Why didn't my sweet potato fries get crispy??!!
I tossed them in olive oil and cooked them in a 400 oven. They became mushy, stuck to the foil, burnt on the side on the foil, just an overall mess!
Suzie
Mar 06, 2007 07:30PM
were your pans really crowded? They tend to "steam" when that happens, and prevent the nice crispiness.
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It was one pan and it was a bit crowded . I bet you that was it. Thanks! I will try less next time.
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Was anything else in the oven with them? Moisture from another dish will prevent them from getting crisp. For example, they will never get crisp if you cook them with a bird in the oven.
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Was it a bag from Trader Joe's?? Both my sister in law and I had the same problem. We even tried without evoo. I decided the have to be dimped in hot oil and cooked on the tradition.
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My dad uses an egg white to coat his and is happy with the results, I haven't tried that method yet.
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I've made sweet potato fries only a couple times, but mine didn't get crispy either. Still were very good, I think there's just something about sweet potato that is inherently not going to get as crispy as a regular potato. They were plenty browned though and think if I kept them in there they'd just have burnt like yours but stayed soft. Do spray your foil with pam or use baking paper like you'd use for cookies.
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I was told once by an owner of a Fish and Chips place, when I gently suggested they have SP fries, that the water content of sweet potato fries was too high to properly cook them until very crispy, like regular fries.
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But it can be done!! Redfish Grill and Bar (one in Chicago, two in Phoenix), El Paso BBQ (Ahwatukee, AZ), Stax (Scottsdale, AZ), and Rumba Grill (Ahwatukee, AZ; although the SWFs here aren't very crispy) all serve crispy fries. I do make sure to order them "extra crispy."
I saw on a couple of food channel shows where the fries are parboiled first and then lightly oiled and then "oven-fried," and supposedly came out crispy, but I haven't tried this method myself. I recently bought a bag of pre-cut sweet potatoes and tried two methods: pan-frying a cupful of fries in a 1/2 tsp. of oil and lightly spraying a cupful of fries with PAM and then baking them in a toaster oven. Needless to say, the pan-fried version was much better (crispy!) than the toaster-oven version (hard and dry on the outside, mushy on the inside). I'll try the oven next time.
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Just a thought... I wonder if you blanch them first for a few minutes, and then pat them dry, coat them in whatever you want, and bake them? This is what I do with my pan-fried hashbrowns, and they are always perfectly done on the inside and crispy on the outside.
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I second Katie's reply to blanch first - I do this with my sweet potato fries and my regular potato fries -- they turn out great.
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I always soak my regular potato oven fries in warm water for 10 minutes before baking, it removes some of the starch. I'll have to try it with sweet potatoes!
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Blanch them in oil or water?
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water
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thanks
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I concur with the others that say it is hard to get sweet potato fries crispy in the oven -- even deep fried, they never get as nice a crisp exterior as regular fries. I think it's the sugar in them. To get them as close to crispy as you can in the oven, cook at high heat, use lots of oil, and don't crowd them.
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DanaB: yes
Did them this way last night. They were done and tender 10 minutes before doing any "browning", but still not crispy-crunchy like white potatoes. Lovely with a crushed coriander-salt-red pepper-flake dredge. Used a 425 oven in a steel baking pan, no non-stick or foil.
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I had the same problem you did. I used the precut sweet potatoes from Trader Joes. I used plenty of oil and didn't overcrowd the pan. I'm not concerned with crispness, but they stuck to the foil badly so I had to scrape them off leaving the browned crust. Otherwise they tasted great. I will be willing to try again with the blanching or any other method that you've found that worked.
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They're really easy to overcook, which turns them mushy. But I've done the egg-white thing with some success.
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Tried this once and it was pretty successful. Not 100% crispy but most of them were. Instead of foil, used parchment paper. Baked at something like 400degrees or 450 in convection oven. I'll try blanching to see if it'll crisp better.
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I stir/turn mine every 5 minutes or so, and that really helps with the sticking. And spread them out.
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I grill the crap out of everything including potatoes and I've taken sweet potatoes out of my grilling repertoire for this reason. No matter what I do, they come off the grill limp and mushy and very un-toothsome.
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I soaked em in warm water for 10 mins, blanched em for 5 mins, paper towel dried them and then rolled them in egg whites before deep frying the crap out of them. To no avail, the gooey mess tasted ok, but I'll never go there again.
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Okay, so I tried the recipe today after reading all of these suggestions and I tried a couple of them out. My first batch, I blanched and then dried the potatoes then tossed them in 1 tablespoon of evoo and salt. I placed them out flat with enough room for each fry. I put them in for 15 mins and was disappointed when they were almost burnt to a crisp. (I cut mine quite thin.) The second batch I did the same thing but turned them after 5 mins. After about another 7 mins I took them out and though not all of the fries were consistently crispy, many of them were. I felt that it was pretty successful in the end.
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i gave up on them and make sweet potato stick-pie...as we call them...cut 'em into american fry size wrap 'em in fillo (phillo) and bake 'em (follow the distructions on the phillo dough)...yummie-yummer
mowarsh
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I spoke with a friend of ours that is a chef and their restaurant only makes sweet potato fries in a convection oven. That's how I make them now and they come out great about 425 with olive oil and a little bit of salt
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jfood makes them all the time as wedges. no need for frying either.
425 oven, pray a rimmed cookie sheet with pam into the oven for 25 minutes. use a steel spatula and loosen from bottom and turn. return to oven for 15 minutes, then turn oven to convection roast for 5-10 minutes. crispy and carmelized. oooh. aaah. and no oil.
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And if you use the newish Reynold's Release foil, they don't stick at all. I recommend this product all the time, so it might seem like I own stock, or work for the company, but it really is superior when you absolutely don't want something to stick.
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wow, thanks p, never would have thought of that. have to grab some at the grocer.
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MAJOR THANK YOUS TO PIKAWICCA
the jfoods just finished dinner and sweet potato fries on Reynolds Release was a side. Little jfood looks at jfood and says "these are great, what did you do?
They were easy did not stick and the ability to season freely was fantastic.
Major addition to jfood repetoire.
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You are more than welcome, jfood. If you make brittle or candied nuts for salads, this stuff is a godsend. Greetings to the little jfood.
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Couldn't you just use parchment paper?
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What kind of oven Jfood? I'm liking this very much.
What cut, make wedges, thin fries or circles and how thick please? Sounds great!
Thanks!
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GE Monogram made by bosch. Convection roast puts on both top and bottom elements for a speedy hot air bath and the convection blows it like a banchee. Convection Broil should be fine as well.
Jfood usually peels the SP, slices the long way and makes for wedges per half of the potato. He likes some substamce to the wedge. He first tried evoo before placing in rows on the sheet but did away with the oil when he wanted to loose weight and it was fine. S&P and some smoke paprika and maybe some garlic powder is all he places on the wedges.
For quicker SP fires (also known as mommy fries in casa jfood) he juliennes the SP and broils them (mrs jfood invented these 20 years ago for the little jfoods), but you have to stay close to the oven/broiler or you have a sheet of used matchsticks.
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Thanks, gotta commercial quality convection oven, I know juuuuuuust what to do now. I love sweet potatoes thanks for your tips!
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if you really want some complex flavors sprinkle some five spice powder on them when they com out.
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Chili powder works well too. I like to cut the potatoes in matchstick size and make Nid oiseau and sprinkle them with chili powder and fill them with lightly sauteed tiny green peas. hey make a great accompaniment to roast pork
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yikes, it's all good!
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who's Pam and why are you praying with her. Sweet potato fries are hard, but not that hard.apparently I have greater confidence in Jfood's ability to get e crust he does.
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I cut them pretty small, instead of wedges, so they don't need to be blanched. I don't think they ever get as crispy as I like, so I use this trick: I toss them with just a bit of oil, then top them with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning. Once they are cooked through, I sprinkle with just a small amount of brown sugar and toss. Back in the oven very high, 425-450, and in just two minutes the sugar caramelizes and forms a nice crispy crunch. Because of the salt, pepper and seasoning, you have a nice salty/spicy/sweet combo that is delish.
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another tip is to line your sheet pan with parchment paper. No sticking so you can easily toss/turn them for more even browning. The high sugar content tends to make them go from brown to black in short order so watch them carefully. Maybe back off on the heat but cook them longer.
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I cut mine on a mandoline in matchstick size aand spread them on paper towels and salt them like eggplant. deep fried, they will crisp. when cut thick they just hold too much moisture to get crisp.
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I agree, there's a little bar in a small town in Louisiana that makes delicious, crispy, salty, sweet, sweet potatoe french fries. They cut them thin like shoe-string fries salt and deep fry them.
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Did it not occur to you to deep fry them? You want fries, not roasted potatoes.
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My method for crispy SP fries involves blanching them in hot water for about one-minute. Then I give them a few spins in one of those plastic (cheesy) salad spiiners lined with paper towels. Coat with eggwhite seasoned with garlic powder and paprika. Then dip in Japanese 'panko' breading. Panko is shredded dried bread crumbs, but zero moisture or oil content. It's what makes tempura crunchy. Deep fry the SPs or bake in a 450 degree oven. Always crispy!
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tonight I made them for the first time (ate too much) and I cut them in good sized slices and layed them in a non stick pan - sprayed the pan with pam then sprayed the potatoes and they didn't stick at all - added fresh ground salt and sprinkled them with cumin ---they were great - also here where I live in South Dakota we dip them in apple butter - try them, you might like them!
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I never would have thought of that, but apple butter sounds like it would taste great! Thanks for sharing that idea.
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I found a recipe on MarthaStewart.com for Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries and they are the only sweet taters I've ever gotten to come out crispy ... and they were so delish! Preheat oven to 400. Spray tinfoil lined pan with cooking spray. Cut potato into wedges, leaving skins on. Dip each wedge into flour, egg white and shredded parm. Set the wedges upright if you can and bake away for 15 minutes. Sooooo good.
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After reading this post I looked up the recipe online and tried it this weekend with an oven roasted pulled pork. It was really good! The insides were soft and tender and the outsides crisp and flavorful. Very easy to make! Now, mine took longer than 15 minutes to bake... more like 25-30 but I followed the recipe and the pieces of potato may have been larger. The recipe says to quarter them but mine were pretty large so I did less than quarter sizes but they were still pretty much "wedges" and not so much really thin like fries. VERY GOOD!
This is the parmesan sweet potato recipe I used:
http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/par...
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To get them crisp you have to give them a light dusting of flour. Don't ask me why. It just works.
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what kind of flour? all purpose or cornstartch? what type of oil should at deep fry it in and what degrees?
I had some at a restaurant tonight and they were soooo nice and yummy and crispy.
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i had this problem, too; my sweet potato "fries" were more like soft wedges. that's until i read one of mollie katzen's recipes for oven "fried" sweet potatoes.
She starts out like we normally do, cooking them in a 375°F oven, flipping a couple times to prevent burning, until fork tender.
but THEN, she turns down the oven to 200°F and lets them "dry out" for 20 minutes -- the results: a crispier, more toothsome texture.
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Hi all - love this thread, read the whole thing,(totally sympathize w/jfood), so thankful for the suggestions - trying to synthesize....
So, would this make sense?: blanch, coat with evoo, salt and pepper, cook on parchment or non-stick Reynolds, 375 deg. oven. turn every 5 minutes (but dunno for how long), then into a 200 deg. oven to dry out.
(Can't do a flour dredge cuz we're GFCF; any other guidance available?)
thanks in advance!
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There is a really yummy recipe for crispy sweet potato fries in the new Cook's Country magazine. It includes a good spice mix for "sweet and hots".
-Becca
www.porterhouse.typepad.com
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Do you mind posting the link or emailing me the link, I can't seem to find it.
BTW- Love your blog.
Thanks
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It is in the newest print issue. I do not have an online membership to CC.
Thanks, Becca
www.porterhouse.typepad.com
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Thanks anyways! maybe i'll go and take a look at it at the bookstore.
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I just made these and used brown rice flour for the dredging. They were wonderful! Of course, I am a parmesan fanatic and used a wee bit of ketchup for dipping. It can be fun to eat GF.
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I worked in a restaura