Crispy Yuca Fries Recipe: 3 Tips for Preparing Yuca

Yuca (Manihot esculenta) is the starchy, edible tuber of the cassava plant, a drought-tolerant tropical perennial. Rich in vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, yuca is native to Brazil but grown throughout South America, where it’s eaten as a dominant source of carbohydrates along with rice and maize. Yuca is also known as cassava, mandioca, macaxeira, or aipim, depending on where it’s found in the world.

There are two varieties of yuca consumed worldwide: Bitter yuca and sweet yuca. Sweet yuca is the variety you can find in Western grocery stores—usually stocked alongside other root vegetables like sweet potatoes and yams, with the plantains, or in the frozen section—while bitter yuca is mainly processed into cassava flour.

You can bake or fry yuca fries, and both techniques bring with them slight differences in flavor. Generally, yuca has a mild flavor with an earthy, bitter undertone; when baked, the outside of the yuca browns and caramelizes, adding a hint of toasty sweetness. When fried, this effect is less pronounced, with more of the flavors concentrated in the fluffy interior beyond the crisp shell.

Yuca might cook up like a potato, but it requires a bit more prep work beforehand.

1. 1. Peel the yuca before cooking. It’s important to peel yuca’s rough, fibrous outer skin before cooking or consuming because its flesh contains toxic levels of prussic acid and cannot be eaten raw. To peel yuca, cut the tuber in half crosswise and remove either end. Stand the vegetable on its cut side, and slice away the skin (usually with a chef’s knife, not a vegetable peeler), rotating as you go.
2. 2. Cook the yuca to avoid burning the outer layer. When making yuca fries, you’ll need to pre-boil the frozen or fresh yuca before frying; otherwise, the outer layer will burn before the inside turns soft and creamy.
3. 3. Bake the yuca. You can bake the fries on a baking sheet for a healthier cooking method than frying. Toss the pre-boiled wedges with a bit of olive oil or coconut oil and season with salt, black pepper, and any additional spices or flavorings. Bake in a 425°F oven for about 30 minutes, turning the fries occasionally until they’re golden brown.

While yuca and yucca are both plants with similar names, they are not interchangeable. Yuca is the starchy, edible tuber of the cassava plant, while yucca is an ornamental plant that belongs to the Asparagaceae family.