Frozen sweet potato fries seem like they should be impossible to mess up. Open the bag, dump them into the air fryer, and wait for crisp edges. Then the basket comes out with fries that are hot but still soft. The problem may not be the brand or the cooking time. If the fries are piled over each other, hot air can’t reach enough of their surface to create the texture you’re expecting.
Give them space, and frozen sweet potato fries can go from freezer to crisp in about 9 minutes.
Stop filling the air fryer basket
The biggest mistake is overlapping the fries.
An air fryer depends on hot air moving around the food. When frozen fries sit on top of each other, some surfaces remain blocked from that circulating heat.
Arrange them across the basket without overlapping. The original recipe identifies this as one of its main steps for getting each fry crisp.
A smaller batch can give you a better result than forcing the entire bag into one basket.
Preheat the air fryer for 3 minutes
Don’t put the fries into a cold air fryer.
Preheat it at 370°F for 3 minutes. Starting with a hot basket helps the cooking process begin as soon as the frozen fries go in.
Once preheated, brush the basket with a small amount of olive oil or use cooking spray.
Frozen fries need only a little oil
There’s no need to coat them as if they were heading into a deep fryer.
Brush or spray a light layer of olive oil over the fries after arranging them in the basket. The oil also helps keep them from sticking during cooking.
For about 2 cups of frozen sweet potato fries, the recipe uses just 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
Shake the basket before they finish
Cook the fries at 400°F for 9 minutes.
At the 7 minute mark, pull out the basket and shake it to turn the fries. Rearrange any pieces that have landed on top of each other, then return the basket for the final 2 minutes.
That gives different sides a chance to meet the circulating heat.
Don’t let crisp fries sit around
Sweet potato fries begin losing their crisp texture as they sit.
Serve them straight from the air fryer rather than cooking them long before the rest of dinner is ready. The recipe notes that, like deep fried fries, they soften the longer they wait.
Ketchup works, but the recipe pairs them with a chive and garlic aioli made from mayonnaise, lemon juice, fresh garlic, and chopped chives.
Frozen sweet potato fries don’t need thawing or a complicated coating to get crisp. Preheat the air fryer, use a little oil, and give every fry enough room for hot air to move around it. If you’ve been filling the basket to the top, the fries may not have been the problem after all.
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