Learn how to bake sweet potatoes with these tips & tricks! Enjoy them with butter, salt & pepper, or in one of my favorite baked sweet potato recipes.
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When the air starts to get crisp in the fall, I start craving two things: a bowl ofsoup and a big, puffy baked sweet potato. Both are warming, cozy, and healthy. But while making butternut squash soup might be one of my favorite Sunday activities, a baked sweet potato is my weeknight standby. They’re incredibly easy to make, as your oven does 95% of the work. While they bake, you’re free to do as you please! Prep the remaining components of your meal, finish up with the day’s work, or catch up with family or friends. Then, take them out of the oven, top them to your liking, and dig in to a yummy baked sweet potato dinner!
How to Bake Sweet Potatoes
For a long time, I thought I didn’t like sweet potatoes. When I was growing up, I only ever had them in casserole form, smothered in marshmallows and brown sugar. Turns out, I love sweet potatoes, but I have to prepare them the right way! I like mine puffy, with caramelized edges and a crispy skin. Here’s how I make them:
- 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.
The most important thing to note here is that I DON’T wrap them in foil. If you do, the sweet potato flesh will still cook, but the skin will be very moist and almost slimy. In order to get delectable, puffed up crispy skin and caramelization on the outside of each baked potato, place them onto the baking sheet bare!
If you’re in a hurry, you can also roast sweet potato halves for 30 minutes. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise, rub them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook cut-side up until lightly browned and tender.
Oven Baked Sweet Potato Recipes
Of course, a perfect baked sweet potato with butter, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of chives is great, but your options for baked sweet potato recipes don’t end there. To make one into a full meal, I like to stuff it with a flavorful veggie filling and a yummy sauce. Find my 4 favorite fillings for stuffed sweet potatoes here, or click the picture below.
If you’re serving your oven baked sweet potatoes as a side dish, pair them with your favorite protein or vegetarian chili. For a topping, stick to butter, Greek yogurt, or sour cream, or try adding a dollop of cilantro lime dressing, tzatziki, chipotle sauce, pesto, guacamole, or a drizzle of tahini sauce.
If you have leftover baked sweet potatoes, save the soft flesh for another recipe. I blend it into the frosting of my vegan chocolate cake, transform it into a luscious Alfredo sauce, use it to bind quesadillas, or mix it into hummus!
Do you have any favorite baked sweet potato recipes? Let me know in the comments!
If you love this baked sweet potato recipe…
Try these 4 stuffed sweet potato variations (pictured above),baked sweet potato fries,sweet potato tacos, twice baked sweet potatoes, or this sweet potato casserolenext!
Baked Sweet Potato
Prep Time: 5 minutes mins
Cook Time: 40 minutes mins
Total Time: 45 minutes mins
Learn how to bake sweet potatoes with this simple recipe! Serve them as a side dish or stuff them to make them a meal on their own.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F and place a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Use a fork to poke holes into the sweet potatoes, set them on the baking sheet, and roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until puffed up and soft inside when pierced with a fork.
FAQs
Preheat the oven to 425°F and place a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Use a fork to poke holes into the sweet potatoes, set them on the baking sheet, and roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until puffed up and soft inside when pierced with a fork.
Can diabetics eat sweet potatoes every day? ›
You can still eat sweet potatoes if you have diabetes, assures Huff. The fiber content in sweet potatoes, especially if you consume them with the skin on, can help reduce spikes in your blood sugar. Plus, how you cook your sweet potatoes can also help reduce the extent to which your blood sugar rises.
Is it okay to eat a sweet potato every day? ›
If you enjoy sweet potatoes, you can absolutely enjoy them daily. However, eating multiple sweet potatoes every day could cause a harmless condition called carotenodermia, where your skin turns yellow-orange. You may also want to be cautious about your sweet potato intake if you have a history of kidney stones.
Are baked sweet potatoes healthy? ›
Sweet potatoes are root vegetables that are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, including beta-carotenes. They are good value for money, count as one of your 5 a day and make an easy, nutritious swap for other carb-rich staples.
Is it better to wrap sweet potatoes in foil when baking? ›
Wrapping sweet potatoes in foil helps in a few ways. It prevents the exterior of the tuber from drying out and overheating too quickly, which would minimize enzymatic activity; it also results in a more evenly cooked texture.
Is it better to bake sweet potatoes in foil or not? ›
No need to wrap your potatoes in foil though—you want them to really feel that oven heat, rather than steam. The skins: Removing the skin is completely up to you. I personally enjoy the texture of sweet potato skin, and you'll get some added nutrients and fiber.
Do sweet potatoes spike blood sugar? ›
“Sweet potatoes are a source of carbohydrates, which raise blood sugars,” says White. “People with diabetes can eat carbs but need to watch portions of foods with carbs.” What this means: Limit portions to half a sweet potato per meal or snack.
Is sweet potato good for high blood pressure? ›
Eating potassium-rich sweet potatoes helps promote a healthy heart. Higher potassium intake allows you to excrete more sodium lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk for heart disease according to the American Heart Association.
Is sweet potato too much sugar? ›
Sweet potatoes are the perfect example of a carbohydrate that's high-nutrient and low in sugar, sodium and saturated fat. It's exactly what diabetes experts recommend fill up one-quarter of your plate at mealtimes.
What are the side effects of eating too much sweet potato? ›
Consuming sweet potatoes in excess can result in sweet potato side effects such as Vitamin A toxicity, which is manifested in skin rashes and headaches. Due to high fibre content, excess intake of sweet potatoes can result in bloating, stomach pain and diarrhoea.
How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.
What is the healthiest way to eat a sweet potato? ›
The healthiest ways to prepare sweet potatoes are to steam or boil them. You can also bake, roast, or fry sweet potatoes, but you should take care to limit these preparation methods, which will cause the sugars to break down in different ways and often include extra recipe ingredients like oil, butter, or sugar.
Which is better, a baked potato or baked sweet potato? ›
Though they can both be part of a healthy diet, sweet potatoes are generally healthier than regular potatoes, partly because of their incredibly high vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes are also lower on the glycemic index, meaning that they are less likely than regular potatoes to make your blood sugar spike.
Is sweet potato better than bread? ›
One small sweet potato contains half the calories as a piece of toast. Vitamins A and C don't even register on the charts for bread, while sweet potatoes offer a good source of vitamin C and some potassium.
Is it healthier to bake or microwave a sweet potato? ›
It's really the best way. Microwaving sweet potatoes cuts down cook time by 45 to 55 minutes, and, according to a 2018 study, helps maintain the potato's nutritional value. All cooking methods cause foods to lose some of their nutrients, but the quicker your potato cooks, the more nutrients it will retain.
How long to bake sweet potatoes at 375 without foil? ›
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Wash the potatoes and pat dry.
- Rub the potatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Place potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake 45-60 minutes or until fork-tender.
- Remove baking sheet from the oven and serve.
Use an Oven That's Hot (But Not Too Hot)
Potato baking temperatures range from 350˚ to 450˚F. The sweet spot seems to be at 400˚F, a temperature that cooks the potato all the way through and crisps the skin without singeing it.
Do you poke holes in sweet potatoes before baking? ›
Before baking, use a fork to prick each sweet potato several times. You don't need to jab the fork in deep. We're creating steam vents. Otherwise the pressure in the sweet potato could build up so high in the oven that it explodes—an unlikely possibility but one best avoided!
What temperature do you cure sweet potatoes? ›
Curing the roots increases the post-harvest life of the sweet potato. To cure roots, hold them at 85 degrees F with 90 to 95 percent relative humidity (RH) for 4 to 7 days. After curing, reduce the storage temperature to 55 to 60 degrees F at 80 to 85 percent RH.
