Easy Sweet Potato Fries in Air Fryer Recipe

Whenever we eat out and I have the option to upgrade my french fry order to sweet potato fries, I always agree — even if there is an upcharge. I don’t know what it is about sweet potato fries, but I just love them.

Also, I love saving money. So when we got our new, bigger air fryer and I was able to figure out how to make an easy sweet potato recipe in it and it was way cheaper than eating out, I was hooked.

Easy Sweet Potato Fries in Air Fryer Recipe

The beauty of this recipe, beyond the savings, is the fact that it has but four ingredients. They are:

• sweet potatoes (naturally)
• avocado oil
• salt
• pepper

That’s it — really! It’s a straightforward recipe that I’m confident you’re going to put on repeat. Don’t forget to use it or our recipe for homemade french fries in the air fryer if you’ll be celebrating National French Fry Day.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Fries

As I mentioned, this recipe is so simple with just the four ingredients outlined below.

Step-by-step Instructions

Preheat your air fryer to 380°F (193°C) for about 5 minutes. Then, peel the sweet potatoes. Note: we screwed up in the photo below. The recipe calls for three large sweet potatoes. For some reason, we grabbed only two when taking the picture. Sorry!

Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into thin fries, approximately 1/4-inch thick.

Place the sweet potato fries in a large bowl and cover them with cold water. Allow them to soak for 30 minutes to remove excess starch.

After soaking, drain the fries in a strainer and pat them dry using a kitchen towel or paper towels.

Place the sweet potato fries in a large bowl and drizzle them with avocado oil. Toss well to ensure all the fries are evenly coated.

Sprinkle black pepper over the oiled sweet potato fries, tossing again to evenly distribute.

Now, sprinkle with salt and toss again so they are evenly coated with the seasonings.

Carefully transfer the seasoned fries to the preheated air fryer basket in a single layer, ensuring they are not overcrowded. If you’re working with a small air fryer, you’ll make fewer fries. It’s one of the reasons we upgraded to the Instant Pot brand 6QT Air Fryer.

Cook the fries in the air fryer at 380 F (193 C) for 18-20 minutes, shaking the basket every 5-7 minutes to ensure even cooking and prevent sticking. When cooked, they should be crispy and golden brown.

Remove the sweet potato fries from the air fryer and serve immediately.

Notes and Final Thoughts

In all of our air fryer recipes, we use avocado oil. That’s because it’s a high smoke point oil that, as the descriptor suggests, won’t start to smoke at high temperatures. Since air fryers cook at around 500 F, this is important. However, if you don’t have or don’t like avocado oil, you can substitute another high smoke point oil. The closest to avocado oil is safflower oil. Its smoke point is over 500 F like avocado oil.

Also, feel free to adjust the cooking time based on the thickness and desired crispness of the sweet potato fries. And also to add additional seasonings or spices according to your taste preferences.

Finally, these sweet potato fries are best enjoyed immediately after cooking for optimal crispiness.
Because if they sit around too long, they will get soggy. So, dig in right away.