Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2024)

By Martha Rose Shulman

Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe (1)

Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Rating
5(647)
Notes
Read community notes

These make a great lunch or snack. If you can wait long enough, they will get sweeter over time in the refrigerator, so bake some extra and cut thick slices to go with cottage cheese, goat cheese, or feta for a quick lunch.

Featured in: Versatile Potatoes of the Sweet Variety

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Ingredients

Yield:: Serves 4

  • 4medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

112 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 26 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 72 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2)

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Scrub sweet potatoes and pierce in several places with a sharp knife. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the potatoes on top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the potatoes, until thoroughly soft and beginning to ooze. Remove from the heat.

  2. Step

    2

    If not eating right away, place on a plate or in a dish and allow to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (they will continue to ooze and sweeten). Serve cold (cut in thick slices and remove the skin) or room temperature, or reheat for 20 to 30 minutes in a 350ºF oven.

Tips

  • Make the recipe through Step 1. Transfer to a baking dish that will hold the potatoes snugly. Allow to cool completely (they will continue to ooze and sweeten). Slit the potatoes lengthwise and douse with the juice of 1 to 2 limes, to taste. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve at room temperature or reheat for 20 to 30 minutes in a 350ºF oven.
  • Don’t try to save time and use a microwave for this. Your sweet potatoes won’t be nearly as sweet if you cook them this way; they need the time in the hot oven for their enzymes to convert starch into maltose, the sugar (about one third as sweet as table sugar) that makes sweet potatoes sweet.

Ratings

5

out of 5

647

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Bella

Sweet potatoes are even sweeter if you bake them at 350F degrees or lower. It takes longer to cook, but will be well worth the wait!

Eric Rodgers

Doesn't get more foolproof than this. Among my favorite additions to warm sweet potatoes: vanilla yogurt and ground cinnamon. Works equally well as dessert or breakfast.

DMutchler

A baked sweet potato is a delight with (drumroll)...brown sugar, butter, and a good chipotle BBQ sauce. (I'd give the name of my favorite, but I'm not sure that would be permitted.) All are optional, of course, and some BBQ sauces are sweet enough on their own, if not some sweet potatoes. But right out of the oven, slicing the skin from end to end then scooping/scraping the potato out, I slather it with the aforesaid. Who needs anything else?

mimi

In Korea we often eat roasted sweet potatoes with kimchi. Use purple Japanese sweet potatoes (they are whiter inside) to try this!

Jane

This was such an easy dish to prepare ahead of time. I baked the potatoes on one day, let them set with skin still on in the refrigerator overnight. A few hours before serving, I removed the skin, sliced thick and plated on an oven recommended serving platter. Just before serving I put them into the oven for 20 minutes and squeezed lime juice over the slices before serving. Easy and delicious.

Angela

Instead of a knife to pierce sweet potato use a fork pierce 2 times on each side.

Christa

And no need to remove the skin! It's tasty as well as nutritious!

mudyboots

My favorite. I like to eat after baking with cottage cheese. Yummy

Whole Grain

Cooked my potatoes at 350F until easily pierced with a fork or butter knife. Did not bother piercing prior to baking. They usually seem to be done when I can see them oozing juices, which may begin crusting on the pan around them. Very tasty eaten plain right out of the skin or turned into a puree for pie or cheesecake recipes.

mjb

Trader Joe's (at least the one near me) sells bags of sweet potatoes. They tend to be smaller than the ones you can buy individually and you get roughly 8 per bag. I bake all of them at once and store in the fridge. I am on WW purple program and sweet potatoes are considered a zero point food. Having them on hand makes for quick and low point friendly meals and snacks. And I agree with other commenters, keep the skin on. It's delicious.

Stephanie

A warm sweet potato is so good with melted blue cheese on it , can’t get enough lol. Give it a try, you may need to like blue cheese though.

Christa

This is such a simple, healthy, and satisfying lunch and dinner--came home and popped two sweet potatoes in the oven, one for dinner tonight with cottage cheese and one for lunch tomorrow with cottage cheese. Smelled wonderful while it was roasting. Look forward to trying this with goat cheese and feta cheese.

Susan

Ever since I discovered this recipe, this is the only way I make sweet potatoes. I made them again last night and while they cooled, snuggled together in their baking dish, I roasted a couple of pieces of halibut. Delicious, easy, healthy.

Catherine

Melt goat cheese over the potato just before eating. Delicious.

ZGBNM

Use sauce from sweet potato fries

Beth D

This is a wonderful recipe. It is the only way I make my sweet potatoes. Have made various sizes potatoes and adjust the time and temperature accordingly with convection bake. Really appreciate that no oil/fat is used. Wrapping in the plastic wrap once cooled is key. Have 3-4 oz in the morning with eggs as a great starter of the day.

ellen

You can also freeze them after baking, and have a different texture sensation

Victoria

I split mine and sprinkle with rice vinegar, salt and pepper and eat while hot. Yum. Also good: split sweet potatoes topped with hummus and crisp roasted kale.

mjb

Trader Joe's (at least the one near me) sells bags of sweet potatoes. They tend to be smaller than the ones you can buy individually and you get roughly 8 per bag. I bake all of them at once and store in the fridge. I am on WW purple program and sweet potatoes are considered a zero point food. Having them on hand makes for quick and low point friendly meals and snacks. And I agree with other commenters, keep the skin on. It's delicious.

Ron Nemirow

To those who eat this with cottage cheese – do you bake it with the cottage cheese? Or do you add the cottage cheese after it’s baked?

Whole Grain

Cooked my potatoes at 350F until easily pierced with a fork or butter knife. Did not bother piercing prior to baking. They usually seem to be done when I can see them oozing juices, which may begin crusting on the pan around them. Very tasty eaten plain right out of the skin or turned into a puree for pie or cheesecake recipes.

MarciaF

Definitely agree that the skin is fabulous - especially if you’re eating them hot. The skin and the flesh that clings to it are also denser in nutrients than the flesh alone.

aaliyah

We tried this recipe just this morning. It worked really well. Thank you!

Stephanie

A warm sweet potato is so good with melted blue cheese on it , can’t get enough lol. Give it a try, you may need to like blue cheese though.

Christa

And no need to remove the skin! It's tasty as well as nutritious!

Christa

This is such a simple, healthy, and satisfying lunch and dinner--came home and popped two sweet potatoes in the oven, one for dinner tonight with cottage cheese and one for lunch tomorrow with cottage cheese. Smelled wonderful while it was roasting. Look forward to trying this with goat cheese and feta cheese.

Christa

I make these all the time and have become a sweet potato addict! Whole Foods has a gorgeous display of several varieties, and I keep replenishing my stock. Sweet potatoes are interchangeable with winter squash, and I use sweet potato puree in a number of dishes. This is really too easy to make--all you do is stick it in the oven for an hour, and you can roast them ahead of time. Highly recommended--sweet potatoes have so many varied uses and tasty combinations.

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Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you wrap a sweet potato in foil before 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.

Why do you soak sweet potatoes before baking? ›

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Why do you put oil on sweet potatoes before baking? ›

The perfect baked sweet potato is simpler than you think! Lightly oiling the skin and sprinkling with a bit of salt makes for crisp skin and a tender inside. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Do you have to poke holes in sweet potatoes when baking? ›

1) Always poke a few holes.

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!

Why is it advisable not to wrap potatoes in foil while baking? ›

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.

Do you wash sweet potatoes before baking? ›

They're dirty! Washing the sweet potatoes not only eliminates actual particles of dirt, but it also introduces some moisture to the skin, which prevents it from turning tough or leathery in the high heat of the oven.

Why is boiling a sweet potato better than baking? ›

At the same time, the glycemic index of boiled sweet potatoes was found to be about half that of baking or roasting, so boiled sweet potatoes give us less of a blood sugar spike. Make sure to keep the skin on, though.

How long to soak sweet potatoes to remove starch? ›

Transfer to a bowl filled with ice and water and let it soak for 30 minutes. The cold water helps with removing excess starch and crisping up the potatoes later. The longer it sits in the ice, the better.

Why do you salt potatoes before baking? ›

Q: Why is it common to salt the exterior of a baked potato? A: Chefs started doing this years ago to allow the salt to absorb or draw out the moisture of the potato while baking, which results in a dry, fluffy potato.

What makes sweet potatoes taste better? ›

14 Ways To Add More Flavor To Sweet Potatoes
  1. Slather with cinnamon butter. Siims/Getty Images. ...
  2. Drizzle with tahini. ...
  3. Roast with savory chili sauce. ...
  4. Sprinkle on some good ol' salt and pepper. ...
  5. Pan fry with ginger and orange. ...
  6. Rub with garlic and rosemary. ...
  7. Dip in honey mustard. ...
  8. Sweeten with brown sugar and pecans.
Feb 17, 2023

What does baking soda do to sweet potatoes? ›

Baking Soda – boiling the potatoes in baking soda draws out the starch and allows the outside to get brown and crispy. Sweet Potatoes – yams work fine too. Extra Virgin Olive Oil – gets infused with rosemary and garlic and is the key to getting that crispy exterior.

What's the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? ›

True yams are part of an entirely different genus (Dioscorea; sweet potatoes belong to Ipomoea in the morning glory family) and are more akin to yuca in texture and flavor. Yams are commonly used in Caribbean and West African cooking and can grow as long and thick as an adult arm.

What temperature is a baked sweet potato done at? ›

If you'd like a more precise indicator, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the sweet potato. The internal temperature of a cooked sweet potato should read between 205- and 212-degrees Fahrenheit.

Does wrapping potatoes in foil make them crispy? ›

The interior of a foil-wrapped baked potato is wetter and less fluffy, and the skin isn't crispy. Wrapping adds an extra step and results in inferior baked potatoes, especially if you enjoy eating the crispy skin, so don't do it!

What is the purpose of wrapping potatoes with aluminum foil? ›

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.

Should I bake potatoes on foil or parchment paper? ›

Preheat oven to 375° and line a sheet tray with parchment paper. Wash potatoes well and scrub off any dirt that is on them. Dry throughly and place on sheet tray. Using a fork, pierce holes into each potato- about 3 pokes on each side.

Why do you wrap foil in the oven? ›

Covering dishes with aluminum foil during a bake helps lock in moisture. Loosely placing or tenting a sheet of foil over a dish can prevent the top from browning while the rest of your dish continues to bake.

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