The Mistake That's Ruining Your Sweet Potato Fries

Homemade sweet potato fries can make any meal a little more delicious. The mild sweetness of the potatoes mixed with a crispy, salty exterior makes them an ideal snack or side dish, and you can spice them up with all sorts of flavorings, or dip them in almost any sauce (we like using avocado mayo, for the record). Unless you're deep frying the fries, however, the results can be soggy if you're not careful. Piling sweet potato fries onto a sheet tray in a jumbled heap is probably the biggest mistake you can make, potentially ruining the entire batch. Instead, be sure to bake sweet potato fries in a single layer so that they don't touch each other.

If you've ever roasted a sweet potato, you know that they get very soft with too much time in the oven. The goal is to cook the outside of the fries quickly so that they dry out and get crispy, and the only way to do that is to make sure that each fry comes in contact with the hot surface of the pan. You also don't want the fries to touch so that they don't steam each other, rather than bake. This will also ensure that the heat from the oven will be able to reach all around the sides of each fry, in the places where they're not touching the pan.

Another common mistake when making baked sweet potato fries is skipping a pivotal soaking period. Sweet potatoes have a lot of sugar and starch, and soaking removes some of the extra sugars on the surface so that they cook more evenly. Try to soak your fries for 10 to 30 minutes to get the best results. Once they're soaked, pat them dry with a paper towel before they go in the oven — the surface needs to be dry in order to get brown and crispy due to the maillard reaction process (which is a little different than caramelization).

If you're still having trouble getting a truly crispy sweet potato fry, you can also toss the fries in oil and then cornstarch before you bake them. Cornstarch will create a thin film of starch around the outside of the fries, which will brown and crisp in the oven. The key here is to make sure to only use enough cornstarch to cover the fries, about a tablespoon per pound. Too much will make a big mess and leave a residue on your finished dish.

Also, make sure you're also baking sweet potato fries at a very hot temperature so that the surface has a chance to brown. Anywhere between 400 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit will work, just keep an eye on what's happening inside the oven, and don't forget to flip the fries halfway through so that they don't burn on the bottom.