parchment paper as others suggested. I peeled and cut thick wedges but my fries were very soft and not at all crispy, despite turning oven up to 425 and adding another 10 minutes to cooking time. Disappointing.
Patricia
I've made these several times and am still hunting for a non-mushy solution... However, the spice combo is great and sweet potatoes are great, so all in all this is not a bad recipe. Will keep trying to achieve peak crispiness!
Barbara
This is a keeper, I used convection for the last few minutes which helped to crisp the potatoes.
natasha
Made these with sweet potatoes. Would add more oil I think or try the advice of having a very hot pan before I added the Fries to it.
Mel
I love the spicing of this recipe but the cutting of the fries is a pain.i would use the spicing of these fries but cubing the potatoes like in the roasted sweet potatoes with smoked paprika
oct 2023
Use 1T of seasoning mix for 2 large-ish SPs (full big pan)Cook at 425 instead of 400.Broil for a few minutes at the end to crisp-ify.
Angelina
Does anyone know what was the dipping sauce?
Monica
Flavor was wonderful but didn’t yield crispy fries as written. Broiled each pan after baking for about 6 minutes - tossing halfway - came out great!
Priscilla
The flavor of these is good. I cut fries too small ( stick to 1/2 inch). I did soaking and corn starch. I think oven should be 450 and perhaps a bit more olive oil. Not as crisp as I would like.Did a dipping sauce of Mayo/sour cream, lemon, mustard, garlic. Aioli would be good.
Justin
These are off soo bad. Tons of recipes for sweet potato fries that are better. Temp is off or time is off. Not soaking. Starch. So many things wrong for a 5 star review.
Linda B
Excellent recipe and easy to cut in half. I baked my fries a bit longer and they were nice and crispy!
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