Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I've been a bit obsessed with these sweet potato fries ever since I first made them back in the fall.  I originally made this recipe from edible perspective.  Over time, I stopped measuring ingredients and used what may seem like a ton of spices.  They've been pictured along side a couple of recipes here on the blog, and I decided given how much I love them, I should share the way I make them.  So, I made them again and measured out the ingredients for you!  I recommend making them like this and then adjusting the spices in the future to suit your tastes.  These have a lot of spices, but I wouldn't call them spicy in a hot way.  They just have a lot of flavor.  And with all of the spices, there is no need for tons of salt!  These are great plain or dipped in ketchup/BBQ sauce/etc.

This is my absolute favorite way to eat sweet potatoes, and I make these often.  Sweet potatoes are very good for you (my recent find was that they are a top 10 anti-inflammatory food!) so I don't feel bad about my obsession with these.  Luckily Mark likes them too!  And the olive oil and spices are also good for you, so there is really nothing bad about these!  Fries that are good for you is a win in my book.

If you've never had/made sweet potato fries,  you should know that it is harder to get them crispy in the same way as regular potato fries.  They are just naturally softer.  Baked at a high temperature, these come out semi-crispy with a creamy interior.  As they cool or if you have them as leftovers, they are definitely not crispy (you can semi-recrisp them in a toaster oven!), but I still think they are delicious and there are never any that go to waste.

Fries before they go into the oven!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Serves: 2 (easily doubled!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound sweet potato/yam (about 1 large or multiple small)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste, depending on how hot/spicy you want them)

DIRECTIONS:

1)  Preheat the oven to 425F.

2) Scrub/wash/dry sweet potato(es).  Slice every 1/2 inch in one direction.  Then, slice each of those into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. Really, it does NOT have to be perfect, just cut them so they vaguely look fry shaped and are all about the same thickness.  The thicker they are, the longer they will take to cook.  Put all cut sweet potatoes in a big bowl.  Pour on olive oil and use a spatula or big spoon to stir to cover.

3) Combine all spices in a small dish.  Pour over sweet potatoes and stir well to combine.  Dump sweet potatoes onto a large baking sheet (unlined/uncoated) and spread out evenly.  If there is extra oil/spices in the bowl, scrape that out and add it to the potatoes.

4)  Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and carefully flip each fry over.  Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes.  The longer you bake them, the crispier they will get... so feel free to bake them even longer.  [Also, speaking from experience... if you forget to flip them it will still work out!]

5)  Remove from the oven and eat!

(recipe inspired by edible perspective)