Crispy Baked Purple Sweet Potato Fries

Stokes purple sweet potato fries are baked in the oven until golden and crispy with fresh herbs, avocado oil, garlic powder and sea salt. They make a delicious side dish or snack. Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce!

Since discovering Stokes purple sweet potatoes, I really don’t buy other potatoes any more.

On occasion, an orange sweet potato or white Japanese sweet potato will make its way into my shopping cart.

But, with the rising availability of purple sweet potatoes and my undying love of them, it’s not very often these days.

If I’m not spending the time to make roasted purple sweet potatoes or mashed purple sweet potatoes, I’m making these purple sweet potato fries.

It’s the simplest of the three recipes and who has ever complained about eating fries?

I’ve made some incredibly enjoyable crispy rosemary baked fries in the past and even gone all out pan frying crispy potato strips, but this recipe is even easier than those.

And, the resulting fries are just as, if not even more crispy.

That’s one of the wonderful things about purple sweet potatoes, their natural texture and consistency lends itself amazingly well to getting nice and crispy in the oven without any fancy interventions needed.

No soaking, no cornstarch no parboiling.

Combine that with their potent antioxidant benefits from their striking magenta color and they become fries you almost feel obligated to eat weekly.

Not really a tough sell, right?

The fresh herb oil “paste” that coats them is the other piece to this recipe that deserves some attention.

Honestly, CRISPY purple sweet potato fries would be delicious “undressed” too.

Just some oil, salt and pepper and you’d still have a delicious crispy fry worth eating.

But, with my herb garden exploding, I’m trying to find any and every way possible to use up some fresh herbs.

So, I chose rosemary and oregano, minced them then stirred into avocado oil with some salt, pepper and garlic powder and created a paste to coat the sweet potatoes.

I prefer garlic powder to actual minced garlic because I think the garlic flavor gets more evenly distributed on each fry.

You can use any herbs you like but the fresh herb flavor really takes these to the next level.

I like finishing them off after they’ve baked with some extra fresh herbs and of course, sea salt as well.

They’re restaurant worthy minus all the unhealthy frying oils and breading/coating typically used.

HOW TO MAKE OVEN BAKED PURPLE SWEET POTATO FRIES

Start by preheating the oven to 425°F.

If your oven is equipped with a convection setting, I recommend using it to bake the fries, it helps make them even crispier!

Wash the purple sweet potatoes well.

I prefer not to peel the potatoes for the fries (just as you wouldn’t if cutting potato wedges) because the skin contains a lot of nutritional value but, feel free to peel them if preferred.

Cut into “fries” that are as evenly sized as possible and place in a pile on a large baking sheet.

In a small bowl, stir together the avocado oil, minced herbs, salt, pepper and garlic powder until well combined.

Drizzle the mixture over the fries on the baking sheet and toss together until each fry is well coated.

Spread the fries out into a single layer on the baking sheet and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove and flip each fry using a metal spatula.

Return the baking sheet to the oven for another 10-12 minutes to bake until the edges are crispy and turning golden brown.

Before serving the baked purple sweet potato fries, garnish with some coarse sea salt and any extra fresh herbs you have on hand.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce or dressing.

I really love something like this lemon garlic tahini dressing with the flavor of the purple sweet potatoes.

CAN I USE A DIFFERENT OIL?

I purposely chose avocado oil for making these purple sweet potato french fries because of its high smoke point.

I really only use four cooking fats these days for 99% of what we eat: ghee, avocado oil, coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil.

Avocado oil is my go to for roasting or grilling because it’s more convenient than coconut oil and ghee (already in liquid form) and doesn’t burn/oxidize at high temperatures like extra virgin olive oil.

I use it when air frying too like in these crispy air fryer okra fries.

I mostly reserve coconut oil for baking and extra virgin olive oil for lightly sautéing or drizzling as a finishing oil.

Melted ghee would be the best substitute for making these fries if you prefer that.

I can’t in good conscience recommend any vegetable oils like canola, soybean or sunflower as alternatives.

CAN I MAKE PURPLE SWEET POTATO FRIES IN THE AIR FRYER?

I’ve tested these out in the air fryer as well as this oven baked method.

Just like with these parsnip fries, I didn’t find the air fryer method to be substantially better in any way.

In fact, I find the air fryer more of a mess to clean up after making fries in it.

So, I always default to the oven for this recipe and all fry recipes and leave the air fryer for things like zucchini chips or crispy air fryer eggplant cubes.

This is especially true if you have a convection capable oven since that’s basically all an “air fryer” is!

If you do prefer the air fryer though and have a rotating basket attachment, feel free to make these Stokes sweet potato fries in it at 400-425°F for 20-25 minutes.

Serve these crispy fries with your favorite burger (maybe this halloumi lamb burger?), alongside some healthy Sloppy Joes or anything off the grill.

They make a gorgeous, delicious and nutritious side dish that I can guarantee everyone will love eating!

MORE “FRIES” TO CHECK OUT:

Jicama fries
Italian spiced eggplant fries
Lemon dijon asparagus fries
Zucchini fries