5 tips on how to bake the perfect sweet potato. It is easy to bake the perfect sweet potato by using these quick and essential tips. You will never have a badly baked sweet potato again.
Over the years of eating out at restaurants, friends’ homes and even making my own sweet potato recipes, I have discovered that there is such a thing as a badly baked potato.
After trying many different ways, I have developed 5 tips that are essential in getting the perfect baked sweet potato. If you have more questions, feel free to ask in the comment section.
What makes sweet potatoes distinctive?
Sweet potatoes are a highly nutritious and part of the root vegetables family. They provide various essential ingredients, including potassium, fiber, vitamin a, vitamin c and more. Source: Medical News Today.
What’s the difference between them and yams?
- Yams are much starchier than sweet potatoes
- Yams have a darker skin color
- Yams are not as sweet as sweet potatoes
- Sweet potatoes have a more orange colored flesh while yams have lighter color
What’s the best way to eat them
- Baked and topped with a dollop of sour cream
- Load or stuff these best baked sweet potatoes with your favorite toppings like black beans and corn.
- Lightly roasted and flavored with simple seasonings, black pepper and sea salt.
- Steamed and topped with a little butter. For extra flavor, add garlic powder.
Baked sweet potatoes makes for the perfect side dish. When you are looking for a healthy side dish for Thanksgiving, these sweet potatoes are it!
So, How do you bake a sweet potato?
Choosing the right sweet potato to bake
Baking whole sweet potatoes is an art! Before you start using my 5 tips, you need to find the right sweet potato. No sweet potato will be perfect if you choose the wrong shaped sweet potato.
Here are a few things to look for in your sweet potato
1. Make sure it’s long
Sweet potatoes come in many shapes and sizes. There are long ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones and thick ones. It’s hard to decide which size to choose at the grocery store.
If you are going to be loading a baked sweet potato, it HAS TO BE LONG. This way you will be able to load the ingredients evenly and make it look like its really loaded!
There is nothing wrong with the short, stubby sweet potato. It is perfect in a sweet potato curry or even mashing them. But, to load them or to use the pulp, the long one is sweeter and “meatier”
2. Avoid those with “rot”
Some parts of the sweet potato can dry up and start rotting. Use them in curries or soups (cut out the bad part first).
But, don’t use them in a baked sweet potato recipe!
3. Look for symmetry
A sweet potato with symmetry is going to bake evenly and have an even flavor. You won’t get parts of the sweet potato that are dry while other parts are watery.
Draw an imaginary line from the top of the sweet potato to the bottom and right in the middle. Then, check to see that there is an almost equal amount of potato on both sides.
Check out these two cuties! They have amazing symmetry! Talk about the perfect sweet potato!
5 quick tips on baking the perfect sweet potato
Follow these quick tips to get the perfect baked sweet potato
Tip #1: WASH, WASH, WASH! Then wash some more
Nothing ruins a good sweet potato casserole or sweet potato pie like dirt! Yes, I have actually experienced that.
I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house a few years ago and they made mashed sweet potato pie. The cook washed the potato quickly and microwaved it.
The result was a gritty and dirty potato pie.
So, I use the fingers that humans are lucky to have and get into that sweet potato. I clean every nook and cranny and even use a vegetable brush to get through it all.
Once it is clean, I dry it using a paper napkin and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I want to make sure that there is no water left on the skin
Tip #2: poke holes into it
Poking holes works! The end.
I have had potatoes where no holes were poked. They turned out to be too mushy and almost inedible, while the outside remained dry and uncooked.
So, I poke holes in my potato with a fork and avoid that problem. The holes are not deep, just superficial enough which is a great way for the steam to escape.
Tip #3: lightly oil the outside
I cannot stress the importance of this tip. When I oil the outside of the potato with avocado oil, the skin doesn’t become a dry and crinkled mess. The skin remains smooth and easy to peel once the sweet potato is baked.
It sounds strange, I know, but I don’t like my sweet potato to look like a giant shriveled raisin when it is done baking.
Tip #4: cover up with it’s best friend
There are 2 types of people in this world. Those who wrap the sweet potato and those that don’t!
Of the 5 tips, this one is the most controversial one. Those who think that it shouldn’t be wrapped are against it because they want to let the steam escape out of the potato and never to come back.
My personal preference is to keep the steam contained.
Now, I know that this tip completely contradicts tip #2! But, hear me out.
When I wrap my sweet potato in foil, I wrap it loosely. So, some of the steam still escapes out of the ends of the foil. Most of the heat is contained within the sweet potato and it also cooks the outsides of the potato.
This bakes the potato from the inside and the outside. Therefore, you will notice that sweet potato is baked evenly.
When the potato is not wrapped, I find that the outside gets cooked more than the inside. Also, it gives my oven a lingering sweet potato aroma for days.
Tip #5: leave it in the oven
The last of the 5 tips is leaving the potato in the oven’s wire rack after you turn it off. Bake the potato in the oven at 400 degrees for 65 minutes.
Depending on your oven, the baking time may vary. At about the 45-minute mark, I take a knife to it and see if it is easy to pierce the skin of the potato.
If the knife goes through easily, then I turn off the oven and let the sweet potato sit in the rack.
I leave it in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes and then remove it from the oven. Quick tip: Learn from my burn scars and don’t use your bare hands to remove it.
After removing it from the oven, I let it cool at room temperature. Then, I open it and split it lengthwise with a sharp knife. Using a fork, I begin pulling the meat of the sweet potato away from the skin. Then, put the pulp into a bowl and season it.
This particular sweet potato is going to be used for a sweet potato soup.
Make ahead and storage
Luckily, you can bake sweet potatoes ahead of time and make it part of your meal prep. Refrigerate just the pulp or the whole baked sweet potato.
You can also put it in the freezer. Wrap after it bakes and cool in parchment paper and place it in a Ziploc bag. Put the baking date on it, freeze and use it up within a month of baking it.
Alternatively, you can store it in an airtight container like these (Affiliate Link) glass containers which are freezer and oven friendly.
March 2018 Update:
Over the years, I have been asked several questions about the baked sweet potatoes, so here are some answers to FAQ about baking sweet potatoes:
Sweet Potato FAQs
Yes! sweet potatoes are healthy in general because they have a heavy dose of Vitamin A. According to Wikipedia, 100g of sweet potato has about 89% of the RDA.
Baking the sweet potato brings out all its flavors and nutrition.
Yes, the skin is edible after baking the sweet potato. However, some people don’t like the taste. In that case, compost it instead of discarding it. Or, you can roast the skin separately! This roasted crispy skin can be an easy game day appetizer.
Yes, you can bake them in the microwave, but should you? No, I don’t recommend it at all!! Microwave zaps out the nutrition, cooks the sweet potato unevenly and it looses some of its sweetness. Instead, go with an air fryer to bake them.
Yes, after they are cooked, they should be refrigerated, if used within a week. Freeze them and use within 6 months.
You can choose 425° and bake for 65 minutes, placed on an oven rack and not on a baking tray. I have always baked sweet potato at 400° for about 55 minutes. Depending on your oven, they can take about 45-60 minutes to be fully baked.
I have read studies where that theory is disputed and I have seen studies where that theory is proved. The bottom line is that there is no firm study that prove the link.
If you are making this perfect sweet potato every day, then maybe using an aluminum foil might be problematic. Using aluminum foil once in a while is ok.
Truth is, Alzheimers is very complicated and there is no one source.
I like using foil because it circulates the heat evenly. At the end of the day, you have to do what you think is right for you. No judgments here!
So, now you know my 5 tips for baking a sweet potato. What are your tips for making a perfect oven-baked sweet potato recipe?
Try these other sweet potato recipes
- Sweet potato wedges
- Sticky sweet potato fries
- Air Fryer Sweet potato cubes
- Air fryer candied sweet potato slices
Sharing is caring
Don’t be shy, chime in below in the comments. Let me hear your opinion on this recipe. If you enjoyed this, please give it 5 stars and share it on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Youtube.
5 Tips For Baking The Perfect Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 1 Sweet potato
- 2 tsp Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- Wash and dry the sweet potato thoroughly. Use a vegetable scrubbing brush if you have to.
- Poke holes in the potato using a fork. I poke the potato in about 5 different locations
- Lightly oil the sweet potato
- Using aluminum foil, wrap the potato. Don’t wrap it too tightly.
- Bake for 65 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the potato in the oven.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to cool to touch
- Open the foil and split the sweet potato lengthwise.
- Using a fork, pull the pulp away from the skin and place the pulp in a bowl
You can discard the skin or use it in a loaded sweet potato recipe
Video
Nutrition
I did everything exactly as this stated and my potatoes weren’t even close to cooked. Wtf. 400. 45 minutes. Let sit in the oven for 10 more. Removed to cool. Cut open and hard as rocks in the middle.
Boo.
Thank you, James. I am sorry it didn’t work for you. Oven temperatures always vary and I mention that you might have to keep the potatoes in the oven a little longer. Please try it again at 400 degrees and let it cook for 50-55 minutes. I would love to see how it turns out this time
Alwsys check with a fork or knife to make sure it’s tender enough before turning oven off. If it slides into the potato with out any fight. Your good to go.
A lot depends on the size of the potatoes. I just baked two and it took about an hour and fifteen minutes, left it in another fifteen once the oven was off. Worked like a charm. I’d say just stab it every ten or so minutes after the initial forty-five to test.
That has actually been an experience of mine as well. You just have to cook it longer when you have a stubborn sweet potato that won’t soften so easily.
I’ve avoided baking potatoes for years because I can’t seem to get it right… until now!!! Thank you for these simple, yet detailed instructions. My potatoes were delicious. I used coconut oil and baked them for an hour. Deliciousness!!!
So happy to hear that, Persephone. Thank you for your comments
Very good. I think my potato was huge, baked it for one hour (followed all of your directions) but it was still a little hard in the middle. Didn’t matter I ate the whole thing-including the skin. YUM! Thanks for this recipe.
I used to work at Sweet Tomatoes in California over 20 years ago and back then the baked potatoes were cooked on a potato rack, each potato poked on the rack & standing on their ends. Then they were wrapped in foil after being baked while held to serve in the warmer/hot well, so you may reconsider your preference to wrap and bake in foil.
I used avocado oil and did everything else you suggested. The BEST sweet potato I have ever had…and I eat them all the time (homemade fries, boiled and mashed with coconut oil, roasted with onions…) but this potato was soooo smooth and creamy. I enjoyed it so much I am going to keep making them as one of my entree sides for a few weeks 😀
Thank you!
Thank you so much, Carole. I am so glad to hear that. I love smooth and creamy sweet potatoes too. 🙂
I adjusted the time to 30 minutes for “petite sweet potatoes,” and left all the other instructions as is. Made the perfect sweet potato!! Thanks for the tips!!
Why on earth would you throw out the skin?! That’s where all the vitamins are! Also, what’s the point of the oil and the foil wrap “keeping the skin from shriveling up like a raisin” if you’re just going to toss the skin out anyway? Eat the skin! It’s good for you AND tasty!
So true. But, most people find it hard to chew and digest the skin. Its understable that they would discard it. Personally, I like to keep the skin because I am too lazy to peel it, lol.
That’s true !!! I love the skin..
I’m on this diet thing and it has sweet potatoes I despise them I tried frying them up like Fried potatoes and I ate them okay but after couple of days eating them I feel like throwing up so now I’m trying your way of doing it but if it does the same thing what else can I do to eat it without wanting to gag?
Thank you, Tanya. I hear you when you say that Sweet potatoes are hard to like right away. If baking and frying them doesn’t work, try shredding them and using them in stir fry recipes. If you have a zoodle maker, make zoodles from them and make pasta type recipes from it. Once you like the taste of shredded potatoes, then you can move to the cubed versions.
Hi. I feel you may have been using wrong type of sweet potatoes. Some you barely discern any sweetness , and others are delicious and more on the sweet side. Also if they are too mushy they are disgusting. Ask people that you know who make them often in your area and find out what they buy and where . Also the red ones are the sweetest to me. They do need to steam to keep from drying out, hence the foil wrap. Also if microwaving, wrap in a damp paper towel, plus a clean hand towel slightly moistened. And cook about 3 minutes at a time until almost done, then add another minute or let sit in wrap a few minutes to finish cooking. I hope this helps.
I’m making a sweet potato souffle so I thought I’d ask how long to cook thank you for your information
Just made this. Was amazing. I could have this by itself for dinner. I cooked mine the full hour then another 15 with the oven off and was perfect!
Thank you, Pat. I am glad to hear that it worked perfectly for you.
Just followed your directions but had to cook 60 min in my oven. The best sweet potatoes ever ?? I top w butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. So good!! Thank you!
Thank you, Timicka! You are making me yearn for a loaded sweet potato right now. 🙂
Have you ever rubbed kosher or sea salt on the skin after running with oil? Makes it super crispy and delicious!! My chef-boyfriend taught me that trick!
Thank you, Kelly. No, I can’t say I have, but, I will definitely give that a try.
Yes….that’s what I do I add crazy salt on mine along with cinnamon
I am actually baking mine right now! My little boy (10 months) loves sweet potatoes and I can never get it right! It’s always too soggy on the skin and the inside doesn’t always end up too tastey either! I’m hoping mine turns out good! From the reviews it seems I’m baking one from Texas Steak Roadhouse!
Thank you so much, Lauren. Let me know what you thought of it.
Perfect baked sweet potato. I ended up baking mine for 1 hour and then let it cool in the oven wrapped in foil for 15 min. Perfect! Just like the high end resteraunts serve them.
Thank you so much, Travis. So happy to hear that. Glad you enjoyed it.
I love set potatoes and eat them like baked potatoes, so I love crispy skin. I’m making 2 now wrapped in parchment paper packs. Will let you know how they turn out!
Thank you, Scout! I am happy to hear from a fellow sweet potato lover! Please send me pics of your recipe.
I am trying this method right now. The last sweet potatoe I enjoyed came off the bar-b-q grill and was amazing. I really like a crispy skill but using the foil per your instruction, just to see how it is. I may take the foil off half way through baking. I will let you know how it turns out.
Thank you, Sarah. Please let me know what you thought of it.
Wrooong. Never cool food in tinfoil. The aluminum leaks into the food and links to Alzheimers and dementia. Great idea!
What is your proof? You can’t drop comments like these and just run away. That is very cowardly. Let me tell you what the research says. It says that all this is not proven. And Aluminium would have to be consumed in extremely large doses over long periods of time.
I love people who perpetuate these kinds of lies without bothering to look into any real research to support/dispute such claims. I put people who spread the “aluminum causes dementia” untruth almost into the same category as anti-vaxxers-the “I don’t care whether my argument is founded or not, I just want to inject a bombshell argument into an otherwise constructive conversation in an attempt to show my superior intelligence to the rest of the world”. People like yourself do so only behind the anonymity of your keyboard because 1) I guess it feeds your ego, because what other purpose does it serve? and 2) if you did such things in the open, your claim would be shot down so quickly by those of us who do educate ourselves on such issues that #1 would be rendered moot.
Thank you for your tips on baking sweet potatoes Healing Tomato! Your tips, plus those put forth by constructive commenters, advance conversation in a helpful manner and allow the rest of us to learn, try, and tweak recipes in an individualized way, since that is the very nature of human taste!! Also it was such a relief to read that sweet potatoes are an acquired taste for most, as I never liked them before, love them now, and am trying to convince my husband to just give them a chance! Maybe this bit of info will motivate him to keep trying them!! Thanks again!!
I’m not a fan of sweet potato… but I heard that it’s good for you so I’m going to try it tomorrow. I hope that it’s good!
Thank you, Priceless Jewel. Sweet potato is an acquired taste, I agree. But, once I got the flavor taste, I can’t get enough of it now, lol.
Do people eat the skin? Does it contain nutrients? I personally like the skin on baked sweet potatoes, but maybe that’s weird.
Thank you, Kristin. I don’t think its weird at all to eat the skin. It contains a lot of the nutrients, so, its good to eat it.
I noticed in the tips in the beginning it said to bake for 45 min then check for doneness, and then leave in the oven turned off for 10-15 min. But the recipe in the box says 25 min. I noticed lots of people are ending up with underdone potatoes. I will leave them in for 45 min.
Sorry for the confusion, Lorraine. It is 45 minutes. 🙂
This is my first time to comment. But I have a comment and a question: Would altitudes make a difference in the baking time? When we moved to Wyoming from So. California I had to learn how to cook all over. Also maybe the temperature on your oven needs recalibration.
Thank you, Bren. I am actually looking into getting a new one. My current one is far too old, but, I would assume that it can be re-calibrated. I will research it further. Great suggestion.
I know altitude makes a difference when you’re baking things like cakes and muffins. It’s very possible it may take longer to bake potatoes.
Many ovens are not calibrated, also, self cleaning ovens are much better insulated resulting in a more constant temperature. The simplest thing to do is get a thermometer that hangs on the oven rack. Usually costs less than $10, lasts forever. Free tip from Alton Brown, LOL.
Thank you, Jeanie. That is a great tip. 🙂
Bren I had the same problem when I moved to Wyoming a few years ago. I would assume altitude changes Cook times. I am from Texas and made a cobbler up there like I had a hundred times before and it it turned out waaaay different haha, (Note – exact same oven was used)
I appreciate the tips! My 7 year old is obsessed with sweet potatoes and I’ve been trying to make her the best one possible. I’m trying this out tonight! We live in Florida also but are from WA State and we love Sweet Tomatoes’ baked sweet potatoes! I wish they were out here!
Thank you, Teresa. I hope you liked it and welcome to Florida
Seriously? Just rinse off potato, poke all around with fork, microwave for six minutes. Cut cooked yam in half and scoop out of skin with a tablespoon.. saves oven time, aluminum foil and nutrients.
Thank you, Nona. Microwaving the sweet potato removes the nutrients and it also dries up the sweet potato. I keep the aluminum foil to use in other stuff, like wrapping sandwiches or lining baking trays. Trust me, baking the sweet potato in the oven is the better way to go.
I agree with you. Have tried it both ways and there is no comparison the oven is the way to go. It is much tastier made in the oven. I am trying the foil today and your other tips. Thank you.
Thank you, Anna. Its nice to hear that.
Additionally, microwaving steams the sweet potato instead of baking it. Steaming doesn’t allow for the sugars in the potato to caramelize, which, consequently, is the reason we “no-foil” purists don’t like to wrap them in foil before cooking. When you wrap a sweet potato in foil you actually steam it in the oven instead of baking it. I personally prefer the sweeter, richer taste of the baked, caramelized sweet potatoes. Others may prefer the taste and texture of the over-steamed version.
I do not like to let foil touch my food either, but it’s just a personal decision. My father was a health food nut and growing up, he was afraid of the Alzheimer’s claim too (this was in the 70’s!) There was no aluminum or non-stick cookware in our kitchen! So if I do wrap my potato, I first use parchment, then foil over that. Maybe you could still wrap it loose enough even with two layers? A real oven is always a better way to cook food over a microwave.
I love my sweet potatoes with butter or olive oil, salt and pepper and sour cream, just like a white potato. Good stuff! Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you, Becky. I really love hearing constructive comments from my readers. I have never tried using 2 layers, so, I don’t know how that would work. You know I am going to work on experimenting it this weekend. Thank you for the suggestion and I love hearing about your back story. Please keep them coming.
Thank you sooo much I was in the hospital for 7 days and ate there sweet potato to die for. Every day I asked how it wS baked but no one offered to tell me. Now I know the secret. Hope mine turns out sweet and soft like the hospitals and they were huge potatoes Thanks so much again as I do the plant based diet it’s tough when you don’t like vegetables.
That’s true. The microwave does destroy nutrients. Especially proteins. My wife and I don’t use a microwave for anything. Microwaves are just a product of american laziness.
Microwave a convenience and its good for the occasional use. Laziness doesn’t play a part in our love for microwaves, lol. I think we would rather spend more time with friends and family, so, microwave is a great asset to have.
Microwave great for a quick snack like PopCorn
Also, if you provide me with your correct email address, I will be happy to send you more information. Leaving a spam email address shows that you just want to be a bully instead of making the effort to learn.
I agree, microwaves are terrible for the consistency of any potato. Convenience is not always the best answer or the best result.
Thank you, Stefan. I am using my microwave less and less for that exact reason.
I’ve read research that says microwaving in general kills all the nutrients in any food you use it for. The heat kills all the living cells which provide nutrition. Studies have shown that if a person microwaves all of their food for a month, they will essentially feel full but their bodies receive no nutrients and are therefore malnourished. Most people want convenience from time to time, but if you want to be healthy, I would avoid nuclear method of heating food.
Thank you, Sarah. I agree with your findings.
So I followed this to the letter. After 25 minutes the potato was still rock hard. Almost as if it wasn’t cooked at all. The potato is not that big around (2.5″ in diameter) so it’s not like it’s incredibly thick. Doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, it really screwed up the dinner I was making because I was timing everything else around the time it said the potato needed to cook. Ugh….
Thank you, Nicole. I am sorry to hear that. Oven tempretures do differ, but, I find it hard to believe that your potato was rock hard after 25 minutes in the oven. Please contact me and we can find out what the problem could be. I really hate hearing that it didn’t work for you.
My potato wasn’t “rock hard” but I experienced the same thing as the original poster. Followed the recipe down to the nail and the sweet potato wasn’t done at all. Afterward I looked around, and this blog also uses 400 F but suggests 45-60 minutes. Perhaps ask around if anyone else has succeeded with this recipe? Unfortunately this also messed up my lunch as well, as I had to reheat the rest of my meal and my steak got very well-done.
Thank you, Tiffany. Sorry to hear your potato didn’t turn out great. I have an older model of an oven which is takes shorter time to cook most recipes.
I agree agree with Nicole. 25 minutes not enough time.
Thank you, Doug. I have been told that from others, so, it is weird. My oven is strange and I timed it at 25 minutes, but, other ovens can be different. I will amend the recipe time to accommodate other oven type.
Can’t find the aforementioned sweet potato soup recipe? Would really like to try that!
Thank you, Brenda, Here is the sweet potato soup recipe. I think you will like it – https://www.healingtomato.com/easy-sweet-potato-soup/