Baked sweet potatoes are an autumn staple, and this truly is the easiest and tastiest way to cook them. By halving and roasting cut-side down, they caramelise slightly and are easy to serve as is or use for mashed sweet potatoes, soups, or dips. Roasted sweet potato tastes so much better than boiled or steamed, too.
Use your baked potatoes for sweet potato quinoa bowls, easy sweet potato flatbread (no yeast), and chickpea sweet potato burgers. I’ll often have one as a simple meal with something like boiled eggs or lentil salad and some raw vegetables.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Use any colour of sweet potato (yellow, orange, white, purple) but make sure not to mix it up with yams. True yams have a rough, darker brown skin and aren’t as sweet when cooked. You may see sweet potatoes incorrectly labeled as yams, though.
Step by Step
Step 1: scrub the sweet potatoes and halve lengthwise.
Step 2: place the potatoes cut-side down on a lined baking sheet.
Step 3: roast until soft, about half an hour.
Step 4: serve hot or cool fully before storing.
Recipe Notes
You don’t have to use baking paper, it just makes things easier. To skip it, lightly oil the baking tray and cook the potatoes in the same way, but note that they may stick in places and it will be pretty tricky to clean.
How to Store
Storage: keep roasted sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, skin on or off, for 3-5 days in a sealed container.
Freezing: transfer cooled sweet potatoes to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator before serving as usual.
Expert Tips
- Don’t worry about preheating: if your oven is quite fast to heat up, you can turn it on and put the potatoes right in. They’ll be ready in about the same time and you won’t waste any extra energy.
- Don’t use a cookie sheet: choose a baking sheet or casserole dish that has edges, or slightly higher sides, to prevent anything going off the edge. You don’t want burnt sweet potato sugar on the bottom of your oven.
- Imperfect veg is okay: the sweet potatoes pictured were a little pithy – the holes inside – which is fine and completely safe to eat. It’s caused by improper storage but you won’t know until you cut the vegetables.
If you make this Baked Sweet Potato recipe or any other vegetarian staples on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes or as many as you'd like
Instructions
- Preheat* the oven to 200°C (400°F) and use parchment paper to line a baking sheet with higher edges.
- Place the sweet potatoes cut-side down onto the baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on size, or until a fork can easily pierce through the thickest part.2 medium sweet potatoes
- Serve immediately or cool before storing in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
Notes
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
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