Half-Time Baked Sweet Potatoes – A Katie Mae Staple!

Baked sweet potatoes make a great meal when you need something low-fuss that you can just throw in the oven and forget about while you get some other things done.

They're so yummy on their own, but also incredibly versatile and easy to dress up.

One of my favorite ways to eat a baked sweet potato is with some black beans, diced tomato, avocado, corn, and fresh cilantro.

This KISS (Keep it Super Simple) Recipe shows you how you can bake sweet potatoes with the same delicious sweetness that we all love in half the time!

Before you get started, make sure to wash your sweet potato thoroughly to remove all dirt. Dirt in your dish can make it unpleasantly gritty.

To wash them, place the sweet potato under running water and use a vegetable brush to give 'em a good scrub. If you don't have a brush, you can use a clean washcloth, or even just your hands, which are not a great option but they're better than nothing..

The veggie brush is a small purchase that will make cleaning all of your root veggies so much easier, so save yourself some time and click here to get one for your kitchen: Fruit and Vegetable Cleaning Brush  

I'll give you three ways to use this super simple recipe, but the specific dishes you can create with these sweet taters are endless.

Option 1: Enjoy as is in all its glory! Trust me, it's got the flavor to go alone.

Option 2: Make it the starch to go with your plant-protein and veggies. You could even use it as a base fixing for a Buddha Bowl!

Option 3: Make and add to any recipe that calls for cooked sweet potato, like our recent Sweet Potato Cheese Sauce. Other plant-strong recipes you may come across that require cooked sweet potatoes include soup, hummus, pasta sauce, and curry.

With how delightful they are and so many ways to use the Baked Sweet Potatoes, I suggest making more than one at a time, as I do here. As a single person, I usually make 2 to 4 to enjoy throughout the week. If you have a partner or family, you may want to do even more.

Off you go.... Slice, bake, and soak up that sweetness!

Half-Time Baked Sweet Potatoes

By Chef Katie Mae

Makes 2 servings per potato | Ready in 45 minutes | Stores 1 week in fridge

INGREDIENTS

• 2 or more sweet potatoes

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, meaning from one end to the other.
3. Place the sweet potatoes face down on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake potatoes for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until they feel soft and fully cooked. You can either poke them with a fork to judge, or what I do which is give the largest one a gentle squeeze to feel how soft it is.

CHEF'S NOTES

There’s a range of doneness that’s acceptable. The longer they cook for, the more the sugars develop and the sweeter they will be. As they bake longer, you’ll also create that golden-brown coloring on the open, flesh side of the potato.

Don’t let them cook for too long. Otherwise, the inside of the skin will become blackened, and you don’t want that.

If you want to reduce the cooking time even more, you can slice each half in half lengthwise, so the sweet potato is sliced into long quarters. However, doing this means that one of the flesh sides will be exposed to the circulating air, which will cause it to dry out. When the potato halves are fully face down, less moisture escapes and the texture of the flesh is heavenly.