Easy Crispy Oven Shredded Sweet Potatoes {Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

Why won t my sweet potato chips get crispy? ›

The secret to crispy (instead of soggy) sweet potato fries is to spread them out in an even layer with enough room so that they don't touch. This is especially important if you're making a big batch of fries. Instead of just piling more onto one baking pan, spread them out over two baking pans or cook them in batches.

Don't overcrowd the baking sheet!

This is an important one! If the baking sheet it too crowded, the sweet potatoes will not crisp. You should provide optimal space for air to flow through, and the sweet potatoes shouldn't be touching.

Dry Potatoes = Crispy Hash Browns

This makes sense—potatoes are loaded with moisture, which makes browning difficult. By getting rid of excess water, you enable the potatoes to brown more evenly and quickly.

The Double-Fry Method

The first round is at a lower temperature to cook the inside of the potato and the second time you'll use a higher temperature to make the fries golden brown and crispy. You can use a home deep-fryer or just heat the oil in a Dutch oven.

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

If roasted potatoes lack their crunchy sheen, overcrowding is usually the culprit. Just as overcrowding bacon or mushrooms in a saucepan causes disappointingly mushy results, placing potatoes too close to each other on a baking sheet will prevent them from crisping while they roast.

If you over-crowded the pan so that there isn't enough space for the potatoes to rest on the pan without touching each other, it will prevent the water from evaporating and making the potatoes crispy. You can always try to broil the potatoes for 1-2 minutes to crisp them up at the end of baking if necessary.

Don't wrap your potatoes in foil

"I see a lot of people using foil to wrap their potatoes in but this is a big no-no and causes soggy skins!" he says. Foil holds in moisture and steams the potatoes, resulting in a "boiled" taste and texture. Plus, without the use of foil, the skin will get extra crispy and flavorful.

Most recipes require soaking your raw, shredded potato in cold water to rinse off the excess starch, then squeezing every last bit of moisture out before tossing it in a pan.

Transfer the shredded potatoes to a kitchen towel. Wring out any water you can, and press down well, drying them as much as possible. Make sure you use an actual towel here, as paper towel will not be strong enough to wring the excess water out.

Should you rinse shredded potatoes? ›

To ensure ultimate crispness, be sure to rinse the grated potatoes with cold water until the water runs nearly clear and to use a very hot, well-seasoned pan. As with all potato dishes, remember to season well.

You can shred potatoes with a hand grater or mandoline over a plate or bowl. A KitchenAid^® stand mixer with a fresh prep slicer/shredder attachment is another easy way to shred potatoes. Try your culinary hand at vegetable tart or herb fritters.

The shredded potatoes can be frozen and used as needed. To freeze, shred the potatoes and lay in a single layer on a cooking sheet. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once frozen, break up the potatoes and place them in a freezer bag.

Sweet potato

“Sweet potato, often associated with oven baked, roasted or mashed, can actually be consumed raw,” says Cox. But you'll want to grate the flesh first to make it more palatable: “Grated into a slaw, sweet potatoes are a super source of beta carotene, vitamin C and fibre.”

Moisture Content: The moisture content of the potato slices plays a crucial role in determining the crispiness of the chips. Potatoes contain a high amount of water, which needs to be removed during the frying process to achieve a crispy texture.

You might not be baking it for long enough. A baked potato needs to be cooked for at least 45 minutes to an hour at a high temperature (around 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit) to become crispy on the outside. You might not be using enough oil.

If the oil isn't hot enough, this sealing process takes longer. Meanwhile, the moisture that's meant to stay in the body of the chip is excreted, making what is supposed to be a crispy outer layer, damp and steeped.

If the oven isn't hot enough to brown the chips on the 'air-side', or if there's not space for the heat to circulate around each chip, they'll be unevenly crisp. Deep-frying also means the oil can penetrate the craggy, broken edges on all sides to make an extra crisp surface.