Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Fries are a heatlhy alternative to French fries, servied with a slightly spicy chipotle yogurt dip.
Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Yogurt Dip
Last week, I had the chance to visit a Korean market that is as big as a supermarket. I could have spent hours just going up and down each aisle looking at all the different food. Among all the fresh produce, I found an assortment of sweet potatoes, some orange skinned, others white skinned and some red skinned. I decided to pick up the red skinned sweet potatoes before heading home.
Satsuma-imo Sweet Potato
I typically buy orange skinned sweet potatoes and I’ve even found some purple sweet potatoes before, but I had never tried this red skinned variety.
Purple Sweet Potato
After I got home, I searched online to find out what variety they were and discovered these sweet potatoes were a Japanese variety called Satsuma-imo. Although the skin is red, the flesh is light yellow.
When I saw that the interior of these sweet potatoes was light yellow, I thought of making french fries for my kids.
Simply tossed with a little chili spice powder (I used Penzey’s Chili 9000), salt and coconut oil before baking, and served with a a Chipotle Yogurt Dip, these Sweet Potato Fries made a healthy afternoon snack for the family as I pondered what to make for dinner.
This week, a group of bloggers is featuring Sweet Potato as a Power Food. This weekly food blogging group features a different Power Food each week based on the book Power Foods: 150 delicious recipes with 38 Healthiest Ingredients from the editors of Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine. Power Foods are foods that are outstanding in the amounts of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids, fiber and more, that help fight disease and promote good health.
So, what makes Sweet Potatoes a Power Food? Sweet potatoes (particularly those that are brightly colored – orange and purple) are a superior source of beta-carotene, which our bodies convert to vitamin A. Several studies have found between 100-1600 micrograms of vitamin A in every 3.5 ounces of sweet potatoes. Purple fleshed sweet potatoes contain anthocyanins which have important antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory properties, which may help lower the potential health risk posed by heavy metals and oxygen radicals.
Not only are sweet potatoes low in calories, but they’re high in fiber and are a good source of folate, vitamins B6, C and E.
Now that I know that orange and purple flesh sweet potatoes probably contain more beta-carotene than this white fleshed variety, I’ll be buying those next time.
Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Fries and Chipotle Yogurt Dip
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Fries
- 2 large sweet potatoes peeled, cut into 1/4" thick strips
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Chipotle Yogurt Dip
- 1/4 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 to 1 chipotle pepper seeds removed, finely minced
- 1/2-1 teaspoon adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
- 1 teaspoon honey
- a dash of salt
Instructions
Sweet Potato Fries
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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In a large bowl, toss sweet potato strips with coconut oil, chili powder and salt. Spread in a single layer on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving some space between pieces. Bake 20 minutes or until cooked through. Broil for a few minutes to brown tops if desired.
Chipotle Yogurt Dip
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In a small bowl, mix together Greek yogurt, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, honey and salt.
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Serve Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Yogurt Dip.
Check out what these other bloggers have cooked up for this week: (If you’re interested in joining our group, contact Mireya from My Healthy Eating Habits.
Alyce – More Time at the Table
Ansh – Spice Roots,
Casey – My Sweet and Savory
Jill – Saucy Cooks
Martha – Simple-Nourished-Living
Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits
Sarah – Everything in the Kitchen Sink
Bambi – Adobo Down Under
You had me at chili and chipotle! I love how much easier it is to find unusual varieties of sweet potatoes in the markets now. I never really think of Asian markets as a source for potatoes, but next time I go, I’ll look for them.
Lydia – there were so many different varieties of sweet potatoes at the Korean market I visited – you would love it.
Sometimes I buy a mix of the white-fleshed and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes because I love the super sweet flavor of the white but want the nutrients from the orange! I love the idea of using them as fries with a bit of spice! Yum.
Mixing white and orange sweet potatoes sounds like a great idea – I’ll do that next time, maybe even try a purple sweet potato.
hi, jeanette says were in london i can buy those sweet potatos please can you help me i need the asap i look froword to hair from you, i live in nw10 close to wembley, were can i buy sweet purple potatoes askelld@yahoo.com are call me 07871973748, any infornmation would be grate thank you havea grate day , mr askel
Hi Askel – I’m in the U.S., so not sure where you can these sweet potatoes. You might try an Asian grocery store – they often carry the more exotic varieties of sweet potatoes. This would also work with regular sweet potatoes.
Oh Momma, this is what I’ll be craving all day now…
Jeanette: These look yummy! I often make similar oven fries, but add a touch of cinnamon to the cayenne I use for heat. Enjoy the holiday weekend!
I love those white sweet potatoes! I knew they were Japanese, but I didn’t know the exact name for them. I like that they’re a little less sweet and a little more firm after roasting. Sweet potato fries are always a great side dish!
Thanks Sommer, Alyce and Kiersten! I love spices and all the different varieties of sweet potatoes. The purple sweet potato is really fun.
They look fantastic Jeanette and your knife skills are on point – they look like you cut them on a mandoline!
Thanks Alyssa – this was a great way to practice my knife skills as the potatoes were pretty hard to cut through. I bet a mandoline would have made it easier – will have to give that a try next time.
Oh I want this now…look so delicious! I love the dip too!
These look incredible. I LOVE fries of any kind, especially sweet potato fries! I would destroy a plate of these right now if left alone long enough to do so 🙂
Thanks Sandra and Beth! The dip went really nicely with these fries – something I just whipped up last minute. My kids were skeptical at first, but they gobbled the plate up (along with my husband).
Yum. Do these cook up crispier than they yellow variety?
They sure sound good with chipotle powder.
Mireya, these are not crispy fries, although I did run them under the broiler to crisp the tops a bit. I’ve also made kohlrabi fries that were tossed in some rice flour and pan fried (so not quite as healthy as these baked fries) – that did add a little more crustiness to the fries.
These are my hubby’s favorite. May be because these grow in abundance where he is from. It’s from him that I learned to include sweet potatoes into our diet. Love your Dip recipe. I can see how wonderfully it pairs with the “fries”
Ansh – I served these to my husband and my boys and they gobbled up the plate. Glad you like the dip – my kids love dips so I came up with this healthier dip to go with the fries.
The oriental supermarket where I live sells a huge variety of potatoes. Love the spices used in this recipe 🙂
I just love those bright colored sweet potatoes, your fries look wonderful and the dip sounds yummy!
I love making sweet potato fries! The seasoning and dip sound like the perfect compliment.
YES! I think you know how much I love sweet potato fries! These look freakin amazing!
Oh yummy. I love homemade fries and the dip sounds fabulous.
Thanks you all – I’ve got some orange sweet potatoes on my counter top and think I’m going to make another batch today!
Ooh these fries look incredible! And that dip too! I am definitely trying these soon.
LOVE. (the only ‘tiny’ problem is that I would never be able to stop eating something this scrumptious!!)
Your visit to the Korean market sounds like fun. Love the gorgeous colorful sweet potatoes you scored. And your spicy fries and yogurt dip are inspired, as usual!