AmazingRibs.com is supported by our Pitmaster Club. Also, when you buy with links on our site we may earn a finder’s fee. Click to see how we test and review products.

Grilled Sweet Potato Fries Put Some Smoke Into A Favorite Side Dish

Share on:
grilled sweet potato fries

I know the kids love the sweet potatoes with gooey marshmallows and the casserole with brown sugar and ersatz maple syrup. But this recipe is sweet enough for kids and savory enough for adults. Grilling them produces crisp shards of deliciousness that are dulcet, but not so unctuous they should be dessert.

The moment I first tasted sweet potato French fries, I was addicted. Couldn’t get enough of them. So I immediately went home and tried to make them on my grill. What I came up with are not as crispy all over as deep fried, but the edges are nice and crunchy, and they have great grilled flavor, better caramelization of sugars, and much less fat and calories. And they just flat out look cool.

I grill them all year round, but they are the perfect grilled side dish for Thanksgiving dinner. If you are cooking my Ultimate Smoked Turkey, you can cook these on the grill after you remove the bird and before you slice it.

I yam what I yam

For the record, in case anyone is interested, these are not yams. The orange or yellow smooth skin pointy tuber that we love is technically correctly called a sweet potato, not a yam. A real yam has a rough woody skin, the interior is pale in color, and it is rarely found in grocery stores in the US. Somehow the two got confused in common use years ago. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has tried to help but has actually deepened the confusion (insert wisecrack about government here). USDA requires that if you use the popular name yam on a sweet potato, you must also label it sweet potato, the correct name. As a result, we now use the names interchangeably, and incorrectly so. So don’t let me hear you call these yams, OK?

Grilled Sweet Potato Fries Recipe


grilled sweet potato fries
Tried this recipe?Tell others what you thought of it and give it a star rating below.
3.89 from 44 votes
Elevate ordinary fries by grilling them and by using sweet potatoes instead of russet potatoes. This recipe takes you to the grill, a healthier approach than deep frying, and gives you sweet potato fries seasoned with a sweet and spicy blend of brown sugar, chipotle powder, herbs, and other spices. It's pretty simple and the fries comes out smoky and golden brown.

Course:
Dinner
,
Lunch
,
Side Dish
,
Vegetable
Cuisine:
American
difficulty scale

Makes:

Servings: 2

Takes:

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
  • ¼ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon rosemary or thyme leaves
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
  • teaspoon chipotle powder
Notes:
About the chipotle powder. If you don’t have chipotle powder (and the question is why don’t you?), then you can use any hot pepper like cayenne, pepper flakes, or even ancho or American chili powder (which are not very hot). If you and your guest like things with a kick, double the chipotle.
About the salt. Remember, Morton coarse kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.
For dipping. I love these shards of sweet and savory nekkid, but if you like, you can make a dipping sauce. Ketchup is NOT the best choice. Try just plain mayo (in Europe fries are served with mayo not ketchup), or sour cream. Or you can flavor them. I like mayo mixed with fresh grated ginger and/or a few drops of Asian dark sesame oil. A reader of my column on Huffington Post suggested a dipping sauce made by running Major Gray’s Chutney and water through her food processor to the consistency of Ketchup. Sounds good to me. Or you can simply mount a daub of butter on them in the serving platter.
Stuck indoors? You can cook these babies in your oven. Just lightly coat a sheet pan, cookie pan, or a roasting pan with oil, crank the oven to about 400°F (you need a bit more heat since you are not cooking over flame), and turn them when the sides are golden.
Metric conversion:

These recipes were created in US Customary measurements and the conversion to metric is being done by calculations. They should be accurate, but it is possible there could be an error. If you find one, please let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Method

  • Fire up. Set up your grill in a 2-zone configuration. Preheat the grill so the air above the direct zone is about 325°F (163°C) or higher.
  • Prep. Cut the tips off the potatoes and dig out any bad spots. You can peel them if you wish but I prefer to leave the skin on. They say it is nutritious, but I just like the taste and texture. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, and then into quarters. If you are using really big taters, cut them again into eighths. If you prefer, you can cut them into disks about 3/8" (9.6 mm) thick.
  • Dump the potatoes into a large bowl, drizzle with the oil, and toss them so they are lightly coated. Mix the seasonings in a bowl and then sprinkle them on the potatoes. Toss some more until they are evenly coated.
  • Cook. Lay them on the grill so they get good horizontal grill marks, and close the lid. Hang around the grill, and after about 3 minutes, check and see if they have nice brown grill marks. If they do, rotate them to another side. Repeat until all sides are marked. When they are, they should be ready, and you can tell by poking them with a fork. It should slide in and out easily. When they are done, and they may not all get done at once, move them to the indirect side. If they have good grill marks and they are still not cooked through, move them to the indirect side, close the lid, and let them roast a bit longer, turning them as needed so they don't burn.
  • Serve. Like all fries, these are best served hot.

Nutrition per Serving

Calories: 321kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Sodium: 1290mg | Potassium: 775mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 32119IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 1mg

Related articles

Published On: 7/12/2012 Last Modified: 2/13/2024

Share on:
  • Meathead, BBQ Hall of Famer - Founder and publisher of AmazingRibs.com, Meathead is known as the site's Hedonism Evangelist and BBQ Whisperer. He is also the author of the New York Times Best Seller "Meathead, The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", named one of the "100 Best Cookbooks of All Time" by Southern Living.

 

High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!

Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.

Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.


Post comments and questions below

grouchy?

1) Please try the search box at the top of every page before you ask for help.

2) Try to post your question to the appropriate page.

3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.

4) If you are a member of the Pitmaster Club, your comments login is probably different.

5) Posts with links in them may not appear immediately.

Moderators

  Max

Click to comment or ask a question...

Spotlight

These are not paid ads, they are a curated selection of products we love.

All of the products below have been tested and are highly recommended. Click here to read more about our review process.

Use Our Links To Help Keep Us Alive

Many merchants pay us a small referral fee when you click our “buy now” links. This has zero impact on the price you pay but helps support the site.