Roasted Sweet Potatoes
These easy Roasted Sweet Potatoes are delicious enough to be eaten as a side dish, but can also be used as a base for other recipes like Sweet Potato Hash and hearty salads.
We make these roasted sweet potatoes at least once a week in my house. They are such a great staple!
My toddler loves to nibble on sweet potato chunks taken right off the baking sheet, and I keep the leftovers in the fridge for throwing into various meals.
The usual is my daily lunchtime salads, but you can get creative in other ways, making hashes or pairing them with this Cilantro Jalapeño Sauce for some delicious vegetarian tacos.
It’s healthy, filling fuel ready to go, and roasting them this way brings out their natural sweetness.
How to Make Roasted Sweet Potatoes:
First you need to decide if you’re going to peel the sweet potatoes.
I personally LOVE the texture of the skin, so what I do is only peel the gnarly parts (like where my knife is pointing in the photo below), and try to leave as much of the skin on as possible:
If you’re leaving the skin on, I recommend buying organic sweet potatoes, and giving them a scrub beforehand.
Now it’s time to dice the sweet potatoes. First I cut them in half:
Then prop the sweet potato up on its flat side, and cut straight down to make planks:
Lay each plank down, and cut into even chunks:
I cut them about 3/4″ square, but you can make them as big or as small as you’d like.
Place the cubed sweet potatoes in a large bowl, and add oil, salt, and any other seasonings you’d like:
Toss well, then spread the pieces out on a sheet pan that’s large enough to hold the sweet potatoes in a single layer, with some space between:
Roast for about 40 minutes, until fork tender.
The skins and outsides should have a nice chew and caramelization to them:
The roasted sweet potatoes make for a great side dish, but I also use them as the base for Sweet Potato Hash, and throw them into my salads at lunch.
Roasted Butternut Squash, Roasted Cauliflower, and Roasted Brussel Sprouts are some of my other favorite vegetable side dish staples. Enjoy!
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. If necessary, line the pan with parchment paper (see recipe note).
- Decide whether or not you'd like to leave the skin on, then cut the sweet potatoes into cubes about 3/4" wide (see step-by-step photos for cutting guidance).
- Place the sweet potato cubes into a bowl and toss with the olive oil and salt.
- Spread them out on a sheet pan in a single layer, then roast for 40-45 minutes, giving everything a toss halfway through to redistribute, and keeping your eye on them at the end. They should be fork tender in the middle, with a slightly caramelized exterior. Enjoy!
My young kids devoured the tray. Love how they caramelize on the edges.
I made this recipe to go along with our Traeger-smoked pulled pork. The recipe was easy and the sweet potatoes are delicious. They are tasty on their own and we tried a butter & brown sugar topping on some. That made it taste like dessert.