Fries are my best friend. Shoestring, crinkle, tater tots, fat, skinny, fresh or frozen, homemade or fast food, crispy, soggy, baked or deep fried. I love ALL KINDS OF FRIES. I have my favorites of course but, generally speaking I’m not fry racist. Unless they are old, old and cold fries are never good. While training for Miss Hawaii, I CRAVED french fries and pizza. Side note: training for a pageant is no joke, it’s hard work, I don’t intend to do it ever again, mostly because I love eating way, too, much.

So what better recipe to start with than my all time favorite food! FRIES! After starting, finishing, and devouring the results of this recipe, I realized that this could and might actually be a summer time recipe, however, the only time that we can use our oven without it turning into a sauna in our home is during fall and winter. So, for me, it is a fall recipe, and lets dive in!  This recipe is totes easy and quick. So easy in fact, my 2 year old helped me make it!

To start you will need 3 sweet potatoes, yes 3.  They can be any size or shape although I prefer to find the mostly oblong and evenly shaped ones like the ones pictured below.

You can use any kine you wish. Call me stupid, but I had no idea what we call a yam is actually a sweet potato!  Here’s a quick lesson on sweet potatoes. They can range in color from white, to orange and purple. Purple is probably the most widely recognized here in Hawaii because it’s a staple in the “Hawaii diet”.  The most common is the okinawan sweet potato. It’s white, but when cooked turns a bright purple. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I haven’t tried this recipe with the purple kind yet, and I’m not so sure it would taste so good, but I will give it a try and update you guys on the results!

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. (its gonna be a sauna)

Take your raw sweet potatoes and peel them with a vegetable peeler. Then take a sharp knife and slice your potatoes in half long ways and then slice each half. You will have semi rounded halves, continue to slice potatoes like pictured below. You make the decision on how thick or thin you want your fries to be.  Keep in mind that your fries will shrink slightly when baked.

Next, you have a decision to make. You are either going to want soggy or crispy fries. In order to get crispy fries, you will need to soak your potatoes in water for at least an hour. What this does, I have no idea, I just know that you get crispier fries. After making the life altering decision of crispy or soggy you will take your fries and spread them on a baking sheet. Do yourself a favor and use parchment paper or foil for easy clean up.  We used foil for this round of baking.

After spreading out your fries on your baking sheet, you are going to take 1 TBS of olive oil and drizzle it all over you fries.  If it still looks dry drizzle on a 1/2 TBS at a time.  If you have food service gloves, use them now because it’s about to get messy. Toss your fries, evenly coating them with the olive oil. Then you are going to take your fry seasoning and sprinkle it all over the fries and toss again to make sure it is well coated.

Fry seasoning is simple, easy, and my toddler helped measure and make it.

1/2 TSP of Salt
1/2 TSP of Pepper
1/2 TSP of Paprika
1/2 TSP of Garlic Powder
1/2 TSP of Onion Powder

Mix it up in a separate bowl and sprinkle it all over your oiled up fries.

Take your seasoned fries and toss it in the oven to bake for about 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them though, you are going to want to turn your fries occasionally. I like 8-10 minute intervals. After the 30 minutes take your fries out and let them cool unless you want to burn your mouth, that’s cool too. (not really, burning your mouth sucks, then you won’t be able to enjoy your fry sauce!)

On to the sauce!

Okay, you are going to either be really grossed out or get really nostalgic when I tell you about this fry sauce. Who remembers school lunch? It wasn’t that terrible right? Often times it was really good and I wanted seconds!  Ok, well who remembers when fries were on the menu? Raise your hand if you remember taking every single condiment you had, stirring it up, and dipping your fries in the concoction! ME, ME, ME! Yes, I was one of those kids, and so was my husband. (thats why we’re married. haha!)

4 TBS Ketchup
1 TBS Mustard
1/4 Cup Mayonaise
1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
1 TBS Relish
1/4 TSP Pepper
1/4 TSP Paprika
OPTIONAL: 1/2 TBS of sirarcha for a kick, can be omitted if you don’t like spicy stuff!

Mix it all up and that’s your fry sauce! Sounds gross, I know, but it’s actually kind of amazing if you like a tangy sauce.

That’s it my friends! Enjoy!