Hot Honey Sweet Potato Fries with Crispy Sage

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Shatteringly crisp sweet potato fries built on the one trick that actually works at home: a cold-water soak followed by a thin cornstarch slurry that fries into a glassy shell. They stay crunchy long enough to get hit with chile-infused hot honey, crumbled fried sage and flaky salt — a bar-side snack worth the extra ten minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 lb sweet potatoes (about 3 medium), scrubbed
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 qt peanut or vegetable oil, for frying

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 pinch kosher salt

• 20 leaves fresh sage
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground

Instructions

1. Peel the sweet potatoes (or leave the skin on for more texture) and cut them into batons about 3/8 inch thick and 3–4 inches long. Keep the thickness consistent — sweet potatoes have very little starch structure, so uneven fries cook unevenly and go limp.
2. Submerge the cut fries in a bowl of cold water and let them soak 20 minutes at room temperature. This pulls surface sugars that would otherwise scorch before the interior cooks. Drain, then dry them aggressively between clean kitchen towels; any surface water will make the coating gummy.
3. While they soak, make the hot honey: combine the honey and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan over low heat and warm to a bare simmer, about 3 minutes. Kill the heat, stir in the vinegar and a pinch of salt, and let it steep off-heat while you fry. Do not boil it — scorched honey turns bitter.
4. Whisk the cornstarch, fine sea salt, garlic powder and cold water in a large bowl until it forms a smooth, thin slurry roughly the texture of heavy cream. If it thickens as it sits, whisk in water 1 teaspoon at a time.
5. Pour 2 to 2 1/2 inches of oil into a heavy Dutch oven and heat over medium-high to 325°F on a clip-on thermometer. Set a wire rack over a sheet pan next to the stove.
6. Fry the sage first: drop the leaves into the 325°F oil and fry 15–25 seconds, until the bubbling slows and they turn matte and stiff. Lift them out with a spider onto a paper towel — they crisp further as they cool. Reserve.
7. Working in 3 or 4 batches, drop a handful of dried fries into the slurry, toss to coat, then lift them out one at a time, letting excess drip off, and lower them into the 325°F oil. Separate any that clump in the first 10 seconds. Fry 4–5 minutes, until the fries are tender when pierced and the coating is set but still pale. Drain on the rack and let rest at least 10 minutes.
8. Raise the oil to 375°F. Return the fries to the pot in batches and fry a second time for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes, until deep orange-bronze with a hard, glassy crust. Drain on the clean rack and season with flaky salt the moment they come out.
9. Pile the fries on a warm platter. Rewarm the hot honey for 20 seconds if it has stiffened, then drizzle about half of it over the top in thin ribbons. Crumble the fried sage over everything, add the black pepper, and serve immediately with the remaining hot honey on the side for dipping.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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