A baked whole sweet potato can take an hour, or longer, to cook. And that hour-long bake time doesn’t always result in soft potatoes. Ugh! Below, I share the secret to making the best and quickest baked sweet potatoes in under 30 minutes! This recipe is unlike any other baked sweet potato recipe. The caramelized flavor and quick nature of this recipe will leave you craving this vegetable all year long.
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How to Bake Sweet Potatoes
There are different ways to roast and bake sweet potatoes:
- Chop sweet potatoes into cubes, drizzle with olive oil, then bake on sheet pan at 425F for 30 minutes.
- Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork, wrap in foil, then bake in the oven for 1 hour, until soft and tender.
- Then there’s the no-baking way to bake a sweet potato in the Instant Pot.
All of these methods and recipes will render a delicious end result, but nothing is like the method I’m about to teach you. Prepare to be majorly wowed by the flavor of this recipe. Even if you don’t like sweet potatoes, I think this recipe will change your mind. And the best part, this recipe only requires 3 ingredients: sweet potatoes, olive oil, and salt.
Just real-food goodness that’s flavorful and super healthy! Just as real food should be.
What Readers Say:
“I made this recipe exactly as it stated. Omg! They came out delicious! Thank you so much for the easy way to bake a sweet potato. l will continue to use this recipe as it’s so easy!”
GLORIA
How to Make the Best & Quickest Oven Baked Sweet Potato Recipe
The secret to creating the best and quickest baked sweet potatoes is to first slice each potato in half. Sweet potatoes are an incredibly large and dense vegetable, in their raw state, which means they take forever to fully cook. When the sweet potatoes are halved, the baking time is dramatically reduced.
But something else happens when the potatoes are halved. The halved potatoes, when cooked flesh-side down, caramelize. Caramelization = incredible flavor and texture.
The end result is the best baked sweet potatoes!
I won’t ever go back to the slow method for baking a sweet potato ever again. Give this method a try and tell me what you think.
How to make this recipe…
- Step 1: Scrub any dirt or debris off the potatoes (you’ll want to eat the delicious and nutrient-dense potato skin once baked)
- Step 2: Use a large sharp knife to cut the potatoes in half.
- Step 3: Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan. This will keep clean up quick and easy for you.
- Step 4: Drizzle the halved potatoes with olive oil.
- Step 5: Sprinkle sea salt over each potato half.
- Step 6: Flip the potato halves so the sweet potato is flesh side down.
- Step 7: Bake for 30 minutes at 400F in the center rack of the oven.
How to Serve Baked Sweet Potatoes
This recipe can be used in so many different ways to create a variety of nutrient-dense meals, from breakfast to lunch to a dinner main meal or side dish. Here are a few ideas:
- As a side dish, enjoy the fiber-rich sweet potatoes with a healthy fat like butter and cinnamon or pepper. Serve the potatoes alongside grilled boneless chicken thighs, a roasted whole chicken, grilled steak, or your favorite protein.
- For a dinner, top a sweet potato with homemade chili for a stuffed sweet potato meal.
- For a lunch, make buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potatoes by tossing roasted and shredded chicken with a buffalo sauce (like this one from primal kitchen), then top the roasted potato with the chicken and a dollop of sour cream and cilantro. You can also do this with Instant Pot BBQ chicken.
- For a protein breakfast, spoon nut butter (like peanut butter) over the potato and top with banana slices and cinnamon and a teaspoon of hemp seeds (optional). This is one of my favorite breakfasts! Serve with fluffy scrambled eggs, a simple cheese omelette, or one of 15 different ways to make eggs for breakfast.
How to Prep Sweet Potatoes in Advance
Baking sweet potatoes in advance will save you a ton of time and make eating healthy, real-food meals easier during the busy week.
To prep sweet potatoes in advance…
- Bake the sweet potatoes: cut in half, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then roast on a sheet pan for 30 minutes.
- Once baked to perfection, allow the sweet potatoes to cool on the sheet pan. You don’t want to place the sweet potatoes directly into a storage container while hot as this will cause condensation to build in the container.
- Once fully cool, place the potatoes in a storage container and place in the fridge. (Read: My best tips for storing fresh food in the fridge.)
How to Reheat
To reheat the prepared potatoes, place the cold potatoes on a sheet pan and warm in the oven (at 350F), in a skillet, or in the microwave or a toaster oven.
You’ll also love…
- This sweet potato casserole isn’t the marshmallow and brown sugar casserole from childhood. Oh no, it’s healthy, flavorful, and sure to have everyone asking for the recipe.
- Sausage and sweet potato hash is a protein and fiber rich breakfast that you can prep in advance on the weekend and reheat throughout the week.
- Apple and sweet potato bake is a sweet and savory side dish or topping for ice cream during the cooler months.
The Best and Quickest Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon oil avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, or melted coconut oil
- salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Cut the sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise, with a sharp knife. Place the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Drizzle the potatoes with one tablespoon of oil, then rub the oil on the flesh of each potato. Sprinkle each potato with just a pinch of salt.
- Flip the potatoes over, flesh-side down on the baking sheet. Some oil will spill over on the sheet pan–that's normal and okay.
- Bake the sweet potatoes, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes, until the skins begin to look shriveled and soft. Remove the potatoes from the oven.
- The baked sweet potatoes should be slightly brown and caramelized on the top of the flesh and soft throughout the potato. Enjoy the potatoes warm (I love to add a tablespoon of butter and cinnamon, or see other ideas in the post above), or place them in an air-tight container in the fridge to enjoy later in the week.
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Hello Kristin! Tried this recipe last night and it was so delicious.
Last year I decided to become a vegetarian and since then have been trying new things. Such as sweet potatoes.
I had my doubts because my family would struggle baking these. So, I’m really happy I found this recipe because it was absolutely worth trying out.
I’ll be saving this and using it for further reference ?
Thank you.
– Steph.
Awesome, Steph! I’m so glad you enjoyed the sweet potatoes.
About to try this thanks! Quick question – Do you pierce the outside with a fork once or twice before baking?
Hey Ken, No, you don’t need to pierce the potatoes :).
Made these tonight for dinner with salmon and steamed broccoli…. these were so much easier and absolutely delicious! Like candy! Thank you so much!!
Hey Milla, I’m so happy to heart that!
I’ve made this exact same meal many times. So colorful!
Awesome, Vermontah. I’m glad you’re enjoying the sweet potatoes.
I have used this simple recipe numerous times. Pair these potatoes with some steamed veggies and fish and my meal is complete ?
Yay, Sarah! Thank you so much for coming back to share and rate the recipe.
so I meant to use this as a meal prep…but I kinda ate the sweat potato right out of the oven! So lovely!
This recipe is so simple and they taste amazing! It is my go-to recipe for baked sweet potatoes! Thank you!
Yay, Jodi! I’m so happy to hear that!
You were right . The absolutely best sweet potato I’ve ever had. Thank you.
Awesome, Scott!
Just what I was looking for! Easy and yummy! Can’t wait to make tonite! I’m gonna choose coconut oil and sea salt! Happy cooking everyone!
Hope they turned out as you hoped!
LS Team
Cooked up perfectly and absolutely delicious! Thanks!!
My mind is BLOWN, I will never cook a sweet potato another way ever again. Caramelised to perfection!!!
Yay, Alannah! I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
You have changed the way I feel about baking sweet potatoes! They took forever to bake and now they cook in half the time and taste more amazing than ever before. Bless you ??
Thank you for sharing these Awesome potatoes .. I love simple meals since we have busy lives working full time and this fits perfectly. Love the taste, have already shared with my friends !
Living on a farm near the Sweet Potato Capital of the World means serving them in some fashion several times a week. Five stars for time saved, easy prep/cleanup, and great taste. Option – top with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and slide back in the oven for a few minutes.
I just made these sweet potatoes tonight using this recipe, it was soooo good. I HIGHLY recommend cooking them using this recipe!
I’m so glad you loved them, Sher!
I didn’t mean to submit my review but had hit the wrong key. Anyway the potatoes are delicious as I am eating the caramelized portions. 🙂 Also, they should be done to the point the skin peels off easily and sometimes wholly.
Glad you’re enjoying them, Tom.
I make sweet potatoes often. Fried, baked, and even microwave, etc. I’m baking them today as I’m tediously working toward a perfect sweet potato pie recipe. Here a tweak there a tweak. I wanted to bake them this time to the point of caramelization. Mine a re nearly done but my comments have to do with advice. I recommend weighing the sweet potatoes first as one will have much better luck if they are all similar in weight. Many will think size but there is a difference. Nonetheless having them fairly close in size will ensure even cooking for all potatoes.
Definitely, T. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely easy and delicious. This will be a weekly item!
Awesome, James! I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
Wow! I can’t believe how simple and delicious these sweet potatoes were. I have a new go-to recipe. Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked them, Lacey!
This method of cooking sweet potatoes has changed my life. OK, yes, my life’s a little boring, but regardless, I am completely hooked on cooking sweet potatoes this way and will never go back. Just made them last night! YUM!
Food snobs, stand aside……these are the bomb! I followed roasting directions and seasoned with just olive oil and pink salt. I had butter prepared for adding after plating, but it was completely unnecessary! These turned out to be so soft, moist and flavorful inside with a satisfying crust, that adding anything was just wrong. After one bite, I gobbled it down with ‘mmmm’s’ of pleasure. OK…….maybe a sprinkle of a spice to match it up with different main courses would be a good compliment, just to switch things around a bit, but this is a mainstay keeper. I can’t thank you enough for making my cooking so much easier!
I’m so glad you love the sweet potatoes, Elise! Thank you for the sweet review.
I just took them out the oven … they will be in our weekly meals now.. not just for the holidays… thanks for sharing..
Awesome, Karen! Enjoy!