This recipe for oven-baked sweet potato fries is a good one to keep in your back pocket. It’s far simpler than making french fries, requires almost no prep time, and once you master the basic recipe, it’s infinitely riffable.
We like our sweet potato fries in hardy wedges with the crispy peel still attached, but you could opt for disks or squared-off sticks and peel them first if preferred. The important thing is to make sure they’re all relatively the same thickness so that they char and crisp evenly. For the best sweet potato fries, pat the tubers dry before tossing them with the oil. For roasting, use the largest sheet pan you’ve got; more surface area means crispier fries (if you only have small pans, cook the sweet potatoes in batches). For the same reason, don’t be tempted to line the pan with parchment paper, which would act as an insulator, preventing the potatoes from developing a crust.
We keep the flavors here simple with just salt and pepper, but you should feel free to mix it up by dusting the uncooked sweet potatoes with some smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, or garlic powder. For extra-crispy sweet potato fries, add up to 1 tsp. cornstarch or ¼ tsp. baking soda to your spice mix—both will promote even more browning. To serve, we’re partial to this creamy, spicy dipping sauce, but tahini ketchup or a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce would also make a great match.