Sweet Potato Fries with Mac & Cheese Sauce

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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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

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

Debi

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.

5 from 1 vote

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Cook ModePrevent your screen from going to sleep.

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Calories 632 kcal

Ingredients

  

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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

The Chimichurri Sauce makes more than you need for these fries.

The Mac & Cheese Sauce also makes more than you’ll need for these fries.

Nutrition

Calories: 632kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 16gFat: 49gSaturated Fat: 19gPolyunsaturated Fat: 14gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 752mgPotassium: 541mgFiber: 4gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 10303IUVitamin C: 22mgCalcium: 485mgIron: 4mg

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.

Keyword cheese sauce, chimichurri, sweet potato fries

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