Best frozen sweet potato fries

Sweet potato fries make a delicious, colourful alternative to potato wedges or french fries, with more nutritional value too.

The best frozen sweet potato fries come out bright orange, with crunchy outsides and fluffy middles, and a sweet, deep flavour. But we found disappointing fries in our tryout, with some brands’ chips coming out bland, mushy and looking unappealing on your plate.

Our panel of consumers compared frozen sweet potato fries from leading brands McCain and Strong Roots to own label options from Aldi, Lidl, Tesco and more in October 2020. Just one had a nice enough flavour, texture, aroma and appearance to be made a Best Buy.

Only logged in Which? members can view the rest of our results and tasting notes below. If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the frozen sweet potato fries on test. 

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All prices correct as of 30 November 2020.

Aldi Champion Sweet Potato Fries

29p per 100g

Aldi’s fries are the cheapest on test, so they could make a great addition to a budget-friendly weeknight dinner. Are they as good as, or better, than the pricier options?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Aldi.

Asda Seasoned Sweet Potato Fries

35p per 100g

There’s a long list of ingredients going into Asda’s sweet potato fries (the joint-longest list of those we tested). Ingredients include paprika and onion powder.

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda.

Co-op Sweet Potato Fries

50p per 100g

Co-op’s frozen sweet potato fries are low on calories, salt and fat compared to others we tested, but you’d hope they’d be high on flavour.

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Co-op stores only.

Iceland Sweet Potato Fries

33p per 100g

When it comes to frozen food, Iceland should know what it’s doing, but has it got its frozen sweet potato fries just right?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Iceland.

Lidl Harvest Basket Sweet Potato Fries

39p per 100g

Lidl is always cheap as chips, but are its sweet potato fries a bargain, or are you best off paying a little more?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Lidl.

M&S Sweet Potato Chips Frozen

50p per 100g

M&S sweet potato fries have the fewest calories of any brand. Does this mean a compromise on flavour, or are they a tasty lighter option?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Ocado.

McCain Sweet Potato Fries

52p per 100g

McCain is probably one of the first brands you think of when it comes to potatoes, but how good are its sweet potato fries?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco.

Sainsbury’s Sweet Potato Fries

46p per 100g

Sainsbury’s sweet potato fries have the most amount of calories of all the chips we’ve tried, but it might be worth it for a truly tasty side dish.

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Sainsbury’s.

Strong Roots Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

59p per 100g

These branded sweet potato fries are the most expensive of the lot, but are they really worth the extra money

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose.

Tesco Sweet Potato Oven Chips

46p per 100g

Tesco claims its seasoned batter results in ‘extra crispiness’ on its sweet potato fries. But what did our tasters think?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Tesco.

Waitrose Sweet Potato Oven Chips

50p per 100g

Waitrose frozen fries are low on calories but high in fibre compared to others we tested, so they’re a good choice for those after nutritional value. But how do they taste?

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Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Waitrose.

Are sweet potato fries healthy?

Looking to make the healthiest possible choice at dinner time? You’ll have to choose M&S frozen sweet potato fries. They contain less than half the calories, fat and saturated fat than the Sainsbury’s ones.

Although Sainsbury’s fries have the highest calorie count, they also have more protein and fibre per 100g than other brands we tested, so could be a good choice for those looking to pack nutritional value into their burger and fries meal.

Those watching their salt intake may want to avoid the Aldi fries - they have by far the most salt of all the brands we tried.

If you’re choosing sweet potato fries as a healthy alternative to standard chips, you might be surprised by their calorie count. We compared these frozen sweet potato fries to the frozen oven chips we tested in February 2020, and, on average, there’s not much to separate them on calories.

However, you should pick sweet potato fries if you’re looking for more fiber in your diet. They contain more than twice as much as the average oven chip.

How long to cook sweet potato fries?

Cooking times vary depending on the brand you buy. Sainsbury’s fries take the longest (up to 30 minutes) whereas Tesco’s can be ready in just 16.

All the sweet potato fries need a hot oven (at least 200 degrees) and most instructions recommend turning them over halfway through for the best results.

Some fries, such as Sainsbury’s and Iceland, can be deep fried. This is a quicker way to cook - your side dish will be ready in just two to five minutes, just enough time to fry your steak - and it will bring out a deeper flavour and crispier texture too. It’s far less healthy than oven cooking though.

For all the crunch but half the fat, you can cook sweet potato fries in an air fryer. Click through for a round up of the best air fryers.

Sweet potato fries seasoning

Although our testing found some sweet potato fries are better than others, none really wowed on flavour. With that in mind, you might be best off making your own seasoning to add to the fries before cooking.

A good start is to coat your fries in olive oil, salt and pepper. For something a little extra, you can enhance the natural sweetness with honey, or add smokiness and heat with paprika and cayenne pepper. Most of the sweet potato fries we tested have onion and garlic powder in the coating, but you could add more to really bring out those flavours.

Are sweet potato fries bags recyclable?

Plastic sweet potato fries bags can’t go in your household recycling bin. However, you may be able to recycle them at some supermarkets - for example Tesco has a soft plastic collection scheme.

How we tested

The products were assessed by a large panel of consumers who regularly buy and consume sweet potato fries.

The make-up of the panel broadly represents the demographic profile of adults in the UK. 

Each frozen sweet potato fry brand was assessed by 62 people.

The panellists rated the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of each product and told us what they liked and disliked about each one.

The taste test was blind, so the panellists didn’t know which brand they were trying. The order they sampled the frozen sweet potato fries was fully rotated to avoid any bias. 

Each panellist had a private booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

The overall score is based on:

• 50% taste
• 25% appearance
• 15% aroma
• 10% texture

These weightings are based on consumer rankings of the importance of different frozen sweet potato fries attributes.