Baked sweet potatoes are super easy to make and taste even more delicious than regular baked potatoes. Perfect for busy days, when you need an easy AND healthy side dish everyone will love!
Better than regular baked potatoes!
Baked potatoes are awesome… but do you want to know what’s even better? Baked sweet potatoes! Baked sweet potatoes are just as easy to make as the regular kind, but IMHO they are much tastier. If you like sweet potatoes in other forms, but you’ve never given baked sweet potatoes a go, you need to try these ASAP!
Super simple to make…
Making baked sweet potatoes could not be easier. All you need to do is turn your oven on and put the (unpeeled) sweet potato in the oven and leave it there until it is cooked!
Next level baked sweet potatoes!
However, if you want to take your baked sweet potatoes to the next level, I recommend that you coat the skins of your sweet potatoes with olive oil and sea salt first, before placing them on a baking tray and baking in the oven.
What temperature should you bake sweet potatoes at?
For best results, I recommend baking sweet potatoes at 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
How long should you bake sweet potatoes?
How long a baked potato will take to cook depends on the shape and the size! I recommend buying 300g / 10 oz sweet potatoes that are a ‘normal’ sort of sweet potato shape (like the ones in the photos.)
A 300g / 10oz sweet potato will take approximately 50 minutes to bake.
(Of course, it also depends on the oven temperature. This recommendation is based on a cooking temperature of 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.)
How much sweet potato do you need per person?
This very much depends on appetite, but I recommend a 300g / 10oz baked sweet potato for a large appetite and half a 300g / 10oz baked potato for smaller appetites.
Packed full of goodness
And just in case you needed any more of a reason to make these delicious spuds, you might like to know that sweet potatoes are packed full of nutritional goodness. Sweet potatoes are rich in:
- Vitamin A (even half a sweet potato will give you well over 100% of your daily vitamin A needs!)
- B vitamins
- Vitamin C
- Calcium
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Phosphorus
- Potassium
- Thiamin
- Zinc
- Antioxidants
What to eat with baked sweet potatoes?
Baked sweet potatoes go well with exactly the same things as regular baked potatoes! For example, baked sweet potatoes are delicious with cold meats, such as leftover roast chicken or ham.
They also go well with stews and casseroles, such as my Easy Chicken, Chorizo and Chickpea Stew or my Mediterranean Chicken Stew. And of course, chilli con carne!
They are fabulous topped with any of your usual jacket potato toppings, such as:
- Guacamole
- Classic Coleslaw
- Tuna Mayo
- Grated Cheddar
- Baked beans (or why not try this Quick Beany Chilli!)
But one of my favourite ways to serve them is as a side dish to Nando’s style Peri Peri Chicken, together with my classic coleslaw and simply roasted corn on the cobs! Baked sweet potatoes are not an official Nando’s menu item… (or at least not in the UK) but I kind of think they should be!
What to do with leftover baked sweet potatoes?
Personally, I think baked sweet potatoes are at their best freshly made, but you can absolutely reheat them later if you need to. Put any leftover baked sweet potatoes in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where they will keep for 3-4 days.
To reheat, place in an oven, preheated to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F and warm through for 15-20 minutes, or until piping hot all the way through. To speed things up, cut the baked sweet potatoes in half lengthways, and then they’ll only need 10-15 minutes to warm through.
Another good way to use up leftover baked sweet potatoes is as a topping for a cottage pie or a shepherd’s pie – especially my Curried Shepherd’s Pie! Simply remove the flesh from the skins, mash the flesh and spread over your cottage pie / shepherd’s pie filling, then bake in the usual way.
Can you freeze baked sweet potatoes?
Yes you can! Simply put the cooked and cooled sweet potatoes in a lidded container and place in the freezer, where they will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost overnight in the freezer and reheat as above.
(To speed up defrosting and reheating times, I recommend you cut the baked sweet potatoes in half lengthways before freezing.)
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon salt (ideally coarse sea salt)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 whole sweet potatoes skins ON (roughly 300g / 10oz each)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Mix together the salt and olive oil in a large bowl.
- Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat thoroughly. (Or, even better, use your hands!)
- Place the sweet potatoes on a large non-stick baking tray, ensuring they are well spread out and in a single layer.
- Roast in the oven for 50 minutes, or until done to your liking.
Notes
- It’s crucial to ensure the sweet potatoes are spread out well over the baking sheet - if they are touching each other, they may take longer to cook.
- A 300g / 10oz sweet potato will take approximately 50 minutes to bake in the oven, but this does depend a little on the shape (a long, thin sweet potato will bake faster than a short, fat one!) If your sweet potato is larger than this, you may need to bake it for a little longer. I recommend splitting one sweet potato open after 50 minutes and checking it is cooked to your liking – if not, place it back in the oven and cook for a little longer.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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