I'm not too proud to admit that I have failed many times at making crispy sweet potato fries. French fries, in general, are tricky to get right in a home kitchen (or in a professional kitchen, for that matter; there is a reason most restaurants use a frozen, ready-to-fry product). Sweet potatoes have a different makeup of starch, sugar, and water than your standard frying potato does, too, just to make it harder for you. By combining blanching, a quick cornstarch batter, and a lower oil temperature this recipe gets you all the way to crispy town.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 pound sweet potatoes
- 1 tbs cornstarch
- 1 tbs water
- vegetable oil for frying
- several pinches Ladybug Picnic sea salt blend from Beautiful Briny Sea
- Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/4" sticks.
- Slowly heat the oil in a medium sized pot with high sides. The oil shouldn't go more than 1/3 of the way to the top of the pan. I highly recommend using a thermometer to get the temperature right. You want to drop the potatoes in at 350F. I like to heat the oil up slowly so I don't overshoot the mark and let it get too hot.
- Put the potatoes on a paper towel on a microwave safe plate and microwave for four minutes. This will cook the potatoes through so they can spend less time in the oil.
- Let the potatoes cool and air dry while the oil continues to heat up.
- When the thermometer is almost to 350F mix together the cornstarch and water. Drop 1/3 of the potatoes into this batter and toss to coat.
- Turn the heat to high and then lower the battered potatoes into the oil. Stir so that they don't stick together.
- Watch the thermometer while the potatoes cook and turn the heat back down when it has come back up to 325F. Fry for 2-4 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Scoop the fries out and allow the oil to drain away. As soon as possible toss in a mixing bowl with a generous amount of Ladybug Picnic sea salt.
- Serve with sweet bbq sauce (or ketchup, ranch, mayo, whatever you like).
Enjoy
-Matt
