Kūmara Chips are New Zealand's take on fries — wedges or batons of kūmara (the NZ sweet potato, a Māori staple brought from the Pacific), baked or fried until crisp outside and fluffy within, served with aioli or sour cream. They are the modern Kiwi side dish, the healthy alternative to potato chips, found in every café and gastropub.
Kūmara Chips represent the modern evolution of NZ cuisine — the marriage of kūmara (the ancient Māori root vegetable) with the Western concept of 'chips' (fries). Kūmara (Ipomoea batatas, the sweet potato) was carried to Aotearoa New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of Māori, with archaeological evidence pointing to its cultivation here from around the 13th–14th centuries; it became the most important cultivated crop of pre-European Māori. Today it is ubiquitous in NZ cooking, from roast kūmara to kūmara mash to these chips. The chips are baked (the healthier modern way) or fried, seasoned simply with salt and sometimes smoked paprika, and served with aioli. They appear on every NZ café menu.
A pile of golden-orange, crisp-edged kūmara wedges, fluffy inside, with a sprinkle of salt and a side of aioli. The kūmara is sweeter than potato, with a denser, almost chestnut-like texture. Dip a wedge in aioli; the garlic and the sweet kūmara are perfect together.
Kūmara has a higher sugar and moisture content than potato, so the chips need different handling: they are best baked (not fried — frying makes them burn due to the sugar), and they benefit from a coating of oil and cornflour (which creates a crisp crust). The baking temperature should be high (220°C) for a crisp exterior, and the chips should be spread in a single layer (overcrowding steams them).
Variations
Some cut them as thin fries; some as wedges; some add rosemary or smoked paprika; the dip varies (aioli, sour cream, tomato sauce).
On the Palate
Where Kūmara Chips sits in the New Zealand flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · 25 min active + 20 min waiting
- 13 min
Preheat oven to 220°C.
- 25 min
Peel 3 large kūmara (about 800 g); cut into wedges or thick chips.
- 33 min
Toss with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp cornflour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika.
- 42 min
Spread in a single layer on a lined tray.
Watch outSpread the chips in a single, spaced layer — crowd the tray and they steam soft and pale instead of crisping.
- 522 min
Bake 20-25 minutes, turning once, until crisp and golden.
Watch outBake until the edges are crisp and deep gold, turning once — kūmara's sugar means they tip from golden to burnt fast.
- 65 min
Make aioli: whisk 1 egg yolk with 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp mustard; stream in 200 ml olive oil; season with lemon and salt.
Watch outStream the oil in a thin trickle while whisking nonstop — pour too fast and the aioli splits instead of thickening.
- 71 min
Serve the chips hot with aioli.
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