Do you have sweet potato on the brain like we do? I've been eating them in every way possible this fall: Cut into wedges and roasted with spices; baked in foil and smothered with cinnamon and pecans; even blended up into smoothies! One my favorite treats is a piping hot batch of sweet potato fries. You've heard time and time again that sweet potatoes are full of good-for-you nutrients, but does that hold true when they're sliced up and fried? What do you think: Is there really that big of a difference between regular French fries and sweet potato fries? We're putting Ore Ida's Sweet Potato Fries and Golden Fries (regular French fries) head to head to find out the answer! The Winner: It's a Tie! ![]() Golden Fries
Sweet Potato Fries
It looks like the sweet potato fries have 30 more calories than the regular fries per serving, as well as 4.5 more grams of fat. However, the sweet potato fries also have 50% more vitamin A than the regular fries, with 130 fewer mg of sodium. Also notice that both varieties of fries have the same amount of fiber (2 grams). Both potatoes and sweet potatoes get most of their fiber from the skin, which is often sliced off in commercially-prepared fries. With skin, sweet potatoes have just slightly more fiber than regular potatoes. Want to make healthy sweet potato fries at home? Try this baked version! Which do you prefer: Regular fries or sweet potato fries?
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For the people talking about added fat from deep frying, that's actually a surprisingly low fat method of cooking provided: a) you start with sufficiently hot oil, b) don't overload the fryer, and c) don't leave the food being fried in too long. The reason is this: if the oil is sufficiently hot, it will flash vaporize the moisture near the surface of the food which keeps the oil from soaking in while getting the food hot enough to cook.
Adding food lowers the temperature of the oil, so it's critical not to put in too much in at once. Also, if you leave the food in too long, the water vapor will bubble out of the oil giving the latter a chance to soak into the food. Report
But that aside, I think there is more to the comparison than simple calorie/fat/nutrient breakdown. I pick SP over regular because of the nutrients but also because of the smaller glycemic impact. Report
Anyway, I eat regular fries and sweet potato fries, with different things. They are not interchangeable in my opinion. Certain combinations of foods work better together. Generally, I like sweet potatoes with pork or pork products, and regular potatoes with beef. The exception is probably, I toss sweet potato fries with Furikake and serve this is asian food. Report
JODAFEEN2012: I do something very similar. Your spice blend sounds awesome! Report