Spicy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries

These crispy air fryer sweet potato fries are spicy enough to satisfy the chili lovers and come with a creamy sweet chili lime dip to balance out the spice for everyone else. And they only take about 5 minutes of prep, making this one of the easiest sweet potato fries recipes you’ll come across!

How to Make Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries

This will be quick. I promise.

If you don’t have any ingredient or recipe questions, feel free to skip down to the printable recipe card.

Cut 2-3 sweet potatoes into 1/4″ strips to make 12 ounces of fries.

If you’d like a tutorial for cutting potatoes for fries, check out my Five Guys Cajun Fries recipe. The tutorial is for a russet potato, but it’s the same method I use to cut sweet potato fries. And if you wanted to have some fun, check out my post on how to make crinkle cut fries.

As for the type of potato, I used the same beauregard I used for my cajun Ninja Foodi sweet potato fries. That’s the most common type of sweet potato you’ll find in stores. A garnet or jewel sweet potato would also work fine for this recipe.

For a lower carb option, you might look at winter squash varieties like butternut squash or something like my delicata squash fries.

Toss the sweet potato fries in a blend of olive oil and chili oil.

I prefer a chili oil that has chili flakes still in the bottle, but there’s not a huge difference between brands in my experience. Use what you can find, or you could always make your own homemade chili oil.

If you’re a spice fanatic, you can leave out the olive oil and go with a full tablespoon of chili oil. Prepare yourself, though.

And if you’re debating on purchasing chili oil for fear of never using it again, here’s a handful of recipes to make with it:

• air fryer sweet chili chicken and brussels sprouts
• ground beef and brussels sprouts skillet
• chili garlic air fryer butternut squash
• spicy chicken fried cauliflower rice

Air fry the sweet potato fries for 18-20 minutes at 400ºF, toss in a seasoning blend, and air fry an additional 4-6 minutes.

I use a 6.5 quart Ninja Foodi for air frying. Air fryers come in all kinds of models, shapes, and sizes. The cook time may vary from one to another so always start on the lower end and even check on your sweet potato fries maybe halfway through cooking to avoid burning.

As for the seasoning blend, all you’ll need is a little garlic powder, ground ginger, kosher salt, and ground coriander. Like I mentioned in my air fried Mexican potatoes, if you don’t have ground coriander on hand, get some!

Can I bake these sweet potato fries?

In my experience, it’s pretty difficult to make truly crispy sweet potato fries in the oven without using a bit more oil. That said, you could give it a go. Just toss the sweet potatoes in the oil and add the seasoning blend before going directly on a baking sheet with plenty of room for the fries to spread out.

I tested a baked version of the aforementioned cajun fries at 450ºF for 25-35 minutes. You could also try going with a lower temperature for longer and broiling for a few minutes at the end like I did in my spicy baked chicken thighs and ranch potatoes.

Serve with a creamy sweet chili dipping sauce.

For the dip, mix together 1/4 C Fat Free Greek Yogurt, 1 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce, 1 tsp Lime Juice, and 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder. Add salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and cilantro to taste. Enjoy!

You could also swap the lime for lemon and sweet chili sauce for light mayo to make a creamy lemon garlic dip.

Okie doke, it’s time to get cooking. If you have any recipe questions I didn’t cover, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, enjoy your spicy sweet potato fries!