Crispy, Oven-Baked Candy Potato Fries

Candy potato fries needs to be a bar-food dream: candy, salty, crispy, and golden. But, most of the time, they’re gentle, soggy, or weirdly leathery—the disappointing cousin to the real-deal potato french fry. Even the deep-fried variations you discover at bars hardly ever ship that true shattering crispness.

The rationale for that is that candy potatoes merely aren’t constructed like russets. A mix of things—much less starch, extra sugar, and extra water—makes it tougher for them to develop a crunchy crust earlier than the within overcooks and turns limp. I wished to discover a option to make candy potato fries that aren’t solely really crisp but additionally oven-ready, avoiding splattering oil and deep-fryer cleanup: simply a simple, weeknight-friendly tray of fries that would rival an important bar model.

The Recipe Testing

My purpose was to attain restaurant-level crispness with out ever heating a pot of oil. Decided to crack the code, I examined a number of methods I discovered in different recipes, together with tossing the fries in oil then cornstarch earlier than baking; cornstarch first, then oil; straight cornstarch batters with no oil; and no starch in any respect. Every of those variations had the identical points: They browned inconsistently, turned dusty or robust, and tasted extra bitter than candy. Whereas the flavour wasn’t terrible, the feel was all incorrect.

The Secret to Crispy Candy Potato Fries

That is after I remembered a method I realized from my former colleague Lan Lam of Prepare dinner’s Illustrated. She used a cooked cornstarch slurry to make impossibly crisp oven fries with white potatoes. As an alternative of tossing the candy potatoes in dry starch, which might result in a chalky coating, I mimic her approach and whisk cornstarch and water collectively, then prepare dinner the combination briefly within the microwave till it kinds a easy, yogurt-like paste. This pregelatinized starch kinds a skinny, cohesive batter that adheres evenly to the fries and crisps superbly within the oven with out turning into dusty or darkish.

Simply as essential because the batter itself is how the fries hit the pan. Earlier than including the oil, I spray the baking sheet with cooking spray—this ensures the oil spreads into a superbly even movie throughout the floor as an alternative of beading up. That skinny, uniform layer of fats permits the fries to make constant contact with the warmth, crisping evenly reasonably than steaming or scorching in patches. In essence, it creates a shallow-frying impact within the oven.

Advantageous-Tuning the Texture

However making a crisp outer texture wasn’t the one hurdle. Candy potatoes prepare dinner shortly—too shortly, in actual fact. By the point they’re browned, they’re normally overdone inside. To hurry up browning with out extending the bake time, I add a pinch of baking soda to the batter. It raises the pH simply sufficient to encourage the Maillard response, producing a deeper shade and refined roasted taste earlier than the interiors flip mushy. 

For additional texture, I take a web page from Marianne Williams’s air-fryer candy potato fries: I whisk in white rice flour, which helps create a fragile, shattering exterior harking back to tempura. I examined this recipe with Bob’s Purple Mill Stone Floor White Rice Flour. It’s finely floor however nonetheless has a coarser texture than all-purpose flour or different starches and it holds its texture when baked on the candy potato fries.

Discovering the Good Minimize

Minimize dimension was one other key issue. Thinner fries overcooked earlier than crisping, whereas thicker ones stayed gummy inside. The candy spot—actually and figuratively—was 1/2-inch-thick sticks, minimize from halved candy potatoes so that they’re round 2 1/2 to three inches lengthy. These dimensions provide the excellent distinction: golden, crackly outsides and creamy, custardy facilities.

The Payoff

The result’s fries that don’t wilt as soon as they’re out of the oven—and are crisp sufficient to listen to with each chunk. As soon as they’re baked to perfection, I toss them in a selfmade seasoned salt with paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne. Ready to toss them within the salt till after baking means the spices keep vibrant-tasting and do not burn and change into bitter within the oven. Paired with a tangy, spicy fry sauce, these are the uncommon candy potato fries that ship on their promise: crispy, flavorful, and completely well worth the oven time.