This Tailgating Snack of Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Mac & Cheese Sauce and Chimichurri is filled with yummy veggies, herby Chimichurri Sauce, and creamy rich Mac & Cheese Sauce. It’s like the best of all worlds on one plate.
Healthy, yet decadent. Fresh, yet rich and creamy. And all those colors! And yes, it is as yummy as it looks!
This is the best mac & cheese fries, made healthy with sweet potatoes, and it answers the question, “how to make cheese sauce for fries”.
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Chimichurri notes
The Chimichurri Sauce makes more than you need for these fries.
But, it’s great to keep in the fridge for a few days.
Serve the leftovers on any steak, fish, or tofu. It’s great on tacos or enchiladas. Dip your bread into it. Serve it over baked potatoes.
The ideas are nearly as open as your imagination.
Make the Chimichurri in advance of serving the Sweet Potato Fries. Heck, you can even make it a day or two before if you’d like.
Mac & Cheese notes
This Mac & Cheese sauce is super easy to make, and takes practically no time at all.
You can even make the Mac & Cheese Sauce while the fries bake.
The Sauce also makes more than you’ll need for these fries.
Just cook up some pasta, and toss it in the leftover sauce, and you have an awesome lunch for tomorrow.
I love green peas or broccoli in my mac & cheese, so I add those as well.
If the Mac & cheese Sauce thickens too much, just thin it with a little pasta cooking water.
We ate our leftover Mac & Cheese pasta with some of the leftover Chimichurri Sauce as well.
Sweet Potato Fries notes
And, as for the sweet potato fries, I started cutting mine with a mandoline.
Nice, perfect little fries.
But, I found that the hard sweet potato was a bit difficult to pass through the blade (and I’m always REALLY careful when I use the mandoline).
So, I decided to give up on that, and simply cut them with a knife. It was actually much easier that way.
Also, you could use those store-bought bags of frozen sweet potato fries to save yourself a little time if you’d like.
I’ve found that some of those frozen ones are pretty good, and the ingredients are pretty straight-forward.
Game day grub
And, with that, I wish you happy Tailgating snacks, as it’s all month long on the blog!
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Sweet Potato Fries with Mac & Cheese Sauce Recipe
Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Mac & Cheese Sauce and Chimichurri
Ingredients
Chimichurri
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
- 1/3 cup good-quality oil
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin or ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon salt
Mac and Cheese Sauce
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 5 ounces cheddar cheese shredded
- Pinch of salt
Sweet Potato Fries
- 1 large sweet potato scrubbed clean
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or light flavored oil of your choice
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Make chimichurri
- Place all Chimichurri ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse, scraping down sides occasionally. Transfer to small serving bowl.
- Cover and let stand at room temperature.
Make Mac & Cheese Sauce
- Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium heat, then add the slowly sprinkle in the flour. Use a wooden spoon to stir well, until it is well combined. Keep stirring this mix for 1 minute on a medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Start by adding 3 tablespoons of the milk. Stirring until it is combined. Then add 1/3 of the milk, again, stir until it is combined. Keep stirring the mixture, it will take a couple of minutes, and you will get lumps. The lumps will go away as you stir. Return the pan to a medium heat, and add the remaining milk. Stir well until the lumps are gone, and the sauce has thickened.
- When it has thickened, remove from heat, and slowly add the grated cheese, and stir well.
Make sweet potato fries
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Cut sweet potato into long strips lengthwise, about 1/2 inch, square. You want your sweet potatoes to be roughly uniform in size so they all cook at about the same rate.
- Place the cut sweet potatoes in a large cast iron skillet or on a baking sheet, and drizzle with oil, sprinkle with cumin, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast in 400° F oven, turning occasionally, for 30-35 minutes, or until crisp and browned outside and just tender inside.
Assemble:
- Make Chimichurri Sauce in advance, even up to a day or two before. Store it in a tightly covered jar in the fridge.
- Cut and bake sweet potato fries.
- While the fries bake, make Mac & Cheese Sauce.
- Carefully remove fries from oven, and arrange on a serving plate. Drizzle with Mac & Cheese Sauce, and top with Chimichurri.
- Stand back as people rush to eat these yummy tailgating snacks!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Culinary Ginger
I didn’t think it was possible to increase my love of sweet potatoes, but you might have just done that. This is amazing and I can’t wait to try the recipe.
thischerishedlife
Wow! This looks absolutely amazing! And I love the photos. I seriously want to go make these right away! Beautiful job!
hjcameron
Looks great. Have a sweet potato in the fridge. This just might be dinner tonight. Thanks.
Sophia @ NY Foodgasm
Damn girl, this looks soooo soooo good! I am like basically in love with chimchurri- it is the stuff of legends! Then adding cheese sauce- SCORE!
You won’t even care if your team lost since you get to eat THIS!
Heather
Oh yum!!! That looks like an appetizer they’d serve at a restaurant. Looks delicious!
Robin Rue (@massholemommy)
OMG does that ever sound amazing. I need to make me some of this.
Kristin @ Dizzy Busy and Hungry!
These are definitely perfect for tailgating! Great recipe!
Erica (@Erica's Recipes)
Love this recipe Debi! The perfect way to indulge but not hate yourself 🙂 I am all about using a mac n cheese sauce – we need more recipes like this one don’t we!
Mama to 5 Blessings
Love sweet potato fries, they are so much healthier for you. This looks amazing.
Michelle F.
That looks heavenly! I love sweet potatoes fries.
Danielle S
The kid in me is jumping up-and-down with this recipe!
Mistee Dawn
Yum! Those look so good. I bet my hubby would love them.
dishofdailylife
These look fantastic! I have a feeling my family will love this…I know I will! Pinning!
Patty Haxton Anderson
You had me at Mac and Cheese Sauce – when I make mine I could eat it by the spoonful! This plate looks delicious Debi.
delphineefortin
They look incredibly tasty! I just shared them on Google+ 🙂
RockyMountainSavings (@RockyMtnSavings)
I’ve never heard of anything like this and I want it in my mouth right now!!
Linda @ForkandForage
You had me at Mac & Cheese sauce. This looks amazing, Debi!
Stephanie Pass
Such beautiful colors! And, I love a good mac n cheese sauce!
Kassondra from Motherhood Community
Wow, this looks absolutely delicious!
Liz Mays
Now that sounds incredible. I’ve never had anything like it, but I want to!