Why are my roast sweet potatoes always soggy?

[Awholelottanosy]

Grrrr, it's happened again! I'm cooking roast sweet potatoes, cut into thin wedges in the oven and they are bloody soggy! This doesn't happen with potatoes, they go lovely and crispy, anyone know how to make sweet potatoes turn out crispy not soggy?

Good question...I want to know too!

I attempted to make some spiced sweet potato wedges a while ago. The idea was to use them in dips. They were rubbish..all soft and bendy and mushy. And hardly any of the spices I'd sprinkled them with stayed on .

I wish I knew! I love sweet potato chips but mine are always hugely disappointing . Hoping someone comes along with a magic answer!

They need twice as much oil as pots...

That's the secret

Or double frying

Ah now I wondered if frying was going to be the answer. I don't tend to fry things much though.

I just ate them and they were so soggy! They seem to absorb the oil, I wonder what they would be like with no oil at all?

Buy from supermarket and deep fry, it's the only way.

I wanted something healthy so didn't really want to fry them. (-bet they would be bloody delicious though...)

Leave the skins on when making sweet pot chips - they crisp up lovely!

My specialist subject as DS loves them but will own eat crunchy ones.
What type of oil are you using? I find olive oil makes them soggy, but vegetable or sunflower oil does the trick. Also oven needs to be quite hot (200).
If you can be bothered then cook them in boiling water for 1-2 mins, then toss in flour before baking- this gives them extra crunch

Sweet potatoes have a higher water and starch content. As a combination this is a bad formula for crispiness: the starch helps retain the water in the vegetable so it doesn't crisp up.

Two things to try: soaking the chopped pieces in water - sounds counter-intuitive, but it disperses some of the starch, therefore makes water loss easier. Take the pieces out of the water and dry off about 30 mins before baking.

And try a coating of egg white before baking.

Source: my friend runs a burger van which also sells sweet potato fries.

PS the soak in water tip also works on normal potatoes if you want good roasties / fluffy mash.

Oh and don't use too much oil. If you check them after 10 mins and they are soggy, drain some oil or dab with kitchen paper then put back in to crisp them up

Ooh interesting tips here, thank you! I will try them tomorrow and report back. Yes I was using olive oil, don't have vegetable oil but can get some. Would really like to make good sweet potatoes as I really like them!