Need a way to spice up your sweet potatoes? Curried sweet potato oven fries to the rescue! They're perfect dipped in flavorful, creamy cumin ketchup.
Curried sweet potato oven fries are a great side dish or late night snack. Even my husband, who does not care for sweet potatoes, likes these! The fries are deeply seasoned and so good dipped in rich, creamy cumin ketchup.
More sweet potato recipes: Sheet pan roasted cauliflower and sweet potato, Black bean and sweet potato enchiladas
These oven fries are a snap to make. Just slice your sweet potatoes and toss them with the oil and spices. While they bake, you can whisk together the sauce ingredients, so your dipping sauce will be ready as soon as the fries come out of the oven.
The secret to successful sweet potato fries
First, I do want to manage some expectations about sweet potato fries: they are not as crispy as conventional french fries. Sweet potatoes are just different from white potatoes, and even deep fried sweet potato fries aren't as crispy.
That doesn't mean you can't make bangin' sweet potato fries, though!
And the key to success is size consistency. In the recipe, you'll see that I say to cut these into 1/4" sticks. The length of the fry doesn't matter, but the width matters very much.
That doesn't mean you have to bust out your ruler. But you do want all of your fries to be pretty much the same size.
You can always bake or air fry longer, if needed, but if the width of your fries varies a lot, you'll end up with some burnt ones and some undercooked ones.
Making the dipping sauce
This dipping sauce is super simple to make while the fries bake. Start with a mix of ketchup and vegan mayo.
Then, spice things up with ground cumin, ground ginger, and a pinch of cinnamon.
In fact, you might want to double or triple this sauce, so you'll have leftovers. It's great as a sandwich spread or as a dip for conventional fries, vegan nuggets, or raw vegetables.
Oven or air fryer?
You can make these in the oven or the air fryer. The real difference between the two is going to be the cooking time.
In the oven, the fries take 45 minutes to an hour to bake. In the air fryer, you're looking at 25 to 30 minutes.
I've made these fries both ways, and crispiness-wise, the results have been pretty close. Maybe the air fryer was slightly crispier? Maybe. What the air fryer definitely was was faster.
Curried sweet potato oven fries recipe
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Fries
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
For the Creamy Cumin Ketchup
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons vegan mayo - A less tangy one works best here.
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch of cinnamon
Instructions
Make the sweet potato fries
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. (If you’re baking in the oven. No need to preheat the air fryer.)
- Cut your sweet potatoes into about 1/4" sticks. They should be about as wide around as your pinky, but longer is fine.
- Arrange the sweet potato slices on a cookie sheet, and drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over them. Sprinkle on the curry powder, coriander, and sea salt. Toss them well to coat them in the oil, spices, and salt, adding the rest of the oil, if necessary.
- Oven Directions: Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes so they cook evenly. When they look brown and a little crispy, they’re done.
- Air Fryer Directions: Transfer the sweet potato fries to your air fryer basket. Cook at 370F for 25 minutes, shaking every 8 minutes. If needed, you can add a few minutes of cooking time to the end, depending on the size that you cut your sweet potatoes.
Make the creamy cumin ketchup
- Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Sophia | Veggies Don't Bite
I love sweet potato fries! I'm not a big curry fan unfortunately but I'll just drown mine in that creamy ketchup thank you. Ha!
Thalia @ butter and brioche
sweet potato fries are the best! i never have tried making them myself before though. and that ketchup sounds great too!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Thalia! They're super easy.
Aimee | Wallflower Kitchen
I LOVE sweet potato fries and especially love them with some spice. Gotta try that ketchup too!
Becky Striepe
You'll love it, Aimee!
Cadry
These look delicious! We make sweet potato fries with dinner often. It's so easy to keep a few sweet potatoes around, and they liven up a meal. What's interesting, though, is that I cook them for about half of that cooking time. I usually do just 30 minutes. I wonder if I cut mine thinner, or if they'd get crispier if I did them your way. I'll have to give it a shot!
Becky Striepe
Very interesting! Let me know how it compares for sure.