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Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe

| January 22, 2012 | 10 Comments

Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe
Healthy and tasty sweet potatoes, a very versatile dish that is quick and easy to prepare and offers lots of possible uses.  Peel and eat or use them for sweet potato casseroles, sweet potato pies or sweet potato biscuits and much more.

Baked sweet potatoes have always been one of my favorites.  I have fond memories of mama pulling a big pan of sweet potatoes out of the oven and sitting them aside to cool.  I knew good things were on the way.

You might want to bake up a batch of them while you’re at it since they are so versatile.  Mama would freeze any unused potatoes for later.  She’d just pop them in a plastic container with the skins still on them.  When she wanted to bake a pie or make some sweet potato biscuits, she only had to pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw.  They’re really tasty and healthy for you.

Actually, they’re so simple you may be wondering why I’d even bother to do a step-by-step photo illustration on how to prepare them.  Let me answer that.
01 – I wanted some sweet potatoes.
02 – If I was going to bake them, I figured I might as well go ahead and do the step-by-step.
03 – I needed to practice since this is one of my first recipes on the website.
04 – Maybe, you’d be searcing some information on how to do it and we could help.

Mission accomplished all the way around.  How’s that?  Ready?

Let’s Get Cooking!!!

 

Raw sweet potatoes waiting to be baked.
You’ll need sweet potatoes of course.  Try to pick out potatoes that are all about the same size.

 

Wash the sweet potatoes well, scrub them with a brush if you have one.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Use a vegetable scrub brush if you have one and wash the potatoes well, removing any dirt.

 

Pat the sweet potatoes to dry the water from them.
Dry them with a paper towel or just set them aside a few minutes to air dry.

 

Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork.
Use a fork and pierce several rows of holes in each potato.  This lets steam out as they cook and keeps them from bursting open.  Sweet potatoes are pretty hard so use caution while doing this and don’t poke holes in your hand instead.

 

Arrange the sweet potatoes in a foil lined baking pan.
Use a rimmed type pan and line it with aluminum foil.  Place the potatoes on the pan.  Once they start cooking, the potatoes will ooze some sugar and it might drip down on the pan.  It can be a sticky mess and hard to clean so be sure to use the foil.  You can thank me later.  Some folks might prefer to just wrap each potato individually and bake them.  That works also, but I just prefer to bake them uncovered like this.  The biggest difference would be the texture of the skins either way, but most folks peel them and toss the skins.

 

Place the pan of sweet potatoes in the pre-heated oven.
Place them on the middle rack of your oven once it’s holding at 350 degrees.  You’ll want to check them after about 25-30 minutes to see how they are doing.  Oven temperatures vary and yours might cook faster or slower.  I let these bake for almost an hour.  Use an oven mitt and gently press or squeeze on them to see if they are getting soft.  It also depends on what you intend to do with them once they’re done.  You might want a firmer baked potato to just peel and eat or slice and serve.  You might want to cook them a bit longer if you plan to make mashed sweet potatoes for a casserole or pie.

 

The baked sweet potatoes
I let these bake until they were pretty soft since I wanted to just peel them and eat them with my meal.  With some toppings of course.

 

Serve the baked sweet potatoes while they're warm. Top with cinnamon sugar and butter if you like.
Now we’re talking!  Peel the potatoes while they are still warm and place on your plate.  Sprinkle on some ground cinnamon or cinnamon sugar and top with a couple of pats of real butter.  You could even add a little brown sugar and go even sweeter.  You could mash them up and mix in the cinnamon sugar and serve them more like you would regular mashed potatoes.  Ummm….they’re good.

Enjoy!

 

Print
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Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe

  • Author: Steve Gordon
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings
  • Category: Side Dishes
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Description

Healthy and tasty baked sweet potatoes. A very versatile dish that is quick and easy to prepare and offers lots of possible uses. Peel and eat or use them for sweet potato casseroles, sweet potato pies, sweet potato biscuits and much more.


Ingredients

  • • 4 or 5 whole Sweet Potatoes
  • • Cinnamon, Butter and/or Brown Sugar as desired.

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Scrub and wash potatoes well.
  3. Pat dry with paper towels or just set aside to air dry a few minutes.
  4. Use a fork to punch a few holes in each potato. Be careful, they’re kinda tough.
  5. Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with aluminum foil.
  6. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and then place in your oven, pre-heated to 350 degrees.
  7. Bake for about 45 minutes to One Hour, depending on how soft you want them.
  8. Remove from oven and peel as many as you intend to use.
  9. Top with a little cinnamon, some pats of butter and brown sugar as desired.
  10. Serve warm and Enjoy.

Notes

(A) Baked sweet potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. Don’t peel them, just put them in a plastic bag or container until you’re ready to use them.
(B) They can also be wrapped in aluminum foil or placed in freezer bags and stored in your freezer for several months. Just thaw them out as needed and warm in the microwave or use in your favorite recipe.

Keywords: Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe, made from scratch, how to bake sweet potatoes, southern recipes

 

Your Comments:
We welcome your feedback and comments on all of our recipes.  Please share your thoughts with us in the section below.

Be Blessed!!!
Steve

 

 

 

 

Tags: ,

Category: Side Dishes

About the Author ()

Award Winning Food Preservationist, Fisherman, Author of three cookbooks. "From Mama's Big Oval Table, From Mama's Big Oval Table - BOOK TWO and Carolina Christmas Sweets and Appetizers." Online Contributor to Our State Magazine Newsletter.

Comments (10)

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  1. Cisdey Bryant says:

    Delicious ♥️♥️♥️

  2. guy says:

    I’m reading this in 2018.

    Thank you for doing a step by step. I didn’t grow up eating these and have no idea what i’m doing.

  3. Claudia says:

    Recipe looks yummy. Niice site! My father used to make these –then he would Slice them lenthwise, melt butter and brown sugar in a pan -lightly brown the sweet potatoes in this sweet glaze and voila! Candied Yam! Loving ‘ The Good Life~ Claudia

  4. Gary Lilley says:

    Some friends of mine had cooked a turkey in the deep fat fryer with the Cajun injection and all that. Well when they got done, they had that Turrkey fryer full of hot oil, they quickly shaved some sweet potatoes into the hot grease and made sweet potato chips. Instead of sprinkling salt on them like potato chips, they sprinkled sugar. Delicious!

  5. Alyssa says:

    I’m trying this recipe for the first time for Thanksgiving! I’m making your recipe for sweet potato pie and were also having my Mom’s recipe for candied yams! Can’t wait to see how everything turns out. So glad I found your page.

  6. Erika says:

    You can also rub a little bacon drippings on them and wrap them in foil.

  7. Al Sevcik says:

    You know, I’ve baked sweet potatoes scads of times, put butter on them, and that was that. Never thought to sprinkle on some cinnamon let alone brown sugar. Wow. Makes all the difference. Now I get rave reviews on my sweet potatoes. Amazing. Thanks for the recipe.

    • Steve Gordon says:

      Hi Al, I’m glad you found our Baked Sweet Potatoes recipe and gave it a try. Very happy to hear that you liked the additions, and I do appreciate you taking the time to share your comments with us. I’m thankful you found Taste of Southern, and I do hope you’ll stop by for another visit with us… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve

  8. Tracy P. says:

    Yum! I love Sweet Potatoes, in any form. I love this recipie for anytime, while my kids love them with marshmallows. My new favorite is the make them into fries and dip them in ketchup, however that probably isnt’ the healthiest choice. 😉

    • Steve Gordon says:

      Sweet Potato Fries are very good, I enjoy them too. Mama would slice them up into thin slices and just fry them as rounds instead of long fries. Very good. Thanks for your comment Tracy. Be Blessed!!! –Steve

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