Sweet and Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

The word of the week for me is simplicity.  My week is just too busy for complicated things.  I have projects due.  I have exams to take.  I have an injury to nurse.  No, complicated is not for me this week.

You know what’s simple?  Potatoes.  Regular potatoes are a complete blank canvas.  You can pretty much make them taste like anything.

But sweet potatoes are also surprisingly simple yet versatile.  You can make them into an appetizer, side dish, entrée, or dessert, and you can give them a unique flavor profile for each dish.  I mean, they’ll always be sweet (they are sweet potatoes, after all), but you can pair that sweet with so many other things.  All you have to do is toss them with something, roast, and you’ve got a delicious dish.

And even though simplicity is my goal for the week, I decided to spice things up (literally) by pairing the sweet potatoes with chipotle.  Add a little cinnamon to the mix and you have a deliciously sweet and spicy, and oh-so-simple, side dish to any meal.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3-4 small or medium sized sweet potatoes (you could also use yams, which are technically different, but the same thing in my book)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F

1.  Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into wedges or fries (it’s really up to you how thick they are).  The thinner the pieces, the crispier they’ll get, but the bigger the pieces, the easier it will be to flip them in step 4.  The goal is really to get the fries to be more or less the same size so they bake evenly.

2.  In a large bowl, toss sweet potato, olive oil, cinnamon, and chipotle until everything is evenly coated.  You could also do this by placing everything into a large Ziploc bag and shaking like crazy.  It's fun, trust me.

3.  Cover two jelly pans with aluminum foil and spread the potatoes out evenly so that they are in a single layer on each pan.

4.  Roast the potatoes for 40-50 minutes, flipping every 10-15 minutes, until the fries have started to brown and have reached your desired level of crispiness.

5.  When you take the fries out of the oven, immediately hit them with a pinch of salt to bring out the flavors.  Serve warm.

Yea, I totally had these with a pizza bagel for dinner

Enjoy!