Baked Sweet Potatoes (2024)

FAQs

What's the best temperature for baking sweet potatoes? ›

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.

Simply slide the tip of a knife or skewer into the thickest part of the potato. If it pierces the center easily and meets no resistance, your baked beauties are ready to serve. You can also use an instant-read thermometer; inserted into the center of the potato, the temperature should read 208-211˚F.

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!

Baking a sweet potato in the oven is great, but requires time. When you need a quicker solution, the microwave is your best friend — we're talking 5 minutes flat! We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.

Trapping that spud in aluminum foil where the moisture cannot escape results in a wet potato. Over baking the potato in foil cannot be seen (or easy to smell that it is overcooked) so you can end up with dark brown skin on the bottom, tough to eat and giving off a slightly burnt taste.

It's important to note that not every baked potato will bust open if it is not pierced beforehand, but since you (and we) are unable to predict if a potato is liable to explode, it's a good idea to pierce the surface as a precaution. Extra Tip: we do not recommend wrapping a potato in aluminum foil when you bake it.

Some say wrapping baked potatoes in aluminum foil helps them cook faster (aluminum conducts heat, then traps it), and it does keep them hot for longer once they come out of the oven, which is why we think restaurants use this method. Wrapping potatoes will also give you a softer, steamed skin, if that's what you like.

A good rule of thumb for whole baked sweet potatoes: 45 minutes to 1 hour at 400 degrees F; 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 350 degrees F; 1 and 1/2 hours at 325 degrees F. You'll know the sweet potatoes are done by piercing the center of the sweet potato with the tip of a sharp knife; the flesh should yield easily.

Why is my sweet potato hard in the middle? ›

According to the experts at the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, sweet potatoes shouldn't be kept in the fridge because exposure to cold temperatures "will produce a hard center and unpleasant taste." Instead, keep sweet potatoes at room temperature, in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated place.

Don't exceed the recommended cooking time because potatoes will continue to cook after they're removed from the oven and the skin will get dry. "Another common mistake is letting the potato rest or cool before cutting. This is not meat and the potato doesn't get better with resting.

Sweet potatoes are an absolute staple in our house. They are a canvas for a myriad of flavor combos! And one of the best ways to cook up this starchy vegetable is as a baked sweet potato. Not only does wrapping them in foil make for easy clean-up, but it locks in the steam for tender and fluffy potatoes!

But a little science can tell us how to maximise this dish's sweetness and deepen its flavour. Sweet potatoes are between 1 and 2.5 per cent sugar when raw, but they get sweeter as they cook thanks to the work of amylase enzymes that break down starch into simple sugars.

Sweet potatoes are an incredibly large and dense vegetable, in their raw state, which means they take forever to fully cook. When the sweet potatoes are halved, the baking time is dramatically reduced.

We recommend baking potatoes at 400 degrees F for about an hour. Smaller spuds might take a little less time, while larger baking potatoes over 1 pound might take a little more.

Sweet potatoes are very susceptible to chill injury, and must be cured at high temperatures (90 degrees) for 5 to 7 days, and then stored above 55-degrees for long-term viability. This also means you need to get them out of the field before soil temperatures drop below 55.

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.

Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking explains that the enzyme becomes active at around 135° and stops at around 170°. This means that if you bake your sweet potatoes low and slow, the enzyme will have more time to break down more starch and the finished potatoes will be very sweet.