In my latest grocery shipment, I got about five or six sweet potatoes — one of my absolute all-time favorite vegetables. They're simply one of the most naturally, but not overpoweringly, sweet and healthy things you can eat.
One of the things I don't like about them, and all potatoes, though is that it takes forever to cook them. To cut down on the cooking time while also attempting to still make a somewhat healthy side dish, I decided to try baked sweet potato fries.
Since I baked them, they did not end up having the crunch of a deep-fried fry, but it was still a great way to eat a sweet potato in under 30 minutes from prep to table.
What you'll need to make one serving:
1 medium sweet potato
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. brown sugar
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Skin the sweet potato and cut into long, thin strips. I accomplished this by halving the sweet potato lengthwise. Then I halved each half, but with cuts parallel to the first. So I had four equally thick slices of potato. Then I took those flat pieces and cut them uniformly.
It's sad to say, but at this point if you have any small and strangely shaped pieces, they will most definitely burn in the oven. They are worth throwing out or perhaps cooking for half the time with a VERY keen eye on them. I became extremely adept at running over to my very oversensitive smoke detectors during making these potatoes.
Then I coated a cookie sheet with canola oil. Feel free to put parchment paper on the baking sheet so it's easier to clean. I added the strip of sweet potato and sprinkled the salt, cayenne and sugar evenly over the top. Then I mixed the whole batch around with my hands, making the oil and spice mix more even.
The cayenne does, of course, add some kick to the potatoes, but it was really well balanced with the sugar. Unless you're extremely sensitive to heat, I think you'll like this addition to this recipe.
My plan was to cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, turn them over and cook them again for 15 more. Thanks to my lovely smoke detector, I managed 15 minutes on one side and only 10 on the other. But the results were perfectly fine, a little darker where the slices were thinner, but not really burnt. I tend to like my food really crispy and only think toast is burnt when it's black. If you don't like that kind of texture to your food, I'd recommend cutting the ends of the fries so they're blunt.
I put the fries on a paper towel for a little bit before serving so the oil wouldn't get soaked up by the fries.
Though I longed a little for the crispier texture you get from deep-fried restaurant sweet potato fries, they still were delicious. I'm mostly overjoyed to have a new way of cooking sweet potatoes that takes 25-30 minutes.
One of the things I don't like about them, and all potatoes, though is that it takes forever to cook them. To cut down on the cooking time while also attempting to still make a somewhat healthy side dish, I decided to try baked sweet potato fries.
Since I baked them, they did not end up having the crunch of a deep-fried fry, but it was still a great way to eat a sweet potato in under 30 minutes from prep to table.
What you'll need to make one serving:
1 medium sweet potato
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. brown sugar
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Skin the sweet potato and cut into long, thin strips. I accomplished this by halving the sweet potato lengthwise. Then I halved each half, but with cuts parallel to the first. So I had four equally thick slices of potato. Then I took those flat pieces and cut them uniformly.
It's sad to say, but at this point if you have any small and strangely shaped pieces, they will most definitely burn in the oven. They are worth throwing out or perhaps cooking for half the time with a VERY keen eye on them. I became extremely adept at running over to my very oversensitive smoke detectors during making these potatoes.
Then I coated a cookie sheet with canola oil. Feel free to put parchment paper on the baking sheet so it's easier to clean. I added the strip of sweet potato and sprinkled the salt, cayenne and sugar evenly over the top. Then I mixed the whole batch around with my hands, making the oil and spice mix more even.
The cayenne does, of course, add some kick to the potatoes, but it was really well balanced with the sugar. Unless you're extremely sensitive to heat, I think you'll like this addition to this recipe.
My plan was to cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, turn them over and cook them again for 15 more. Thanks to my lovely smoke detector, I managed 15 minutes on one side and only 10 on the other. But the results were perfectly fine, a little darker where the slices were thinner, but not really burnt. I tend to like my food really crispy and only think toast is burnt when it's black. If you don't like that kind of texture to your food, I'd recommend cutting the ends of the fries so they're blunt.
I put the fries on a paper towel for a little bit before serving so the oil wouldn't get soaked up by the fries.
Sweet potato fries with my portobello burger recipe from last month.
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