Today, let’s talk about the sweet potato.

She’s not the prettiest lookin’ gal in the produce aisle, but she sure does have a good heart.

Sweet potatoes are a nutritional all-star. They are loaded with carotenoids and are a good source of vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. It turns out they are also incredibly delicious and versatile.

One of our favorite things to do with a sweet potato is make sweet potato fries. They are so delicious and we love to make them for friends.

Before we make these, I want to note a few things. First, these are paleo sweet potato fries which means they are not going to be deep fried. If you have ever gone to a restaurant and had sweet potato fries that were perfectly crunchy on the outside and a little soft on the inside, they were probably deep fried.

Baked sweet potato fries are delicious and do get a bit crunchy but not like the ones that are deep fried. So you just push that expectation down deep.

Now, let’s make these!

How to Make Paleo Sweet Potato Fries

Grab one large or two small sweet potatoes. The skin of a sweet potato crisps up well in the oven and there is a lot of nutrients in the skin, so I like to leave that on!

Turn your oven to 475 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Try as best and as hard as you can to cut your potato into even strips (like a french fry). This will be very hard because your sweet potato probably is a little lopsided like mine. Fat in the middle and skinny on the end. But just try. This will help with even baking.

I tend to cut mine in half first and then work with each half 🙂

Once you are done cutting them grab a medium size bowl and add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 2 tablespoons good quality olive oil. Mix it all together and toss in the fries.

Be sure to coat your fries well. I just use my hands for this. It turns out my hands are more efficient than tongs. Amazing appendages I tell you. Amazing.

Oh, and let’s just settle this once and for all. You either love a flavor explosion on your sweet potato fries or you don’t. I have experimented with many different seasonings for sweet potato fries…cumin, paprika, seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, lemon pepper…on and on. I have found that we like them simple. Some salt, pepper, and garlic make quite the statement without taking away from the sweet potato.

BUT, this is your sweet potato. Own it. Add what you like. And then leave a comment letting me know what your favorite spice mixture is for your sweet potato fries 🙂

Ok, once your fries are coated lay them out on your lined baking sheet. Use your hands for this too. It will take no time at all to evenly distribute the fries. We do not want to overcrowd them as this will steam them instead of roasting them (the same principle I talked about in perfectly roasted vegetables).

I had to do two batches – which worked out great because people can munch on the first batch when they come out and then when the second batch comes out you can serve them with your burgers or what have you.

Put them in the oven for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, turn them over and bake for another 6 minutes. I would like to tell you a secret, I forgot to flip my fries for my first batch. I just let them bake for about 16 minutes and they still came out great. So, if you don’t want to mess with flipping them, I think it’s going to be ok.

Depending on how thick your fries are, you’ll want to keep an eye on them when they go back into the oven after you flipped them. Mine only took 6 more minutes but it can take up to 10 more minutes.

They will look something like this:

Some of them got a little crisp. But I do not discriminate, I ate them all 🙂

If you are looking for a pretty presentation, throw them into individual ramekins. They will look tres chic and rustic.

People will probably ask you if you are a food stylist (because apparently that is a real thing) and you can say yes!

Now, I can eat these straight up with no sauce or ketchup. Speaking of which, paleo ketchup is so yummy but time consuming. So I whipped up a version of garlic, lime dipping sauce for these sweeties. And it was unbelievable. And it is paleo, which makes it even more incredible.

I am sharing the recipe to the dipping sauce tomorrow (update: here is the recipe for the dipping sauce for sweet potato fries). So, until then, go out and buy a sweet potato and a lime and dream of this:

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