Crispier Sweet Potatoe Fries

pipelaser

Hello,
I made my first attempt at cooking sweet potatoe fries the other day. Followed the following instructions.

Cut 3 No. Medium potatoes into 1/2 inch sqaure cross section thickness.

Placed on a Baking Tray, (without Grease Proof paper), spaced them out with at least 1/2 inch spacing between the fries.

Sprinkled over the fries with 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil following by a light sprinkling of paprika on top, and then turned each of them over, the action of which further coated them in the sitting oil, and covered the other side with a another sprinkling of paprika.

Fan cooked oven at 200DEG for 18mins.

They came out ok. Some around the edges of the baking try had black tips, so any longer they may have burned too much.

They were tasty, some a little crispier than others.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips to make them even crispier, as in the type you would get in a restaurant?

I assume cooking Potatoe Wedges would work in the same way.

Thanks!

Dial Hard

You'll never get properly crispy sweet potato fries from fresh in the oven.

Even in the deep fat frier, they need a cornstarch coating to crisp up properly.

Your best bet for crispy actual fries at home is to buy them frozen and deep fat fry them. Air fryer second best.

I do love them oven cooked from fresh, but you just need to accept that crisp edges is the best you'll get. Oil and season them in a bowl first, and cook them on a wire rack as opposed to directly on the baking tray, you get better air circulation that way. Fan oven, 220C.

And there's no E in potato, btw.

pipelaser

Dial Hard wrote: »

You'll never get properly crispy sweet potato fries from fresh in the oven.

Even in the deep fat frier, they need a cornstarch coating to crisp up properly.

Your best bet for crispy actual fries at home is to buy them frozen and deep fat fry them. Air fryer second best.

I do love them oven cooked from fresh, but you just need to accept that crisp edges is the best you'll get. Oil and season them in a bowl first, and cook them on a wire rack as opposed to directly on the baking tray, you get better air circulation that way. Fan oven, 220C.

And there's no E in potato, btw.

Thanks for the reply, will try the bowl seasoning and wire rack.
Thanks also for the spelling lesson! 😅

yogibear77

I put them in a bowl with oil and what ever seasoning, leave them there for as long as possible. Put the tray in the oven while its heating up so it's nice and hot spread them out like said. I cook them for about 30mins turning them after about 20mins they do get crispy but nothing like regular oven fries

Dizzyblonde

Mod note:
Please don't correct other posters' spelling, grammar or punctuation. They're not important, but being friendly and welcoming is

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Mod note:
Please don't correct other posters' spelling, grammar or punctuation. They're not important, but being friendly and welcoming is

What sort of policy is this? A friendly mention of a correction in spelling where it was mispelled multiple times is apt. It has nothing to do with "friendly and welcoming." English might not be the first language of the person making the mistake. Even if it wasnt (its an easy mistake, we all make mistakes in our native languages), its still courteous for someone to acknowledge the mistake to save the person making it again and again.

Bit like not pointing out if someone had food left on their face. I think most, if not all people would rather someone points it out, than not.

And now I'm sorry for bringing the thread even more off-topic but that's hyper-senstive moderation if I ever saw it. The OP resonded kindly with "thanks for the spelling lesson" so I'm not sure the Mod Note was nesscessary. Guy was friendly and answered the OP.

And im saying this in a friendly and welcome tone in my head. Not sure how it reads 🙏☺️

ByTheSea2019

I think a little dusting of cornflour makes them crispier.

yogibear77

I tried the cornflour and greaseproof paper before and they stuck to the greaseproof, they were a disaster, anyone know where I went wrong or any tips?

Tails142

I can't remember was it a gordon ramsey or jamie oliver show I was watching. Anyway, they gave some tips on crispy homemade chips, now I do this with regular potatoes, haven't tried it with sweet potato as I prefer a kind of mushy roasted wedge when it comes to sweet potatoes but it would work the same I imagine. As others have said deep frying (way too unhealthy imo, wont have one in the house) would be the no. 1 way to achieve crispiness however the method below gives good results but only on thin cuts of chip.

Anyway, thin chips, max 1cm thickness, a half inch (12.7mm) is pushing it, I would go thinner and aim for 8 to 10mm. Blanch them by putting them into a pot of boiling water for 4 minutes and then refresh (strain and run under cold water), dry with a paper towel and toss in olive oil getting the blanched chips a but fluffy in the process, salt and pepper to your preference, sometimes I add rosemary, preheat oven to 300!! Now if you dont normally set your oven to this you will get some smoke the first time.

Don't overload the baking tray, two baking trays top and bottom will give better results than one overloaded tray and switch top for bottom mid cook. You need good circulation of air and heat between the chips, when oven is ready at 300, bang them in on the trays for 15 minutes max, and turn the chips at least twice, the turning is the second most important part to achieving crispiness after the high heat.

15 minutes should do it, any more at that temp and they'll be charcoal. The result you will get however will be nice cripsy chips.

I got an airfryer a few months back and I have to say it does a great job at getting things crispy, so I haven't had to do the above since then but it's my tried and true tested method that I did for years, pre air fryer.

Dizzyblonde

Turquoise Hexagon Sun wrote: »

What sort of policy is this? A friendly mention of a correction in spelling where it was mispelled multiple times is apt. It has nothing to do with "friendly and welcoming." English might not be the first language of the person making the mistake. Even if it wasnt (its an easy mistake, we all make mistakes in our native languages), its still courteous for someone to acknowledge the mistake to save the person making it again and again.

Bit like not pointing out if someone had food left on their face. I think most, if not all people would rather someone points it out, than not.

And now I'm sorry for bringing the thread even more off-topic but that's hyper-senstive moderation if I ever saw it. The OP resonded kindly with "thanks for the spelling lesson" so I'm not sure the Mod Note was nesscessary. Guy was friendly and answered the OP.

And im saying this in a friendly and welcome tone in my head. Not sure how it reads 🙏☺️

This is the food forum, posters aren't here for advice on spelling. Some people will take it in their stride if someone points out a mistake, others won't, and some people will be extremely hurt and/or embarrassed, and unlikely to want to post again.

It's not up to you or anyone else to decide how it should or will be received by any individual. Being civil and respectful is much more important than spelling, punctuation or grammar.

If you have a problem with the moderation of any forum on Boards you should discuss it either via PM with the moderator or in the Help Desk forum.

Dial Hard

There was no offence or ill intent meant, it was a friendly fyi, is all.

Back (slightly) on topic, the Lidl frozen sweet potato wedges are AMAZING. BIG and chunky so they only crisp on the edges but they're sooooo good if you're having a lazy day.

bassy

i tryed once making crisps lol the turned out very good.

i cut the peeled potatoes and then sliced them really thin 1mm or less and put them in hot deep fat fryer for a min or 2,not to long cause if there left to long the just go hard and kinda burnt.

kinda off topic i know but it was,nt a bad effort if anyone wants to try that.

ArthurG

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

This is the food forum, posters aren't here for advice on spelling. Some people will take it in their stride if someone points out a mistake, others won't, and some people will be extremely hurt and/or embarrassed, and unlikely to want to post again.

It's not up to you or anyone else to decide how it should or will be received by any individual. Being civil and respectful is much more important than spelling, punctuation or grammar.

If you have a problem with the moderation of any forum on Boards you should discuss it either via PM with the moderator or in the Help Desk forum.

I agree with Turquoise. I think you’re being a bit heavy handed buddy. It wasn’t an aggressive correction, it reads quite friendly in the context of his mail.

JustAThought

i usually make mine superthin and add crushed fennel to them and rub them with sesamae oil - relly tasty. Sometimes if I do them too long they turn to cinder ash but if I watch like a hawlk they come out georgous.

i have been experimenting between grill at 200 and oven at 200 but usually make them when I am drinking a few glasses of red wine so can’t quite recall which works better!!! Very yum thou!

Dizzyblonde

ArthurG wrote: »

I agree with Turquoise. I think you’re being a bit heavy handed buddy. It wasn’t an aggressive correction, it reads quite friendly in the context of his mail.

If you and Turquoise are familiar with ths Food forum you'll know that correction of another poster's spelling isn't acceptable in this forum, like it or not.
Anyone who is so offended by an on-thread reminder that it calls into question the style of moderation in the forum should take it to the Help Desk because back seat modding and discussion of a moderator's actions on thread isn't tolerated anywhere on Boards.

the beer revolu

My tip for sweet potato fries.

Accept that they are rubbish and a pathetic substitute for potato fries that we have all been brain washed into thinking are healthier.

And what's most annoying is that I fall into the trap of thinking that I like them and ordering them and only then remembering that they are shlte.

And are they really any healthier??

pigtail33

I've never managed to get sweet potato fries crisp in the oven. I've tried cornflour, and I also read that due to the higher moisture content, you should open the oven door (briefly) every 5 mins or so, to let the steam out. The theory makes sense, as steam always comes you when you open the oven, but it didn't seem to affect the crispness.

cruizer101

This video goes into the science of why they don't crisp up and how to get them crispy even in the oven.
I don't think you will ever get as crispy as you can with normal potato but he seems to get pretty close.

Never liked sweet potato myself mind, if I'm going to have chips give me proper chips, interesting video though.

Faith

the beer revolu wrote: »

And are they really any healthier??

I actually really like sweet potato fries, possibly more than normal chips, but they are unfortunately not more healthy at all. They may have more nutritional value but apparently they also absorb more fat in cooking than spuds, leading to a higher calorie and fat content .

emmaneiser

I can never get crispy sweet potato fries from fresh but find the frozen ones can crisp up in the airfryer

Tree

A deep fried sweet potato fry with rosemary salt is a wonderful thing.

The closest luck I've had in the oven is with the frozen ones, and they're just not as good. Usually I only end up getting sweet potato fries when I'm out.