These seasoned sweet potato fries are low in oil, yet crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are seasoned but not spicy, and so delicious!

This is the 15th recipe on my blog that has sweet potato in the title! I am truly obsessed with sweet potatoes. As I’ve written before, I wanted to name my website sweet potato dot com, because sweet potatoes are the epitome of healthy and delicious in my opinion. They are a whole food plant based superstar. I buy them every week. They are up there with chickpeas, oats, bananas, and peanut butter as far as ingredients I wouldn’t want to live without.

From curried cauliflower sweet potato salad to my favorite sweet potato peanut stew, to an absolutely delicious, saucy sweet potato black bean bowl…you have to check out my other 14 sweet potato recipes right here!

And don’t be afraid of potatoes. Chef AJ says something to the effect of: The more potatoes you eat, the thinner you get. Wholesome, complex carbohydrates can be filling without too many calories. I’ve found they make me feel great and don’t cause weight gain when eaten without too much oil or other fattening ingredients.

What I LOVE about Sweet Potatoes

One thing I love is that you don’t need much to make sweet potatoes delicious. While we lived in Birmingham, AL and my husband went to graudate school while I worked full time, I wasn’t the best at making lunches for him during his long days on campus. He would often grab a raw sweet potato from the pantry and put it in his back pack for lunch. He’d microwave it at some point and eat it with salt and pepper. Some fancy-lunch wife I am! He said it was pretty satisfying for him.

To this day, my daughter (7 years old as I type this) microwaves a sweet potato for herself as a meal very frequently. She’ll mash it up and add some Miyokos vegan butter or a spray of olive oil (or neither), and some salt and pepper or cajun seasoning. It’s a fiber-rich, beta-carotene-rich healthy meal or snack that I don’t mind her eating anytime.

I could truly type for a very long time about this amazing food. I could tell you how my kids thought it was called a “sweep potato” for the longest time and how cute their realization was when they learned it was sweet and not sweep. I could tell you how I’ve had plans to put this recipe up for nearly 7 years and I’m just now doing it. I could tell you how fast we wolf down a pan of these incredible seasoned sweet potato fries. But instead I’ll just tell you how to make them!

Oil-Free Fries vs. Using Oil

For many years, I tried to be totally oil-free. I don’t think oil is a health food. It adds tons of calories and fat, and many oils are a very inflammatory type of fat. Most of us overconsume both fat and calories, and oil is not packaged with fiber or other nutrients. I believe the best fats come in whole plant foods–namely nuts, seeds, and avocados.

However, a litttle bit of oil really helps my family eat more vegetables. For that reason alone, it feels worth it to me to use some.

When you drizzle even a little olive oil over sweet potatoes, you’re not just adding flavor—you’re actually helping your body absorb more nutrients. Sweet potatoes are rich in fat-soluble vitamins like A (in the form of beta-carotene) and E, which need dietary fat to be properly absorbed in the digestive tract. Olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil, provides healthy monounsaturated fats that enhance this process while also bringing its own antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits to the table. The result? A deliciously balanced dish that delivers a bigger nutritional payoff—proof that a little good fat can make your sweet potatoes both tastier and more nourishing.

You CAN make oil-free fries that are pretty delicious. Here is a blog post from another Faith about how to make oil-free fries. We just don’t love them as much as when we use a little bit of oil though. Depending on your health needs, you can choose to use oil or not! I only use 2 tablespoons for two sheet pans of fries. Even half that will give you some flavor and carmelization.

What Makes this Recipe for Seasoned Sweet Potato Fries Different

You can make really yummy fries with just potatoes, salt, and oil. Even just potatoes air-fried without any oil or salt can be great! However, we’re upping the crispiness and flavor factor with some key ingredients.

Brown spicy mustard, lime juice, garlic and spices add some flavor that make the sweet potatoes pop!

As for crispiness….if you’ve ever wondered how to get perfectly crispy sweet potato fries at home like they do at restaurants, the secret ingredient is often a simple dusting of cornstarch. Here, we mix it with the other ingredients so the whiteness doesn’t show at all. Many home cooks and chefs alike—recipe developers from Serious Eats and Bon Appétit—swear by this technique. Sweet potatoes have more moisture and less starch than regular potatoes, which makes them prone to turning soft instead of crunchy. An addition of cornstarch helps absorb that surface moisture and creates a thin, crisp outer layer when baked or fried. The result is a beautifully golden, crispy fry that stays tender on the inside—no deep fryer required.

If you’re opposed to cornstarch, potato starch (ironically!) or arrowroot powder work very well, too!

I love to make these fries when I make black bean burgers (usually homemade but occasionally store bought–the frozen chipotle black bean burger sold at Costco sometimes are so yummy).

If you make these fries, please come back and rate the recipe!