How to Bake Sweet Potatoes

Learn How to Bake Sweet Potatoes with this easy recipe.  Oven baked sweet potatoes make an incredible side dish to serve with just about anything, but it can also stand alone as a vegetarian main.  

Whether you bake sweet potatoes to serve as a side dish or you want to stuff  them full with your favorite ingredients like shredded or ground chicken, cooked vegetables or beans for a stand alone main, baking sweet potatoes couldn’t be easier!  

Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe

• Sweet Potatoes, scrubbed clean and pricked with a fork
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Garlic clove, peeled smashed and minced
• Salt and pepper 

Find printable recipe with measurements below.

How To Perfectly Bake Sweet Potatoes

• Pre-heat oven. Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees
• Prep potatoes. Scrub the potatoes clean and prick them using a fork. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil. Brush the potatoes with olive oil and crushed garlic (this step is optional). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Bake. Bake in the oven until soft (if you can insert a knife or fork through the thickest part of the potato easily, your potato is ready to eat)

Tips for Baking Sweet Potatoes

• You don’t have to rub or brush the outside of the potatoes with oil (but I like to add some olive oil and garlic).  Sweet potatoes bake perfectly without any oil and without wrapping them in foil
• Be sure to prick the potatoes with a fork so the steam can escape while they bake
• Make sure your oven is good and hot (400-425 degrees)
• If the outsides of the potatoes start to look like they’re getting a little too toasty, you can turn down the oven temperature and cook them a little longer at a lower heat
• Depending on the size of the sweet potatoes and your oven, it usually takes about 45-60 minutes for the sweet potatoes to get nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside

How to Choose Sweet Potatoes

• October through December is peak season for sweet potatoes, but they’re typically in the markets year round
• When buying sweet potatoes to bake, choose potatoes that are about the same size and weight so they’ll finish baking at the same time
• Choose potatoes that look fresh and don’t have any holes or spoiling spots on them

How to Prepare Sweet Potatoes

• Scrub and rinse your sweet potatoes under cold water to remove any remaining dirt 
• Depending on your recipe and your personal preference, you don’t need to peel the skin on sweet potatoes.  The sweet potato skin is a good source of insoluble fiber and the sweet orange meaty insides are rich with soluble fiber.  
• The larger thicker sweet potatoes can be hard to cut through, so be sure to use a sharp knife

Serving Suggestions

I’ve given the sweet potatoes in these photos a good dollop of  Roasted Garlic Butter.  This butter makes baked sweet potatoes taste absolutely  incredible!!   I’ve included the recipe for the herbed butter in the recipe card for printing below.  It’s super easy to make and so worth making sweet potatoes just so you have something to serve this butter with (for a special occasion)!  It’s amazing on mashed potatoes as well! 

More Sweet Potato Recipes 

• Breakfast Sweet Potatoes
• Chicken Fajita Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Coconut Curry Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

More Resources

• How to Boil Corn
• How to Make Tzatziki
• How to Poach Chicken
• How to Make Cauliflower Rice
• How to Bake Sweet Potatoes
• How to Cook Pinto Beans
• How to Cook Chickpeas
• How to Cook Black Beans
• How to Cook Lentils

Continue to Content

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Yield: 4 servings

How to Bake Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Learn How to Bake Sweet Potatoes with this easy recipe.  Oven baked sweet potatoes make an incredible side dish to serve with just about anything, but it can also stand alone as a vegetarian main.  Learn how to bake sweet potatoes with this easy oven baked sweet potatoes recipe. 

Ingredients

• 4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean and pricked with a fork
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled smashed and minced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425º.
2. Prick the outsides of sweet potatoes using a fork so steam can escape
3. Arrange sweet potatoes on baking sheet
4. Brush or rub olive oil and garlic on the outside of each sweet potato
5. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a fork or knife can easily poke through the tender flesh of the sweet potatoes
6. Let the sweet potatoes cool for about 5 minutes before slicing them open with a knife

Notes

Tips for Baking Sweet Potatoes

• You don't have to rub or brush the outside of the potatoes with oil (but I like to add some olive oil and garlic).  Sweet potatoes bake perfectly without any oil and without wrapping them in foil
• Be sure to prick the potatoes with a fork so the steam can escape while they bake
• Make sure your oven is good and hot - 400-425 degrees 
• If the outsides of the potatoes start to look like they're getting a little too toasty, you can turn down the oven temperature and cook them a little longer at a lower heat
• Depending on the size of the sweet potatoes and your oven, it usually takes about 45-60 minutes for the sweet potatoes to get nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside

How to Choose Sweet Potatoes

• October through December is peak season for sweet potatoes, but they're typically in the markets year round
• When buying sweet potatoes to bake, choose potatoes that are about the same weight and size so they'll finish baking at the same time
• Pick potatoes that look fresh and don't have any holes or spoiling spots on them

How to Prepare Sweet Potatoes

• Scrub and rinse your sweet potatoes under cold water to remove any remaining dirt from them
• Depending on your recipe and your personal preference, you don't need to peel the skin on sweet potatoes.  The sweet potato skin is a good source of insoluble fiber and the sweet orange meaty insides are rich with soluble fiber.  Some forms of soluble fiber may help lower risk of heart disease and insoluble fiber helps food pass through our digestive system more quickly
• The larger thicker sweet potatoes can be hard to cut through, so be sure to use a sharp knife

Herbed Butter Recipe

• 1/2 cup unsalted organic butter (1 stick)
• 1 large head garlic (1 whole head not just 1 clove)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

How to Make Herbed Butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut the very top of the garlic head off.
3. Place the garlic head in a ramekin and drizzle the top of the exposed garlic cloves with the olive oil.
4. Loosely cover with aluminum foil.
5. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until cloves are caramel in color and feel soft when pressed.
6. Place the butter in a small bowl and set aside to room temperature while the garlic roasts.
7. Remove the garlic cloves from the head and add to the butter.
8. Using a hand mixer, blend the butter and roasted garlic until smooth and well blended.
9. Fold in the parsley and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
10. Spread the butter into a ramekin and refrigerate before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 164Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 115mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 2g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations.