5 Tips for Really Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the foodies of the online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it, and what to cook. This time our chefs serve you the tastiest sweet potato fries.

Does your sweet potato fries always come out limp from the oven? Or just rock hard and bitter with deep black spots? With these 5 tips, every bite from now on will be: crunch, deliciously crispy.

1. Check your oil
Do you automatically reach for the bottle of olive oil? Oh dear, that's where it goes wrong. Olive oil starts to smoke at high temperatures, and some components of the oil can even burn. Result: stink from the oven and black fries. It works better with peanut oil or sunflower oil, which can withstand higher temperatures better.

2. Tray, not dish
We understand: in cookbooks, those fries always look photogenic in a rustic baking dish. But appearance means nothing, because those are dirty fries. A baking dish warms up more slowly, so the fries warm up slowly and therefore do not become crispy. It's that simple. Use a thin, metal baking sheet to bake your fries.

3. Hot, hot, hot
When baking regular potatoes in the oven, the temperature shouldn't be too high. But sweet potatoes cook much faster than the average spud, so turn the temperature of your oven up to 220 degrees or even hotter. Cut your fries evenly, then all the fries will brown and become crispy at the same time. After about 20 minutes, it starts to happen, after 25 minutes your fries are probably ready. Keep a close eye on it to prevent burnt spots.

4. Tossing
The fries need to be coated with oil on all sides before they go into the oven. You achieve this by tossing the oil and fries together with your hands. Once the fries are in the oven, toss them on the baking sheet halfway through the cooking time.

5. Secret ingredient: polenta
A tablespoon of polenta with your fries ensures an extra crispy crust. We also read about cornstarch online, but that resulted in fries that hung limp like spaghetti on the fork. How do you do that? Put the cut fries in a large zip-lock bag. Add some oil and the polenta. Seal the bag with plenty of air inside and then shake everything together. This is also the perfect time to add the spices: salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a bit of cinnamon, or thyme and rosemary. Don't have a plastic bag nearby? Then you can of course mix everything together in a large bowl.

Text: FavorFlav