Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What toppings are good on a baked sweet potato? ›

topping ideas:

dollop of greek yogurt, or tzatziki. a scoop of guacamole. a drizzle of creamy avocado cilantro lime dressing.

Wrapping sweet potatoes in foil helps in a few ways. It prevents the exterior of the tuber from drying out and overheating too quickly, which would minimize enzymatic activity; it also results in a more evenly cooked texture.

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

You can still eat sweet potatoes if you have diabetes, assures Huff. The fiber content in sweet potatoes, especially if you consume them with the skin on, can help reduce spikes in your blood sugar. Plus, how you cook your sweet potatoes can also help reduce the extent to which your blood sugar rises.

Slow-roasting the sweet potatoes activates endogenous enzymes that bring out their natural sweetness.

Do you have to poke holes in sweet potatoes before baking? Typically holes are poked into a sweet potato to prevent a potato exploding in your oven. However, the chance of that happening is low, and according to Lifehacker, sweet potatoes will retain more flavor if you don't poke them.

I wouldn't recommend doing that. Your pokes will expose the potatoes to oxygen and the potatoes will turn black wherever the fork tines pierced the skins. It is very infrequent that a potato will burst from baking if you put it in the oven when you first turn it on so that it has a chance to come to temperature.

Some say wrapping baked potatoes in aluminum foil helps them cook faster (aluminum conducts heat, then traps it), and it does keep them hot for longer once they come out of the oven, which is why we think restaurants use this method. Wrapping potatoes will also give you a softer, steamed skin, if that's what you like.

Do sweet potatoes taste better baked or boiled? ›

Baking whole sweet potatoes in the oven or cutting them into cubes and roasting them caramelizes the potatoes' starchy flesh, making it sweeter and giving it a silky smooth texture. Even if you are making mashed sweet potatoes, they will taste better with oven-cooked potatoes.

You can eat sweet potato skin. It's a good source of fiber, a nutrient that may help lower the risk of heart disease and keep you feeling full for longer periods of time. The next time you make a sweet potato dish, whether it's a roasted side dish or a hearty, cozy casserole, leave the peel on.

How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.

If you have diabetes, you can eat sweet potatoes daily — as long as you factor the vegetable's carbohydrate count into your meal planning. “Sweet potatoes are a source of carbohydrates, which raise blood sugars,” says White.

When boiled, sweet potatoes are a low glycemic index (GI) food, meaning they won't spike your blood sugar as much as regular potatoes, according to research. Baking, roasting, and frying are the worst ways to prepare sweet potatoes for people with type 2 diabetes, they found.

A good yogurt sauce can make a sweet potato complete, but of course you can always pile on other toppings, too. Drizzle your potato with yogurt sauce, then top with crumbled cooked sausage, especially spicy merguez or chorizo. Or, if you have any leftover roasted or braised meat, shred or chop it and crisp in a pan.

Editor's Tip: Additional favorite baked potato toppers include roasted red peppers, blanched broccoli, diced onions, diced ham, shredded cheese, sour cream, fresh herbs, sliced hot peppers, sliced olives and crushed tortilla chips.