Making air fryer frozen sweet potato fries requires only a few ingredients and steps! Enjoy perfectly crispy fries that taste homemade in a matter of minutes!
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There are numerous pros to using an air fryer, including crispy foods that require less oil and take less time than deep frying or roasting in the oven.
One of my favorite things to prepare in the air fryer are pre-made frozen foods like frozen broccoli, French fries, waffle fries, and spring rolls!
Today, I’m sharing a simple technique for preparing pre-made frozen sweet potato fries! Now, I love a fresh sweet potato sauté as much as the next person, but a quick and tasty fry from the air fryer is a simple side dish that takes virtually no preparation!
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Why You’ll Love These Air Fryer Frozen Sweet Potato Fries
- Quick and Easy: Air-frying crispy sweet potato fries takes less time and uses fewer ingredients. There’s no need to preheat the oven or slice your sweet potatoes into sticks. This simple recipe requires only one main ingredient!
- Fewer Calories and Fat: Using the air fryer means you don’t need to deep fry your sweet potato fries, which means fewer calories and fat.
- Versatile: These sweet potato fries are a great side dish for vegan burgers, sandwiches, or soups. They also make an excellent addition to any appetizer table at parties.
- Kid-Approved: Kids love the crispy outside, tender inside, and naturally sweet flavor of these fries.
Ingredients and Notes
- Frozen Sweet Potato Fries: Any frozen sweet potato fries will do. However, my favorite is Alexia Sweet Potato Fries. They are non-GMO and have no artificial preservatives.
- Garlic Powder and Pepper (optional): Depending on the type of sweet potato fries you buy, you may or may not need to add seasoning. The Alexia fries already have salt. A little garlic powder and pepper give the fries an extra boost of flavor that makes them taste homemade!
- Olive Oil (optional): Adding olive oil helps keep the fries from sticking together in the air fryer basket.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts.
Substitutions and Variations
- Any Kind of Fries: You can also use this method for traditional shoestring fries.
- Seasonings: I keep things simple, but you can add any seasonings you like. Get creative!
- Spicy: A little cayenne or red pepper flakes add a nice kick of heat that works nicely with the sweetness of the fries.
How to Make Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
- Preheat the air fryer to 400° F for about 5 minutes.
- Toss the frozen fries with olive oil. Then, add the seasonings and toss again.
- Place the fries in the air fryer basket in a relatively even layer. Cook for 10 minutes. Shake and cook for five more minutes or until the fries are crispy.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I enjoy these fries with my vegan honey mustard sauce.
FAQ
While preheating the air fryer isn’t necessary, it does help speed up the cooking process and creates crispier fries. I firmly believe that you should always preheat your air fryer for even cooking and the best results.
Depending on your air fryer, the temperature may peak at 400°F. It’s best to air fry fries at your air fryer’s highest temperature. This allows them to heat quickly and turn crispy.
If your fries are soggy, the temperature is too low, and the fries have been defrosted rather than baked. Another culprit is defrosting your fries before air-frying them. This is not necessary and results in soggy fries. Keep the fries frozen until you place them in the air fryer and cook them at a high temperature. You will achieve a crispy fry as a result.
Sweet potatoes are full of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, manganese, and potassium. The challenge with frozen fries comes from added preservatives and oil. Luckily, if you choose frozen sweet potato fries that use minimal ingredients, preparing them in the air fryer allows you to benefit from the nutrients without the added fat and calories.
Expert Tips
- Don’t thaw the sweet potato fries! They’re made to be cooked from frozen, and thawing them will result in soggy fries.
- If you use thicker fries, such as waffle fries or steak fries, you’ll need to cook them 3 to 4 minutes longer.
- If you use thinner fries such as shoestring, reduce the time by about 3 minutes.
- Never use non-stick cooking spray on your air fryer basket. It will damage the enamel over time.
- While it’s not technically necessary, preheating the air fryer creates the crispiest, most evenly cooked fries.
Serving Suggestions
This simple side dish tastes great with black bean burgers, chickpea patties, carrot dogs, or any burger, salad, or sandwich.
These fries pair well with standard dipping sauces like ketchup, BBQ sauce, or vegan honey mustard. But you can also whip up a spicy vegan chipotle sauce quickly! If you don’t like spicy, try a vegan tzatziki sauce!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Freezer: I don’t recommend re-freezing these fries.
Reheat: Air fry for 5 minutes at 350° F until crispy.
More Frozen Air Fryer Recipes!
Recipe
Air Fryer Frozen Sweet Potato Fries
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 16 oz frozen sweet potato fries
- 1 teaspoon olive oil optional
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper optional
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder optional
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 F for about 5 minutes.
- Place the frozen sweet potato fries in a large bowl. Add the olive oil (optional). Toss to evenly coat. Add the black pepper, and garlic powder (if desired). Toss again to coat. At this time you can add any additional seasonings you like.
- Place in the air fryer basket. It's okay if the fries overlap a bit, but don’t overcrowd. Cook for 10 minutes. Toss and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until the fries are crispy.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
- Do not thaw the fries! Keep them frozen before placing them in the air fryer.
- Use quality frozen sweet potato fries.
- Preheat the air fryer for a crispy finish. If you choose not to preheat the oven you will likely need to add an additional 3-4 minutes to the cooking time.
- Depending on whether you use waffle fries, shoestring fries, steak fries, or curly fries the cooking time will vary slightly. Add more cooking time for thicker fries, and less time for thin-cut fries.
- Ketchup
- BBQ Sauce
- Honey Mustard Dressing
- Buffalo Sauce
- Chipotle Dipping Sauce
- Dill Dipping Sauce
Amanda Dixon
These fries turned out perfectly! They were nice and crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and the air fryer made it so much easier and cleaner to prepare.
Michele
These came out perfectly! I will be making this recipe from here on out.
Rachel
Love how easy these are! The air fryer is a game changer for frozen fries!
Kristen Wood
This was super easy and turned out perfectly! Thanks!
Biana
What a great idea for making crispy sweet potato fries in the air fryer!