Ingredients #

• 1-2 sweet potatoes
• 3/4 cup peanut oil
• 1-2 tbsp vinegar
• kosher salt
• BBQ sauce

Prep #

Tools - cutting board, knife, peeler, small pot

1. Peel sweet potatoes. If long, cut into 2-3" long sections
2. Cut off a small slice and put cut side down, to stabilize
3. Cut lengthwise into 1/4" - 1/2" planks, and planks into 1/4" - 1/2" fries
4. Put in pot, rinse with water, and repeat until water runs clear
5. Cover pot and leave soaking at room temp (few hours) or in fridge (1-2 days)

Make #

Tools - 2 sheet pans, sheet-pan-sized cooling rack, strainer

1. Set oven to 500°F with rack in middle. Add 3/4 cup peanut oil to sheet pan and tilt to get good coverage
2. Boil sweet potatoes. Add 1-2 tsp kosher salt and 1-2 tbsp vinegar to pot, stir, and set to boil. When fork-tender, strain and leave in strainer until mostly done steaming (~5 min)
3. Move cooled sweet potatoes potatoes to sheet pan and spread out, in 3-4 rows. Sprinkle with kosher salt and move to oven. Set timer for ~7 minutes²
4. Remove from oven and gently flip/rotate. Swap the middle row with the end rows if possible, for an even bake
5. Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake more. Set timer for ~3-5 minutes²
6. Keep baking and rotating, moving edges to middle, until the fries are deep, golden brown and look crispy
7. Move to cooling rack set in clean sheet pan. If not crispy, bake for ~3-5 more minutes
8. Remove from oven and hit with a final round of salt. Serve with BBQ sauce

Notes #

1. Tweaks to Ethan’s recipe => The main adaptation is shallow frying in more oil and skipping the corn starch slurry. The slurry does add a crispy shell, but it’s extra steps and sticky. With the shallow frying, you need to be careful when rotating and flipping since the oil is hot and can splash
2. Oven Temps and Times => All ovens are different, so you may need to adjust the temperature and time. You can hedge your bets against burning the fries by rotating them often. The edges of the sheet pan cook faster than the middle, so use that to your advantage