Recipe: Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes

Making sweet potato fries in the air fryer is a healthier alternative than deep frying. You’ll get a nice crispy final product with half the calories. And of course, a quick and easy clean up at the end.

Air fryer sweet potatoes are the perfect side dish to any meal or a great snack for the family! Top with ketchup or any other condiments of your liking and enjoy! Note: If you don’t have an air fryer, check out my Roasted Sweet Potato recipe.

What is an Air Fryer?

Air fryers have become a common kitchen item within the last year for good reason!

The air fryer essentially mimics the convection oven. It’s a compact unit that facilitates faster cooking with little to no oils and heated air. An air fryer has an actual heating system, a fan to regulate the heat being distributed throughout the unit, and a basket to hold your food.

The rapid heating and circulation system within the air fryer makes your food crispy on the outside and soft on the inside!

While there are many different styles and sizes of the air fryer, I have settled on the 3 QT Phillips Premium Airfryer found on Amazon!

And did I mention that clean up with the air fryer is easy as well? Take apart the basket, place in the dishwasher (or hand-wash, your choice) and clean-up is complete.

Benefits of Using An Air Fryer

While I am still a huge proponent of cooking with my convection oven, I have found that there are many benefits of using an air fryer.

1. Texture and Flavor

Think deep fried without the bread and calories. Cooking with an air fryer gives you the crispiness on the outside, but tender and juicy on the inside.

2. Same Great Taste with Little Ingredients

Using the air fryer gives you the feeling of state fair chicken wings or sweet potato fries with less than half the calories.

Why? Because all you need is a little oil (I prefer olive oil) and some seasoning! And when I say a little oil, I often don’t use more than 2 tablespoons for my recipes!

3. Time

Recipes in the air fryer take half the amount of time that it would take to cook in the oven. Sweet potatoes in the convection oven take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. While sweet potato fries in the air fryer take anywhere between 25 to 30 minutes!

4. No Mess

You know when you’re cooking on the stove or even in the oven and oil splatters everywhere? Air fryers don’t splatter hot oil all over you or your kitchen!

5. Clean Up

Clean up takes half the time. Once you are done you can simply remove the basket from the air fryer, take apart the basket, and either place in the dishwasher or hand wash as desired. I love how it is dishwasher friendly for even easier clean-up!

How To Cut Sweet Potatoes For Air Fryer

While there are many different ways you can cut your sweet potatoes for the air fryer, these 3 ways are my favorite:

1. Fries

When making sweet potato fries, I prefer to cut my sweet potatoes into long and thin slices. To slice into sweet potato fries, you are going to start with one large sweet potato.

I always start by cutting off the ends. Next, I cut the remainder of the sweet potato in half so you have two equal sides of the sweet potato.

Once your sweet potato has been split into two, I place one half of the potato on the flat side and I start cutting into equal slices. Depending on the thickness of your potato you may get 3-4 rows. I like to keep my fries around ¼ – ½ an inch in width! 

For thicker fries, you will want fewer slices, and for thinner fries you will want more slices to your potato. Choose the thickness of the fry based on your preference!

2. Cubes

When I’m looking to change it up from sweet potato fries and use sweet potatoes in a salad or as an appetizer, I tend to cut my sweet potatoes into cubes.

To make sweet potato cubes, I begin by cutting off the ends and splitting the sweet potato in half to two equal parts.

Similar to sweet potato fries I then turn one half of the sweet potato on the flat side and make equal side strips. Once you are in your sweet potato fry shape, I lay all of the stripes flat on the cutting board and chop into equal sized cubes! This is a fun way to switch up your sweet potato for different recipes.

3. Circles

To cut your sweet potatoes into circles, or what I like to call “sweet potato chips” simply start by removing the ends and splitting the large sweet potato in half. I use this same step no matter what shape I am cutting the sweet potato.

Next, keeping the sweet potato on its side, I continue to cut slices of the sweet potato in equal parts. Continue cutting until the entire sweet potato is in circular sweet potato pieces.

How To Make Sweet Potatoes In An Air Fryer

No matter what seasoning you prefer to use on your sweet potatoes here are the main steps to adding toppings before placing in the air fryer.

Step 1: Place sweet potatoes in a medium to large bowl.

Step 2: Sprinkle seasoning on top of the bowl of sweet potatoes (see my favorite sweet potato toppings below).

Step 3: Next, I add oil; I prefer to use either olive oil or avocado oil. I use avocado oil when I’m for a little more flavor and olive oil when I prefer plain and simple.

Once you have your sweet potatoes cut and seasoned all you need to do is place the sweet potatoes in the air fryer basket.

No matter what type of oil is used, I typically use anywhere between 1-1.5 tablespoons of oil. I have found that you do not need much more than this when using an air fryer.

Some people prefer to use no oil at all and that works too! I prefer just a little oil on my sweet potato fries but again do what’s best for you and your family! Toss the mixture together to ensure seasoning and oil are spread evenly throughout your batch of potatoes.

Below you’ll find my three go-to seasoning blends when it comes to seasoning sweet potatoes in the air fryer.

PRO TIP: If you’re making a larger batch of sweet potato fries and are using more than 1 large sweet potato, make sure you don’t over crowd the basket. If you have 2-4 large sweet potatoes you may want to split the batch in half to avoid over-crowding. This will ensure that the sweet potatoes cook thoroughly and allow the potatoes to still be crispy.

Every air fryer is different, but with my air fryer I set it to 425 degrees and I cook for about 25-30 minutes. Depending on the size of your basket you will want to watch the time and heat of your air fryer.

Make sure to flip and toss your sweet potatoes halfway through your time. The air fryer does circulate air all around the basket, however, I have found it helpful to flip the potatoes at the halfway point to cook each side of the potatoes evenly.