How To Cook Baked Sweet Potatoes

Must Try

The Health Benefits Of Sweet Potatoes

BAKED SWEET POTATO | how to bake sweet potatoes perfectly

Sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest veggies you can eat, and it’s nice when you can feel good about what you’re putting in your body at mealtime. “Sweet potatoes are honestly one of the healthiest foods you can eat. They are loaded with so many vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A which is great for skin and eyes,” Hahn raves. “They have fiber and also resistant starch them great for gut health, in turn, immunity. I always buy them organic and keep the peel on .”

When Should You Not Eat Sweet Potatoes

If the sweet potatoes start turning soft or mushy, they have gone bad. The same thing is true for sweet potatoes that turned a deep shade of brown to black. Check for weird growths through the skin or the presence of mold. If the sweet potatoes have developed an off-odor, toss the tubers in the trash.

How To Make A Baked Sweet Potato: A Tutorial

Making a baked sweet potato is seriously simple: you dont even really need a recipe. Of course, weve got one below. But follow these basic steps and youll be baking these up in your sleep. Now, want to hear our time saving secret? Cut the sweet potatoes in half before you bake them. Yes, this simple step seriously cuts down on baking time. Keep reading for more about it.

Recommended Reading: How Long To Bake Potatoes At 375 In Foil

Sweet Or Savory Oven Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes have a naturally sweet taste with their soft and fluffy baked insides, but depending on what you pair them with and the toppings you choose for the baked sweet potato, you can keep them on the sweeter side or turn them savory. Adding a small pat of butter, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a crack of coarse ground pepper is our all-time favorite way of topping baked sweet potatoes for lightly sweet yet savory flavor.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes Recipe Ingredients

Baked Sweet Potato: How to Bake Sweet Potatoes Perfectly

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it really lets the sweet potatoes shine. Unlike in a classic sweet potato casserole, you wont find any marshmallows, brown sugar, or maple syrup here. The sweetness comes from the potatoes themselves. Then, these ingredients add richness and depth of flavor:

  • Olive oil or melted butter Take your pick! I love the fruity olive oil in these mashed sweet potatoes, and it makes this recipe vegan. But if you prefer butter, its rich flavor is delicious here too.
  • Milk I use almond milk because its what I keep on hand, but cows milk or another type of plant-based milk would work as well.
  • Rosemary Rosemary and sweet potatoes are one of my favorite cold weather flavor combinations! It makes this mash cozy, aromatic, and complex.
  • Garlic For sharp, savory depth of flavor.
  • Ground ginger It adds subtle warmth.
  • And salt and pepper To make all the flavors pop!

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

Recommended Reading: Bush’s Baked Beans Sizes

How To Bake Sweet Potatoes

Give them a good scrub! While sweet potatoes have been given a rinse before arriving at the supermarket, theyre definitely not clean. To ensure you dont end up with dirt and debris in your meal, make sure to give them a good scrub. I use this scrub brush under some running water to give my sweet potatoes a good wash. Then I blot them dry with a paper towel.

Poke them. Sweet potatoes build up heat and steam while cooking. To prevent the sweet potato from bursting its necessary to give each sweet potato a few pokes to ensure this air can escape and it cooks evenly. You can poke the sweet potato 4 to 5 times with a fork or sharp knife.

Bake them in the oven. Lay the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and cook them for approximately one hour at 400°F. Because sweet potatoes are not always uniform in shape and size, you may need to cook them a little bit less or a little bit longer, depending on size. You can tell if your sweet potato is cooked through if it pierces easily with a knife.

Is It Better To Boil Or Bake Sweet Potatoes

Boiling may actually retain most of the antioxidant power of sweet potatoes, compared to roasting and steaming. Baking can also cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels, twice as much as boiling. Therefore, from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking should be recommended for cooking sweet potato.

You May Like: Can You Bake Frozen White Castle Burgers

How Do I Bake A Sweet Potato

How to Bake Sweet Potatoes Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Use a fork to poke holes into the sweet potatoes, and set them on the baking sheet. Roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the skin has puffed up and you can easily pierce them with a fork.

Ingredients For Baked Sweet Potatoes

How to Make Baked Sweet Potatoes | Allrecipes.com

For these no-fuss, easy Baked Sweet Potatoes, all youll need is:

  • Sweet potatoes choose a sweet potato that is medium-sized, has no soft spots, and is solid and heavy
  • Coconut oil may use avocado oil, olive oil, or melted butter in place of the coconut oil
  • Sea salt use your choice of coarse sea salt or fine sea salt

You May Like: Campbells Chicken And Broccoli Bake

Scrub And Pierce The Potatoes

Begin by grabbing the sweet potatoes and scrubbing them under running water to clean the skins well. Then, use a fork to pierce each sweet potato about 5-6 times. “You need to pierce the potatoes so they release some of the trapped steam,” Hahn explains. “I am not sure if they will actually explode, but I have never wanted to risk it.”

How To Store And Reheat

Sweet potatoes are a great meal prep ingredient! Bake a few at the beginning of the week to enjoy throughout the week. Theyre super easy to store if you have leftovers.

  • To store: Place the whole or halved sweet potato, or the scooped out flesh in a storage container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
  • To freeze: If you have a lot of leftovers, you can freeze them! Just scoop out the flesh into a storage container and freeze for up to 3 months.
  • To reheat: Pop the sweet potato in the microwave for a couple of minutes or in the oven at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until warmed through.

Don’t Miss: How Long To Bake Asparagus At 400

How To Choose Sweet Potatoes

Baked sweet potatoes make a great side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas! They are versatile in how you serve them and can be made to accommodate any number of dietary needs.

When choosing sweet potatoes, look for the following:

  • A smooth surface free of blemishes.
  • They should not have any bruises or discoloration at the tips. The tips should be firm and free from any moisture or mold.
  • They should feel firm and heavy for their size.

Can You Eat The Skin Of Sweet Potatoes

Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potato skins are safe to eat and can be easily added to most recipes. Theyre rich in fiber, other nutrients, and antioxidants that can help support a healthy gut, increase feelings of fullness, and prevent chronic disease. If you re looking to get the most nutrition out of your sweet potato, keep the peel on.

You May Like: Honey Baked Ham Catering Platters

Buying & Storing Sweet Potatoes

When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for firm, unwrinkled skins. Sweet potatoes come in all different colors creamy white, deep orange and purple. I usually buy Beauregard, Jewel or Garnet sweet potatoes just because those varieties are typically available at my local grocery stores. That said, Beauregard sweet potatoes tend to be stringier so when given the option I go for Jewel or Garnet.

Store your sweet potatoes in your pantry or on the countertop at room temperature. Theyll last about a week before they start to go bad .

Heres How To Make This Recipe

  • Step 1: Scrub any dirt or debris off the potatoes
  • Step 2: Use a large sharp knife to cut the potatoes in half.
  • Step 3: Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan. This will keep clean up quick and easy for you.
  • Step 4: Drizzle the halved potatoes with olive oil.
  • Step 5: Sprinkle sea salt over each potato half.
  • Step 6: Flip the potato halves so the sweet potato is flesh side down.
  • Step 7: Bake for 30 minutes at 400F in the center rack of the oven.

Don’t Miss: Easy Peanut Butter No Bakes

Nutrition & Health Benefits

We all know sweet potatoes are healthy and full of complex carbs. Theyre an excellent source of energy, high in dietary fiber and are rich in vitamins and minerals .

Heres a nutritional breakdown per 200g:

  • 264 calories
  • 63g carbs
  • 4.6g fibre

Theyre super hearty and satiating so great for meal prepping, adding it on the side or snacking.

How To Pick A Good Sweet Potato

How to make Oven-Baked Sweet Potatoes (Yams)
  • Red and orange sweet potatoes are often labeled as yams at the grocery store which is actually inaccurate. True yams are starchier and drier than sweet potatoes with a thick and fibrous skin.
  • There are lots of different varieties of sweet potatoes: Heres an article that describes some of the different varieties and characteristics.
  • I recommend skipping tan or purple skinned sweet potatoes and sticking with orange or red skinned sweet potatoes. This variety are sweeter and have a creamier texture.
  • My favorite sweet potatoes for roasting? Either Red Garnet or Jewel.
  • When picking a sweet potato at the grocery store look for firm potatoes without growths or discolorations on their skins. Avoid soft or wet potatoes.
  • For questions on freshness/how long a sweet potato lasts, check out this article.

Now that youve got some sweet potatoes, lets talk cutting.

There are a lot of different ways that you can cut sweet potatoes for roasting you can make roasted sweet potatoes wedges or crispy roasted sweet potatoes fries. You can even roast sweet potato halves! Thicker, bigger cuts will need a longer bake time, and thinner cuts will need a shorter amount of time in the oven. For this particular recipe, were making roasted sweet potato cubes, and I recommend cutting the sweet potato into ½ inch chunks.

While there isnt one single way to cut a sweet potato into cubes, Ill share my favorite way to cut them below.

You May Like: Nutrisystem Cinnamon Raisin Baked Bars

Do I Have To Use Oil On My Sweet Potatoes

Oiling the sweet potatoes then sprinkling them with salt isnt necessary but if youve gone the extra mile to get an organic potato and you enjoy eating the skin then this method wont disappoint. The skin comes out crispy and lightly salted and like your mother always told you, there are lots of vitamins and minerals in that skin so eat up and enjoy!

Baked Japanese Sweet Potatoes

October 26, 2020 By Lisa Kitahara

Learn the best way to make baked Japanese Sweet Potatoes for the perfect texture and flavour in this simple guide. Called Yaki Imo in Japan, these nutritious spuds are creamy, sweet and taste like cake. The ultimate healthy and satiating snack! .

Id like to think Im a Japanese Sweet Potato connoisseur Ive been eating these since I was born and to this day, they are still one of my favourite foods. Especially when baked . In fact, I think if I had to choose one food for the rest of my life it would be these gems. Not only are are they super sweet and taste like dessert theyre also incredibly nutritious, healthy and satiating. Plus, they are so versatile!

Also Check: Mrs Ts Loaded Baked Potato Pierogies

Baked Potato Method: Rub With Oil Then Roast At A High Temperature

Rating: 10/10

After testing all the other methods, I decided to combine two factors: rubbing the sweet potatoes with olive oil and roasting them at a higher temperature.

As with the 400°F method, Ipoked the sweet potatoes with a fork and rubbed them with olive oil, then roasted them unwrapped on a foil-lined baking sheet at 450°F. The potatoes still took 1 hour to cook through, even at the higher temperature, but the result was much improved.

This method is truly the best of all worlds: You get crispy, but not burnt, skin and a meltingly soft interior without spending hours with the oven on. The skin was crispy but not too burnt, and the flesh achieved the same levels of soft caramelization as the low-and-slow and frozen-roasted methods without the exceedingly long cooking times.

For those of us who wont always remember to stash a sweet potato in the freezer or have hours to spare waiting for dinner to cook, this is most definitely the way to go.

The Secret Tip To Their Crisp

The BEST Baked Sweet Potatoes!

With each attempt to crack the code I inched closer and closer to the answers.

And then one evening I decided to chop the potatoes into smaller cubes.

I also realized I could never get the amount of olive oil evenly distributed over the potatoes so I decided to toss them in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. It did the trick!

Although the baked sweet potato cubes will never be as good as those at the first meal I had with my future husband, this easy recipe sure does come pretty close and is the way I make them on a weekly basis at our house!

Read Also: How Long To Bake Potatoes At 425

Tips For Baked Sweet Potato Slices

  • For the best baked sweet potato slices, bake them at 375F oven. Baking them at a higher temperature might burn them or dry them out too quickly.
  • Buy firm and smooth sweet potatoes they are fresher.
  • Select small or medium sweet potatoes with red or orange skin which tend to be sweet and creamy.
  • Slice the sweet potatoes in roughly the same thickness so they bake evenly.

Perfectly Baked Sweet Potato

  • 4largesweet potatoes
  • 4tablespoonsunsalted butter
  • 1tablespoonextra-virgin olive oil
  • 1teaspoonKosher salt
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  • Wash, scrub, and dry the potatoes thoroughly. Place on a foil lined baking sheet.
  • Rub oil and salt all over the potatoes.
  • Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork.
  • Bake until tender, about 40-60 minutes
  • Let cool for about 5 minutes, then split the tops open with a knife and gently squeeze it open.
  • Top with a pat of butter and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper before serving. Enjoy!

Don’t Miss: No Bake Energy Bites For Diabetics

Brush The Potatoes With Olive Oil

Using your avocado oil, brush or rub it all over the potato. “I use avocado oil because it has a high smoke point, meaning it won’t break down and turn carcinogenic during high-heat cooking. I use avocado oil for any cooking in the oven or stove, and use olive oil for dressings and other that don’t involve heat,” Hahn explains of her preference of avocado oil. “If you have a high-quality olive oil, you can go up to 425 F without it breaking down, but I still lean on avocado oil.”

After oiling your sweet potatoes, place them in the air fryer in an even layer.

Baked Sweet Potato Slices

How to Bake Sweet Potatoes

This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn a commission. Read my disclosure page here.

These baked sweet potato slices are incredibly easy to make and such a delicious side dish for any meal. A perfect side for your holiday dinner this year.

You can serve these oven-roasted sweet potato slices along with chicken or pork tenderloin. They go wonderfully with any kind of meat and are so flavorful, easy and quick to make.

I love that the prep time is minimal and they are hands-off. You can pop them in the oven and bake them to perfection for about 30 minutes.

If you need a healthy side dish that goes with almost any meal, make sure to add this recipe to your weekly meal rotation. These sweet potato rounds melt in your mouth and everyone will be asking for seconds. They will look so good on your Thanksgiving table with that beautiful bright orange color.

Read Also: Does Kentucky Fried Chicken Have Baked Chicken

Tips And Trick For The Best Sweet Potatoes

  • Choose sweet potatoes that are roughly the same size and shape so cooking time will be the same.
  • Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up.
  • Let potatoes cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
  • Baked sweet potato calories? 143. So feel free to load these babies UP!
  • Top with butter, salt and pepper or sour cream and chives for a savory sweet potato.
  • Top with butter, brown sugar, and a sprinkle of cinnamon for a lovely sweet version.

Ideas To Serve Them Up

Theres so many ways to serve up sweet potatoes. I think theyre a great accompaniment to a variety of mains, including:

You May Like: Baked Mac And Cheese With Bacon

Popular Articles

More Recipes Like This