Get ready to fall in love with sweet potatoes all over again! This recipe for twice-baked sweet potatoes with smoky cheddar is simple, cozy and a little bit sophisticated. As the weather cools down, I reach for this recipe for its warm and comforting vibes and simple prep. Sweet, savoury, and smoky all together in one dish.
Sometimes the simplest things are the best of things. And sometimes simple can be so much more than just simple.
These are not the sweet potatoes you had yesterday. Nope. These roasted sweet potatoes are twice-baked, carmalized and sprinkled with good, creamy smoked cheddar. They are sweet, salty, peppery, and smoky. They are amazing.
Love sweet potatoes? Try these sweet potato recipes
Why This Roasted Sweet Potato Recipe Works
These roasted sweet potatoes are also myย ย "lazy-Sunday-afternoon-family-dinner" sweet potatoes.
- Simple Ingredients, Big Flavour: Just a few key items - sweet potatoes, cheddar, olive oil, and a few seasonings - result in an amazingly flavourful dish.
- Effortless Elegance: This recipe is surprisingly easy to make. Roasting the sweet potatoes brings out their natural sweetness and creates a beautiful caramelization with very little hands-on time. Plus, the smoked cheddar adds a touch of sophistication that elevates the dish.
- Sweet Meets Savory: The natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes intensifies as they caramelize in the oven. This creates a delightful contrast with the smoky, slightly sharp flavor of the cheddar. It's a match made in culinary heaven!
- Versatile & Crowd-Pleasing: Whether you're serving it as a side dish for a weeknight dinner or bringing it to a holiday gathering, these caramelized sweet potatoes are sure to be a hit. They pair well with a variety of main courses, from roasted chicken to grilled steak.
About the ingredients
There are not a lot of ingredients here - so select wisely.
Sweet potatoes. Select potatoes that are smooth and small. Single serve sized if possible, without blemishes or dried wrinkly areas. We like to eat the whole potato - skin and all - so select accordingly. Larger potatoes will work, you may need to cook them a bit longer or cut them in half for that initial bake.
Smoked Cheddar Cheese: I used a good quality Applewood Smoked Cheddar. A very hard, very rich and smoky cheese. Totally worth the trip to the specialty cheese counter or shop to find it. It has such an intense, deep flavour that you can get away with just a little bit. If you can't find something similar. Use the oldest cheddar you can find. You might even want to go with a good parm. Please don't use orange cheddar. It just might break my heart.
Salt: It does not matter to me if you kosher or sea salt. But I do find that I like the flavour burst that a coarse salt gives to these potatos. So reach for a good coarse salt instead of fine grind if you have it.
How to make twice-baked, roasted sweet potatoes
First Bake
Select the right potatoes: Get single-serve-sized sweet potatoes. Not the ginormous ones that will feed the entire family.
Give the potatoes a good scrub. The skins are part of the deal with this recipe, so clean them good. You want potatoes that will bake in their skin. Here, the skin gets a little caramelly and crispy, and it's salty, with a bit of cheese, so you want to be able to eat everything.
Bake potatoes at 350 for about an hour. Throw the potatoes in the oven and just walk away for a while. Do something else. Set a timer for 60 minutes so you don't forget about them.
Seond Bake
Turn up the oven. After baking at 350 for about 60 minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven and turn up the oven to 400.
Tear the potatoes into big chunks. I don't usually even separate them, but just tear big slits into the potatoes with a fork so that there will be a place for all the good stuff to collect.
Season. Drizzle a little olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, and throw them back in the oven. This is where the magic will happen.
Tip: Useย good salt and fresh ground black pepper. I like the way coarse salt doesn't melt away and blend into this dish but creates a sharp hit of saltinessย in each bite. Exactly the effect I want.ย This chili salt is amazing here.
Bake again. Place the potatoes back into the oven and let them caramelize and get a bit crispy, 15 or 20 minutes. The olive oil will carmalize and crisp up all the torn edges.
Sprinkle with Cheddar to serve. And when they get out, dust them with the very best cheddar cheese you can get your hands on.
Serving suggetions
- As a cozy and simple side dish for a weekend family dinner. Perfect with roasted chicken or pork tenderloin. This recipe is mostly hands off so you can busy yourself with other things while the potatoes bake.
- For a crowd. These do take a bit of time, but if you have the oven space, this recipe is fairly hands off. So can work well for a larger gathering Slightly unexpected alternative to the usual sweet potato casserol for Thanksgiving dinner.
- Weeknight dinner. It maybe just me, give me a baked sweet potato and a salad and I will call it dinner any day.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
๐ Recipe
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Smoked Cheddar
Ingredients
- 4 small sweet potatoes
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- ยฝ to 1 teaspoon salt use more if using coarse salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- ยผ cup Smoked Applewood Smoked Cheddar shredded
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350.
- Scrub and dry sweet potatoes. Prick each potato all over with a fork or tip of a sharp knife (be careful!) and place potatoes on a dry cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and yield when gently squeezed.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and turn the heat up in the oven to 400.
- Using a fork, break the potatoes into three or four pieces each. Drizzle with olive oil, about a teaspoon on each potato. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper and return potatoes to the oven for 15-20 minutes. They will crisp very slightly around the edges, their juices will begin to caramelize. Remove from oven and sprinkle hot potatoes with the shredded smoked cheddar. Serve.
More sweet potato recipes:
Sweet Potato and Kale Tortilla Soup (v)
Sweet Potato and Portobello Lasagna
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos (Slow-cooker) (v)
Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup (Slow-Cooker) (v)
Comments
No Comments