Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes

by Sabrina Snyder

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Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes recipe made with potatoes, butter, salt and pepper are the PERFECT addition to any dinner and ready in under 60 minutes!

We’re always searching for easy side dish recipes around here, and some of our absolute favorites are Baked Mac and Cheese,  Easy Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans.

Baked Sweet Potatoes
 Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes

Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes are a healthier alternative to my Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes recipe, but still pack a TON of sweetness and flavor without all of the sugar. We like to serve these during the holidays because sweet potatoes are a really traditional flavor, but they’re actually perfect to serve all year long.

Usually baked potatoes are made with russets, but if you’re looking for a change sweet potatoes are naturally more nutritious and work just as well. Sweet potatoes also have a tough skin just like russets, so they are ideal for this kind of recipe.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BAKE A SWEET POTATO?

Most of the time I bake sweet potatoes on the middle rack of the oven. If you’re in a rush, you can pierce the outside of the potato skin and put the potato in the microwave, 5 minutes at a time until they’re cooked through, usually about 10 minutes for a large potato. You can also wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and grill them for 35-40 minutes, or until they’re soft.

Another option is to bake the sweet potatoes in the slow cooker, if you need the oven for other things. Just clean and salt the sweet potatoes, pierce the skin, and wrap in foil before placing in the pot. Then cook on low for 9-10 hours or on high for a total time of 4-5 hours, until the sweet potatoes are soft.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN A POTATO IS BAKED?

Sweet potatoes are done baking when a fork can go through to the center of the sweet potato easily and with little resistance. If you can’t get the fork through that means it is undercooked, let it go for longer.

DO YOU HAVE TO WRAP POTATOES IN FOIL TO BAKE THEM?

There are benefits to wrapping sweet potatoes in foil before baking them, but you don’t have to. The foil helps them stay warm once they come out of the oven, and helps keep the skin softer by trapping moisture in to steam them. If you want the skin roasted and  crispy, avoid using foil in the oven and wrap them afterwards to keep them warm. When I make sweet potatoes in the oven, we eat them right away so I don’t worry about using foil.

If you grill the sweet potatoes, foil keeps the flame from burning the outside. The foil can also increase the cooking time slightly.

MORE SWEET POTATO SIDE DISHES

CAN YOU Meal PREP BAKED POTATOES AHEAD OF TIME?

You can prep a baked potatoes side dish ahead of time by washing them the night before, but wait to cook until the day you’re serving them. Don’t wash them more than a day or two in advance to keep the potatoes fresh.

I recommend prepping the toppings the night before and refrigerating them, then setting the slow cooker in the morning so the potatoes will be ready just as you’re setting the dinner table.

Baked sweet potatoes can be stored refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days.

TRY THESE BAKED SWEET POTATO TOPPINGS

  • Browned Butter or Olive Oil
  • Cinnamon or Paprika
  • Sour Cream and Chives
  • Brown Sugar and Pecans (did you see yesterday’s Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes?)
  • Mini Marshmallows
  • Honey or Maple Syrup
  • Black Beans and Salsa or Chopped Onion

TIPS FOR MAKING BAKED SWEET POTATOES

  • Make sure your potatoes are all about the same size, or they’ll finish baking at different times and you’ll end up with over or undercooked potatoes.
  • Rubbing wet potatoes with coarse salt helps make the skins crispy while also adding flavor when baking.
  • Add a drizzle of olive oil when you’re salting your baked sweet potatoes to make the skin extra crispy.
  • Add the butter while the potatoes are still warm, so it has a chance to melt. While the butter is melting, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and an optional dash of cinnamon for extra flavor.
  • I like to line my baking sheet with tinfoil because sweet potatoes leak some juice when baking. Don’t add these directly to your oven rack or you will have to clean up sticky potato juice on the bottom of your oven.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees, or you may need to add more cook time.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

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Dinner, then Dessert

Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes

Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes recipe made with potatoes, butter, salt and pepper are the PERFECT addition to any dinner and ready in under 60 minutes!
Yield 4 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Baked Sweet Potatoes
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 4 medium sweet potatoes washed
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees and wash the sweet potatoes before piercing the sweet potatoes with a fork all over.
  • Place on baking sheet lined with foil and cook for 45-50 minutes until tender and serve sliced open with butter, salt and pepper.

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 218mg | Potassium: 438mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 18800IU | Vitamin C: 3.1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 0.8mg
Keyword: baked sweet potatoes

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About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  5. These are perfect. I love sweet potatoes and I love making these as a replacement for the traditional regular potato! So GOOD!

    Reply