Sweet Potato Wedges, served with Chinese Five Spice

At a glance

What stands out: Roasted sweet potato wedges, subtly flavored with Chinese five spice, will become your favorite way to eat sweet potatoes. They’re straightforward to mix (baked, not fried!) and they’re completely irresistible.

How long it takes: 40 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large sheet pan
Servings: 6

Best Sweet Potato Wedges

We first tried out this recipe on an afternoon when our parents were coming over later to babysit. When our mom got there, we pointed out what was left of the sweet potato wedges (we couldn’t stop eating them earlier in the day!). When we got home and they were all gone, we had mixed feelings: happy because we love it when our mom tries our recipes, but also a bit sad because we were still looking forward to eating them.

Needless to say, we've made the sweet potato wedges with Chinese five spice countless times since then, and they never fail to please. Even our kids love them, and that’s saying something! The sweet potatoes go well with main course meals or sandwiches, and they make a great snack, too. We think you’ll love them!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

Featuring Chinese five spice! Wondering what the five spices are? Most commonly, they’re star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. You’ll discover, as we did, that the spices in five spice blend go so well with the flavor of the sweet potatoes.

Roasting brings out a standby in sweet potatoes. The wedges are baked at a high heat so they’re evenly crispy on the outside but silky smooth and soft on the inside.

Even picky eaters love them. Flavored with all those warm spices, these crispy wedges of sweet potato (yet they’re creamy on the inside!) will entice even your pickiest kids. These sweet potato wedges are a great way to get them to eat some veggies. (we speak from experience; our daughter gobbled these up!)

Great for special diets. The sweet potato wedges are paleo and Whole30 compliant. They’re vegan and of course, vegetarian. They’re low carb and dairy free. Even if you don’t follow a specific diet, they’re still a lighter snack that’s oh-so-satisfying.

How it comes together

Prep the potatoes.

1. You can peel the sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler but we like to simply scrub them and leave the peeling on. Trim off any eyes or soft spots.
2. To cut a potato into wedges, first cut it in half lengthwise. This will give you a nice flat surface so the potato doesn’t roll around.
3. Set the flat side of one potato half on the cutting board, then start cutting slices at an angle (diagonally towards center). Repeat for the other half of the potato.
4. That’s it! We usually get 10 to 12 wedges per potato but you could get more or less depending on how thin or thick you cut them and how large your potatoes are.

Add seasoning. Add oil (we like coconut oil for this recipe), Chinese five spice powder, smoked paprika, and salt to a large bowl. Add the sweet potato wedges and toss them with the oil and spices until well-coated.

Bake. Spread the wedges in a single layer on a large rimmed sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes, flipping them once at about 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Serve immediately.

Ways to serve it

As a side: The sweet potato wedges with Chinese 5 spice go well with Asian-style main dishes, such as Asian marinated chicken or ginger chicken thighs. We like to serve them with our crockpot teriyaki chicken or teriyaki salmon. They taste great with burgers or mango bourbon pulled pork sandwiches, too!

With a dipping sauce: Although these sweet potato wedges taste great on their own, a dipping sauce is always tasty, too. We recommend bang bang sauce or yum yum sauce which lean into the Asian flavors. If you’re a fan of Chick-fil-A restaurants, this Chick-fil-A at-home sauce is straightforward to mix and would be a fantastic dipping sauce for the sweet potato wedges (or anything else!).

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate/Freeze: Cool completely any leftover sweet potato wedges before storing them in an airtight container. The cooked sweet potato wedges can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 6 months. If you make extra that you are planning on freezing for meal prep, we would undercook them just a bit so that when you reheat them, they don’t dry out.

Reheat: Although the microwave will work in a pinch, the sweet potato wedges won’t be as crispy. A brief stint in your air fryer works nicely to reheat them, or heat them in your oven or toaster oven at 400°F for 10 minutes or so, or until they are warm and crisp again.

• Yield: 8
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 30 minutes
• Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes ( 3 medium sweet potatoes)
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (olive oil is fine, too)
• ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (more if desired)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Lightly spray a large rimmed sheet pan (18 x 13-inches) with oil or nonstick spray. For easiest clean-up, line it with foil first.
2. You may peel the potatoes using a vegetable peeler, or scrub them well if you like the peelings on. To make wedges, first cut each sweet potato in half lengthwise. Lay the flat side down on the cutting board. Slice each half into wedges by cutting into the center diagonally. Cut each potato into 10 to 12 wedges, depending on the thickness of your slices and the size of the potato.
3. In a large bowl, toss sweet potato wedges with oil, five spice powder, smoked paprika, and salt.
4. Arrange sweet potato wedges in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, flip the potatoes, then bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until wedges are golden brown and crispy. Keep an eye on them at the end because they can brown quickly, especially the smaller wedges.
6. Serve immediately.

Notes

Make a larger batch: You can easily double this recipe simply by doubling the ingredients (use the 2X button). We would advise that you bake them using two pans so they’re not too croweded, and rotate the pans after 15 minutes.

Chinese 5 spice: If you’re not familiar with this spice blend, it consists of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. It’s a balance of the five elements (sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and savory) and is used widely in Chinese cuisine. You should be able to find it in your grocery store.

Storage/meal prep/reheat: Cool sweet potato wedges completely before storing them in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 6 months. If you are planning on freezing them for meal prep, undercook them just a bit so that when you reheat them, they don’t dry out. We recommend reheating them in your air fryer (380°F for a few minutes) toaster oven, or oven (400°F for 10 minutes or so), until they are warm and crisp again. Don’t thaw frozen wedges before reheating.

Variations: we like the flavor of coconut oil with the Chinese five spice but feel free to use another type of oil, such as olive oil. You can also vary the seasonings if you don’t happen to have Chinese five spice. Try chili powder, curry powder, our all purpose seasoning, or Cajun seasoning, just to name a few.

Dipping sauces: Try bang bang sauce or yum yum sauce which lean into the Asian flavors. If you’re a fan of Chick-fil-A restaurants, this Chick-fil-A at-home sauce is straightforward to mix and would be tasty with the sweet potato wedges (or anything else, for that matter!).