I’m a sucker for sweet potato fries. Way too obsessed with them. And so are my kids. Although we all know, let me assure you that there is NO tastier way to eat sweet potato fries than fried! However, baked sweet potato fries is by far a “better for you” way to enjoy them.

There’s no bigger disappointment to a sweet potato fries lover than soggy-limp fries. No matter if they are fried or baked. You want the crunchy-crispy-loud-to-the-bite fries. That’s it. More importantly, they need to be sturdy enough to be able to hold whatever you choose to dip them in!

The moisture content in sweet potatoes gets in the way of crisping the fries up in the oven. So, the first step to achieve perfect baked sweet potato fries is to adjust your expectations. These are baked fries—perfectly delicious—but, again, they are baked!

Now, the secret for perfect baked sweet potato fries can be narrow down to these steps:

Cut the potatoes evenly–1/4-inch thickness ideally—or you end up with uneven results like these…

Toss the fries with cornstarch as soon as you done cutting them. The idea is to get a thin coating of starch on the potatoes so it helps to absorb the moisture and create a crispy coating.

Use refined coconut oil. These fries need to bake at high temperature and refined coconut oil has a high smoke point. Use enough to coat the fries until they are somewhat shinny.

Season them with whatever your taste buds are ready for (cinnamon and sugar has happened here before.) My go to spice combo is paprika+chipotle powder+cumin+salt. Once seasoned, spread evenly on a lined baking sheet—I used a Silpat but heavy-duty foil works too.

The oven should be pre-heated at 400F degrees on a ‘roast’ setting if you have that option. If you only have a ‘bake’ option then crank the temperature to 420F.  Flip them once—and once only—after 25 minutes. Bake/roast other side for 20-25 minutes more.

Don’t wait too long to eat them. These sweet potato fries are best eaten right out of the oven. We love to dip them in chipotle ranch (3 parts ranch dressing to 1 part chipotle tabasco.)

I’ve endured many soggy attempts before I came to this. The cornstarch–more than any step– is the game changer here. Maybe you already knew the secrets to crispy baked sweet potato fries but, if you didn’t, I hope you give these a try.

Cheers and happy cooking!