The Perfect 20 Minute Roasted Sweet Potato + Its Many Transformations

My love affair with sweet potatoes has likely been my longest lasting and healthiest relationship to date. This is my quarantine love song to my sweet sweets. Enjoy!

Why buy sweet potatoes, particularly now?
Roasted sweet potatoes have and will continue to be my ultimate Sunday cooking staple. They’re one of my essential building blocks in weekly stocking and if ever I find that I have no time to prep or make one of my weekly meal maps - I will never ever skip roasting sweet potatoes. So, on your next safe and sanitary trip to the grocery store, stock up on sweets. Store them in a cool dark place and keep them out of the sunlight to max out their storage time. Place them under the sink or on a low shelf in a closed pantry; when stored this way they’ll last up to 1 month. The perfect quarantine food … why yes indeed.

Preparation, Tools, Sugary Goodness + Clean-Up
425 degree oven
A roasting sheet + large knife
Silpat or parchment paper
Olive oil
Sweet potatoes

No need to fuss and peel or cube and dice, no and no. Simply slice the sweet potatoes in half and rub each side with olive oil, place them face down on a baking sheet and roast on 425 for 20-25 minutes. Roasting the sweet potatoes in halves, as opposed to whole, will cut cooking time by over half! 20-25 minutes will get you sweet and semi-firm potatoes that you can easily eat and reheat as is or cube and use during the week in a myriad of ways. I roast them plain and spice free so I can always layer flavor later and switch up flavor profiles to really stretch out their use.

I’m always sure to line my roasting tray with either a Silpat or parchment for ease of clean-up. When sweet potatoes roast, their natural sugars come oozing out and although this is the primary reason they are deliciously and naturally sweet, this caramelized sugary goop I love so much can also be miserable to scrub from a roasting pan.

I’ve roasted these things, now what do I do with them?
Use roasted sweet potatoes throughout the week in anything from salads to grain bowls or as an add on in quick bean dishes. Plan a baked potato night and load them up with more veggies, ground meat, yogurt, sour cream, avocado slices or guacamole. Pair them with eggs for breakfast or serve them with cheese, fruit and hummus for superior snack or lunch. Be unafraid of this root veggie with its many capacities to be transformed, eaten and explored by adding new flavors. If I have a few left at the end of the week, rare but it happens, I turn them into a sweet mash for breakfast that I’ll eat with anything from oatmeal to soft boiled eggs or a savory mash for dinner that I mix with egg and pan fry into a soft fritter - served alongside a protein.

More to come on how I combined these very roasted sweets with frozen lentils, sauce and toppings to make two different lunches this week.

A Sweet Potato Visual Feast