I have been obsessed with the Argentinian chef Francis Mallman since I saw his of Chef’s Table episode in 2015. Sure, about the only thing we have in common is a desire to set food on fire, you know, artfully. He does so these days to great acclaim on his private Patagonian island (and 8 other restaurants around the world), accessible through two flights, a five-hour drive, and then 90-minute raft across a lake. I live on a busy block of a crowded city accessible by nearly every format of public transportation, and do so to moderate acclaim (relative mostly to how well the patrons slept that day) under a wispy-by-design gas broiler.
A few weeks ago, my obsession led us to a restaurant named Mettā in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where everything is either cooked or finished over an open fire (if you go, do so on a cold night and sit at the counter, you’ll be glad you did) where the chef is protégé of Mallman. On the dessert menu is a highly regarded ash-roasted sweet potato with an infused whipped cream* and while it was delicious, forgive me, I didn’t have the Moment with it that every other restaurant reviewer has, but still tucked it away in my head as something I wanted to get back to soon. I just didn’t expect it to be exactly two days later, when I spotted a slow-roasted and charred sweet potato recipe from Michael Solomonov in Saveur. Obviously — because a jump from Patagonia to Fort Greene and then Solomonov is the very definition of “obvious” — it was fate.
Let me make no claims to the weekday appeal of this dish. It may not even have weekend appeal. I totally understand if you might find clearing nearly 3 hours just to cook a potato about as easy as buying a private Patagonian island. I only want you to promise that when you can, you will.
Here’s what happens when you rub a sweet potato with a generous amount of salt and pepper and bake it in a 275-degree oven for 2 1/2 hours and then finish it under the broiler: the flesh of the sweet potato gets sweeter, louder, and more nuanced than seems possible and the salty, lightly blackened skin gets so crispy, you’re going to immediately retroactively resent all of the sweet potatoes you had before then for not tasting like this.
But also: So, you know that only-in-America Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on top? Well, I’m about to go there. I’m about to tell you that the two things people (not me no never, how could you even suggest!) like it about it — even-sweeter sweet potatoes and a toasty, charred finish — are exactly why this dish is so good, but it gets there naturally over 150 minutes. You can use or discard this information as you wish.
* that had us reminiscing about the time we went to this restaurant in Paris where we were told by a friend to “order the Corleone and don’t ask what it is” and it turned out to a candied eggplant confit with orange zest and cinnamon and ricotta ice cream that was unforgettable enough that I bring it up here, 10 years later.
Previously
One year ago: Broccoli Pizza
Two years ago: Taco Torte and Miso Black Sesame Caramel Corn
Three years ago: Chocolate Oat Crumble
Four years ago: Garlicky Party Bread with Herbs and Cheese and Fennel and Blood Orange Salad
Five years ago: Egg Salad with Pickled Celery and Coarse Dijon
Six years ago: Lasagna Bolognese
Seven years ago: Meatball Sub with Caramelized Onions
Eight years ago: New York Deli Rye Bread and Best Cocoa Brownies
Nine years ago: Chicken Milanese and an Escarole Salad, Flaky Blood Orange Tart and Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad
Ten years ago: Matzo Ball Soup
Eleven years ago: Miniature Soft Pretzels
And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: German Chocolate Cake + A Wedding Cake
1.5 Years Ago: Peach Melba Popsicles
2.5 Years Ago: Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles with Cucumber
3.5 Years Ago: Blueberry Crumb Cake and Cold Noodles with Miso, Lime and Ginger
4.5 Years Ago: Burst Tomato Galette with Corn and Zucchini
Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- 4 medium sweet potatoes (about 3 pounds), scrubbed clean
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sizzling Spices: For each potato, heat 2 to 3 teaspoons of a neutral oil or ghee (not vegan, of course) over medium-high heat, add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and 1/2 teaspoon yellow or brown mustard seeds; fry until they crackle and pop, about 20 to 30 seconds. Add 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to taste; fry another 15 seconds. Pour immediately over exposed potato flesh, and finish with salt. We ate this with some yogurt that had been salted and mixed with lemon juice, and some black lentils on the side.
Slow-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Yogurt (not vegan, of course): Cut a head of garlic in half crosswise; drizzle exposed garlic with a little oil or butter and a pinch of salt. “Close” the garlic again and wrap the head tightly in foil. Place on baking sheet with potatoes. When potatoes are done, use a knife point to remove very soft and lightly browned garlic cloves from their paper shells and mash them with a fork in a small bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup plain yogurt, or more to taste. Season well with salt and pepper. We put pats of salted butter on the exposed potato flesh and dolloped this on top.
I’m a new convert to sweet potatoes, and can’t wait to make these! Great weekend dish – thanks!
This sounds perfect for those sweet potatoes I have languishing in my pantry! Do you think they would re-heat well? I was thinking I could roast them one night, but then have them ready for dinner after work the next. Maybe skip the broiling and use that to warm them up?
I have reheated them several times; I do so unwrapped on a tray so the skin re-crisps. Which it does. They’re fantastic even a few days later.
Would you recommend reheating under the broiler or simply in the oven at 275 or another temp?
I actually reheat it at 350; I want it to warm through (broiler wouldn’t do this) and keep the edges crisp.
Did you all store these at room temperature after cooking them fully (broiler included?)?
I kept them in the fridge.
Making these for friendsgiving! How long do you reheat at 350? And do you do broiler round 1 or 2?
Same question! If I’m doing these it needs to be wary in the day or the previous day, need my oven for the other items, but not quite sure when to broiler, how long to reheat
Same question here!
I’m still wondering about the make ahead/reheat process as well… how long at 350 do you reheat? And do you broil if making ahead or just prior to serving? Thanks in advance.
Wondering the same! Specific instructions for reheating (specifically the broiling) would be wonderful! Hoping to veer from the casserole to these this year for Thanksgiving…
For what it’s worth, I put it in at 350 and was happy with the texture and temperature at 35 minutes. (That’s when the top finally dried out.)
I love your recipes however they’re impossible to print unless you want to print 50 pages. Do you have a link that will just print the single recipe that we are looking at. Thank you for so many fabulous recipes.
There is a print icon that leads to a print template at the bottom of each recipe, where it says “DO MORE:” You can also click CTRL + P from any recipe post and it will take you to a streamlined print template.
I don’t just ‘print’, I save recipes to my hard drive. So far, I just bite the bullet and save into Word with a lot of editing on recipes like this. I mean, if a dish is worth making it’s worth saving so you can find it again, and Deb’s always are.
If you click CMD + P (on a Mac), it’ll bring up the print dialog box where you can either print the recipe, or scroll down to the option that let’s you open it as a PDF. Then, simply save the PDF to your machine.
We made these last night with organic sweet potatoes and they were so creamy with just a bit of butter. The smoothness was what was most interesting. Like mashed sweet potatoes but with more depth. Am thinking of making them next with a few toppings. Possibly one with a little chipotle as that’s how I got my grade school kids to eat them years ago.
Thank you!
I will probably sound like a wanna be neophyte here but you don’t poke any holes in the potatoes so they don’t explode in the oven?
Just in case anyone is following a low-fat diet, this recipe is still tasty with olive oil spray on the potatoes or no spray at all!
I top mine with fried garlic, spinach and chickpeas then serve with a tahini lemon drizzle. It’s so good! But I agree, just a knob of butter is just as good.
Also completely wonderful served cold and diced in a simple salad of baby spinach, feta and toasted pecans with honey/lemon dressing. I would eat sweet potato every day if I could but the family would get bored!
This stay at home mom with 2 sick kids has all the time in the world. Preheating the oven now…
Ditto!
Ditto!
Haha ditto!
Good lord, that candied eggplant confit sounds glorious! Mario Batali (are we allowed to talk about his recipes anymore? I have no idea) has a confit eggplant recipe with orange zest in one of his cookbooks that I bookmarked years ago and finally did and was not into it, but wow, that sounds good.
Will definitely try these with my pounds of sweet potatoes from the Winter CSA. The last thing we did was get out the deep fryer and potato slicer we bought in Belgium for Sunday’s Super Bowl. This sounds loads easier. Thank you!
Ok so now I must quit reading and dash off to the grocery store to buy sweet potatoes. Will this be efficient? No. But it does sound essential. Back in a few…..
so nice!!!!
I don’t care for sweet potatoes, but this sounds so wonderful that I started planning a dinner menu around it!
I love slow roasted Idaho potatoes, so will definitely try this. I’m more savory than sweet eating, so use goat cheese on sweet potatoes. Looking forward to trying that on these.
Goat cheese on sweet potatoes sound devine. Thanks for the idea.
Susan, I like the way you think!
I don’t care for sweet potatoes much, but this sounds so delicious that I started planning a dinner menu around these guys before I even finished reading the post.
After seeing your Instagram story yesterday (or earlier this week? I forget) I had this sneaking suspicion I’d need sweet potatoes on hand for this. We’re living in the magical future folks!
This is so hilarious – I literally made a big batch of whole roasted sweet potato with a yogurt sauce (based off the miso-tahini sauce you use in the broccoli and sweet potato grain bowl). And then what do I find when I go to check your site? You’ve had the same idea! Only almost certainly done it better than I did! Haha ahh well, great minds think alike :P
I can recommend stirring harissa into the yogurt, which is delicious, and also I have made a big batch of these and of the yogurt, and will be working through them for breakfast.
This sounds amazing!!! We are currently on the Whole30 diet and WE CAN EAT THIS! I’m so excited. Question, what are your thoughts on eating the skins? I think the skin is kinda delicious but all recipes call for peeling (other than when eating them whole). We made a mash for shepherds pie last night (yum btw) and kept them unpeeled. I feel there are a lot of vitamins and nutrients packed in there that just get tossed. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
I had literally never heard of not eating sweet potato skin until the comment section on this post on Instagram! We always eat it — it’s fantastic.
Potatoes are grown in a whole lotta fertilizer (I live in Idaho potato country). I just scrub them really well.
Being Asian, we often have sweet potatoes. I like purchasing the small tiny japanese style ones and keeping them in my pantry. When I am home for an extended time, I like to just pop a few of them in the toaster oven (save the energy of heating an entire oven for a few potatoes) and toast them for who knows how long until the sugars start caramelizing and oozing out of the sweet potato. I just take them to work as a small snack when I’m hungry!
Replying to this, and to the Whole30 eater, and people concerned about energy use: whenever I bake I think about other things I could put in the oven at the same time, which often includes white or sweet potatoes. If you don’t eat a lot of sugar, a plain cold baked sweet potato is a great snack that tastes like a candy bar.
I am working on a variation of the “only-in-America Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows on top”, which includes about half a cup of brown sugar in melted butter with the juice of one lemon to help the sugar dissolve and add a nice tang.
This sounds even better.
I live a block away from that place, and have only been once, because the crowds are too long to wait for. I guess I’ll have to go back.
We are big sweet potato fans–without marshmallows or brown sugar. Just plain, often puréed, with butter. These sound amazing, but that’s par for the course here. And I learned something new–I had wondered about eating the skins (we always eat regular potato skins, but I peel sweet potatoes) and was interested to see how many people said they eat the skins. Not only a new recipe, but a new way not to waste a thing.
Scrub well and eat, delicious with the salt roasted on them👍
Can’t wait to try this AND eat the skins. I love sweet potatoes but have never eaten the skins, although I rarely peel any other veggie. How did I develop this bias???
BTW, the last sentence in the fourth paragraph needs some cleaning up (“lightly blackened skin skin becomes gets so crispy”). :-)
Next time you’re in San Francisco, go to Cala and have the charred sweet potato with bone marrow salsa negra. It’s amazing
Yes! With the charred little gem lettuce. So good!
oh this is perfect!!! Was planning to have baked sweet potatoes with porkchops with dinner and am running away from the computer now to get them in the oven on time. Thank you!
They got rave reviews and they could not be easier!!! Definitely going in the meal rotation around here.
Omg these look amazing!!
We love baked sweet potatoes with a saute of greens/white beans/onions and rosemary that I got from the Kitchn a while back. For another whole meal option.
Just read the Esquire Article… sounds like a
Long way to go for a bite to eat ! I think I’ll stick with you.
I’ve got sweet potatoes and I’ve got time.
that is so, so yummy, and good with a butternut squash thrown in there for good measure, to mix it all into a soup later *swoon*
Blasphemy alert– the other thing that’s super yummy is to throw it all in with a heavily salted chicken, roast it all at 450 and it turns into this gooey, yammy, chickeny love fest.
Sweet potatoes are good no matter what!
Thanks for the love you always show here :)
Sounds delicious. Do I need to poke holes in the potatoes with a fork first? I was always told they’d explode if I didn’t.
No, not necessary here.
Hi Deb and Dana,
I’ve made this both ways, pricked and unpricked, and personally I preferred pricked – when I did not prick my potatoes, the skin didn’t split to really release steam, and my potatoes ended up delicious but very, very moist/soggy, with a less concentrated flavor. The pricked potatoes were a knockout. Just my two cents, I’m sure it’s very oven/potato specific :)
Addendum – this could also be because I’m feeding two little kids and put on a LOT less salt, which probably helps draw out the steam.
Love this! For one more variation ;
After baking, I make a spicy , buttery sauce.
Combine 3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon water
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Adjust this to taste !
In a small pan , over medium heat bring to a simmer, it will come together and thicken a bit, pour over split sweet potatoes and add salt as needed. Better than marshmallows on top!
Can’t wait to add the broiler at the end!
that sounds awesome!
Deb, should I prick the sweet potatoes with a fork before baking?
It’s not necessary here.
Any thoughts on doing the “slow cooking” part in a slow cooker on high and then finishing under the broiler?
I was thinking exactly that. No need to use the oven for that long just to roast a few potatoes.
Couldn’t hurt to try. I wouldn’t expect the skin to be so crisp because it hasn’t had enough time to really dry out, but the flesh might have a similar loveliness.
I often cook sweet potatoes in the slow cooker and I like the results, but then I love sweet potatoes pretty much any way you can make them. They come out of the slow cooker very wet though, so I think it would produce an entirely different result than roasting them.
Cooks Illustrated has does a baked sweet potato where they microwave for 6min or so to bring it up to 200deg which cuts the baking time. That may be faster/less mushy than the slow cooker, but probably not as good as the legit method :) Would need to prick the skin for the microwave
I love a variation of this from a local restaurant, where the topping is a whipped cream cheese, mixed with smoked mackerel and tiny specks of chives. MY GOODNESSS.
This sounds amazing! Would you mind sharing the restaurant name?
Ugh I hated that episode of Chef’s Table. To me Mallman came across as a womanizer and incredibly self indulgent and wasteful. I felt bad for his partner that seemed to just be waiting around for him to stop by when it tickled his fancy to spend time with her and their child. And anyone who can spend that much fossil fuels to travel as an individual to a remote part of our world and inhabits this practice as a general lifestyle (I remember him bragging about how many times he flies around the world) doesn’t deserve the pristine land he occupies (and is destroying)
~rant over, these potatoes look nice
I caught that too and the Esquire article I linked to seems to praise him even more effusively for it. (“The little girl frolicking around… turned out not to be his grandchild.” “…six children, four mothers.”) But I felt that way about a lot of the male chefs profiled; he’s the only one whose cooking I cannot get out of my head.
Exactly Deb. I really don’t concern myself with people’s lifestyles when I watch actors, artists or chefs. If his “poor” wife languishes around waiting for his fancy to lead him to her, so be it. She can certainly fly to Buenos Aires and be done with him and be done with waiting. Her choice no? I find the way he chooses to live his life fascinating and his cooking style and food very interesting and mostly delicious in-spite of its apparent simplicity. He is certainly a “character.” I don’t want to have a relationship with him. I just want to eat his food and enjoy it. The sweet potato recipe is delightful. Thank you!
Ugh. I can’t imagine how good these would be with some crispy sage/brown butter/Parmesan. I’ll find out tomorrow when I’ve restocked on sweet potatoes.
Fun fact: in New Zealand, sweet potatoes are called kumera, and I was expecting domething really exotic when I ordered Kumera fries for the first time…needless to say, I was very disappointed.
I love sage and brown butter! My sage plant died, so I’m going to add fresh sage to the grocery list and try this.
Do you think you could do this in a slow cooker then finish in a broiler?
My mother always did her baked potatoes , regular and sweet, with crispy skin. She never oiled them before baking and the skin always came out crispy. I would always eat the soft inside of them first, then pick up the skin, slather it with butter and eat it just like that. It was my favorite part of the potato. She made me promise that I would never do that in public, lest people might think that I’m a mannerless slob, which would reflect on her. I’ve since come out of the closet with it.
I ate potatoes the same way as a child! The skin slathered with butter was the best part – many times I would trade with my brothers and sisters and give them the centers and eat all the skins! Great memories.
Thank you! I’m not alone! Other people don’t know what they are missing.
Not alone. Was my favorite part of the potato when I was a kid, with lots of butter, yum, yum.
Ottolenghi has these sweet potato wedges with lemongrass crème fraîche in “Plenty”, do you think that would also go with your sweet potatoes?
Looking forward to trying them out soon!
Absolutely. Anything that you find complementary to sweet potatoes will work here.
This sounds fabulous. Think I’d better try this while sweet potatoes are in season, like tomorrow! Thanks Deb.
I had sweet potatoes for the recipe with crispy chickpeas and yogurt, but I saw this this afternoon and rearranged my schedule so I could get home early enough to pop them in the oven. I am so happy I did – It was delicious! I made the roasted garlic yogurt and we put butter on it as suggested and it was fab. Was going to ask if they reheated well but I see you’ve already answered that – glad they do. Thanks!
Oh, I am so making these beauties tomorrow!! Thanks, Deb!
Roasted sweet potatoes made in advance and heated as needed are a favorite meal, especially in cold weather. Sometimes I put steamed or broiled broccoli on top, with yogurt on top of that. Have never baked them at such a low temp for so long, but sounds good and I will try it. Will a convection oven set 25 degrees lower (at 250) have the same effect in 25% less time (just under 2 hours)? Worth a shot.
I have just become a big tadka fan, thanks to the red lentils in SKED — I have made the soup twice within a week and my cubicle buddy has asked me to make some for her due to lunchtime envy — so I am VERY excited for these upgrades to my very frequent baked SPs topped with greek yogurt dinner.
What good timing – I was already planning to bake sweet potatoes tonight! I used these directions and ended up with the sweetest and tenderest sweet potatoes I’ve ever had. Delicious!
I made something similar yesterday based off a recipe from the Cooks Illustrated 2017 compilation
To shorten the three hour cooking time, but still maintain the fully carmelized sugars and plush creamy texture the sweet potatoes were microwaved (I know, scandalous) until they hit an internal temperature of 200 degrees (6 to 9 minutes) then moved into a preheated 425 degree oven for an hour.
Skins were brown and crisp but not charred (I can’t compare them to the three hour roast, I assume not as crisp). Possibly a viable shortcut if someone should ever find themselves in a sweet potato emergency (I am confident Deb’s way is best)
Would love a definitive sweet potato fry recipe. Have seen baked ones using cornstarch to enhance the crisp, etc, but never locked into a no fail system. Can you do one? Thanks so much!!
She has an oven recipe which I love. The spices are spot on. I tend to cut them smaller and toast them longer because I love them crispy. They’re in my regular rotation.
Wow. Womanizers are sooo sexy.
Thanks Deb! You are my go to for all new recipes and you never disappoint!
If you cut the sweet potatoes in half, length wise, and bake them cut side down on a dark cookie sheet, they cook in half the time and the cut side get caramelized. Then finish with an immodest amount of butter and drizzle with Creme fraiche.
You had me at Creme Fraiche – tried this last night for dinner – fantastic!
I could eat that right now even though it is breakfast time here.
Wow, have been roasting Japanese sweet ( light white/ yellow flesh) potatoes for several years now( they are a staple at roadside vendors in Asia, like roasted chestnuts here in the winter) and swoon over them when they come out of he oven. I always roast at 400 for 50-60 minutes, pierced skin, and they are soooo sweet and yummy, yes we eat skin and all. Kind of hard to mess with perfection but…
I will try this method just to see the difference and report back!
I have had a version of the Solo and potatoes at Abe Fisher in Philly. Only there…they we’re smoked and sliced in medallions with a sauce…I believe yogurt tahina sauce laced with Aleppo pepper. It been 18 months and I have never forgotten how lovely it was to eat those simple smokey potatoes. I might try this method with an alderwood smoked Salk on the potatoes. Thanks very much for the inspiration.
This looks so amazing – thanks for sharing. I gave my mother your cookbook for Christmas and like me, she is now a fan of your blog and cookbook.
I love the simplicity of this. I cook sweet potatoes this way when I go camping and they are always the MOST AMAZING potatoes I’ve ever put into my mouth — but I have never cooked them like this at home. Can’t wait to try.
Your photos tugged at my heart. My mother, long gone, would occasionally reminisce about coal roasted sweet potatoes sold from carts on the streets of the Bronx in the 1920s. There were drawers, with the potatoes arranged by size. They could be bought for a penny or a nickel etc. Thank you Deb.
That sounds like a dream.
Did you ever read the All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sydney Taylor about a Jewish family on the Lower East Side in the 19-teens? So great. One of the books had a chapter about the sisters going to the market. Roasted potatoes were definitely in it. You should read these books with your kids.
I remember that! It was a sweet potato there, too. I asked my father if he could make them after reading it. I remember it being nice, but not the magic I expected from the book. (It wasn’t as bad as Turkish Delight, where I expected it to be amazing as I actively disliked it when I finally got a taste.)
I loved those books – and well remember how well the author wrote about the smells and tastes of the market, and how precious the penny each child had to spend was.
Deb, those books are a treasure – Jacob could certainly get the stories (although all the characters are girls), read them and then go on pilgrimage!
Abby
Exactly! I thought of those books immediately upon reading this comment. Much beloved by my, and now my daughters.
YES! My sister and I devoured the All Of A Kind Family books. I remember meeting Sydney Taylor at a book event that was held annually in my school district, when I was a kid. You know, when literature/books and the arts were important part of the curricula. Julie, thank you for bringing this memory forward.
A few years ago i was beside myself when visiting madrid in the late fall- there were street vendors selling small roasted sweet potatoes! The vendor would just pop it open and sprinkle with salt and pepper, wrapped in a foil and paper. The skin was crisped and smokey and i was walking down the street taking bites of a whole sweet potato! Almost better than the cart with chestnuts.
My father grew up in the Bronx in the 20-30’s. He told me how he and is friends would roast white potatoes in Van Cortland park. They called them Rickies.
Your remarks brought back my childhood in New York, then Brooklyn. I can smell all of the scents of the lower east side, the potatoes, knishes and the different sounds of New York. I had a bubbe who whether accidentally or not, did to the potatoes what one of my favorite recipes from Smitten Kitchen, charred the skin. I make these potatoes once a week and also for others who are now in love with Smitten Kitchen and perhaps my bubbe.
The editor at Saveur must be a single mother. King Solomom is amused.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Solomonov
I think these are crying for a tahini-garlic sauce.And not just for the vegans.
These look amazing! My husband and I live in Japan and have been eating tons of sweet potatoes this winter. Yakiimo are a very popular winter food here- you can find them slow roasted at street carts and festivals over charcoal or cooked over campfires. Our local grocery store even roasts them in the afternoon and puts them out on a cart as people are shopping so they can have an easy side for meals that night. Defitely wish I could try this with red sweet potatoes though as Japanese ones can be so dense.
Looks too yummy :)
First, thank you for the Esquire article on chef Mallman. What an interesting and eccentric man. Crazy, as well. But I love reading about people who don’t walk the straight and narrow ( as I do!) They are fascinating.
I can’t wait to try these potatoes! Will do so soon.
I live too far south for it to be, strictly speaking, necessary to have a heater, so on those days when the cold makes it inside, I look for an excuse to turn the oven on for hours. But not, like, shivering for an hour while I prep whatever is going into the oven. This looks perfect.
I loved that episode of cooked. I’ve had the urge to cook food in open Fire since watching that episode. Haven’t fulfilled that desire but I know it’s going to happen in the near future. Can’t wait to try this recipe…love sweet potatoes. Thanks for sharing!
Looks like a perfect recipe for my solar oven — thanks!
This was AMAZING! I’m a student, so sitting at home for 3 hours doing work while this baked was feasible. I used japanese sweet potatoes and it came out incredibly sweet and creamy. I only added a pat of butter and it was perfect!! I will be making this all the time now.
My boyfriend and I both agreed that these are the best sweet potatoes we’ve ever had (and we’ve made just about every variation under the sun).
This is a perfect thing to do if you are going to be home for an afternoon. I was working at home yesterday afternoon, and popped them in a few hours before we wanted to have dinner. Couldn’t have been any easier! They almost taste like sweet potato pie.
Growing up in the south, we ate lots of baked sweet potatoes in the fall season. Lots of butter always, but try sprinkling cinnamon on with the butter. Delicious!
Thank you for a scrumptious dinner! Who woulda thunk it-this technique totally transformed and elevated our standard baked sweet potatoes
Thanks, Deb! This looks amazing!
Heads up, Saveur misspelled the recipe author’s last name. It’s Solomonov. I know because he’s a restaurant legend here in Philly! If you ever make it down here, you should eat at Zahav.
No kidding! I originally spelled it that way but then checked it with Saveur and said “huh, Deb, maybe it time you started pronouncing and spelling his name correctly” and spelled it out loud three times so I wouldn’t have to look it up again and … lol. I adore Zahav!
These potatoes were amazing just on their own. But the roasted garlic yogurt really put it over the top. I could eat that with a spoon.
Truly delicious. Thank you!
This looks amazing! I want to try it at 300F, as I have an apricot cake that’s supposed to cook for 90 minutes at 300. (Last time it took 2 hours, because I was using a metal pot to get a round cake.)
I want to hear about this apricot cake!
After a recipe by Jo Walton:
In large mixing bowl:
2 cups flour + 1/2 cup sugar + half tsp salt
Almost 1 pound coarsely chopped dried apricots (Open bag, take out a handful, chop the rest into raisin-sized pieces.)
In small mixing bowl:
1/2 cup canola oil + 1/2 cup coconut milk + 2 beaten eggs + 1 tsp orange extract
Mix liquid + solid (obviously), and bake at 300F until it turns into cake. Then glaze with diluted apricot jam.
As I don’t have a proper cake pan, I usually bake cakes in loaf pans, brownie pans, or cupcake tins. This time I used something I call a dutch oven (but nobody else does.) It was made by RevereWare in 1991. It’s 7.5″ round and holds 2 quarts, and it’s made of stainless steel with a layer of copper sandwiched in the base. It has 2 handles and a lid made of the same material as the pan so it can go in the oven and it’s one of the most useful things I own.
Thank you!
Thanks for this idea–hoping to try it later this month. I took a look at Jo Walton’s webpage; she uses self-rising flour, so I’m guessing that (scaling her recipe up from 1 cup of flour to 2 as shown by Adrian), it would take 1 tablespoon of baking powder. The amount of salt would remain the same. Similarly, I imagine JW’s 40-minute bake @300 for a loaf might scale up to the 90 minutes Adrian mentions, depending on pan used, etc.
JW version bakes 40 min at 180C, or 355F.
Best sweet potato I’ve ever had. I very much enjoyed the roasted garlic yogurt too! Delicious, simple.
Except for the broiling, this is the only way I make sweet potatoes 🍠. So worth the wait. Recently Cook’s Illustrated had an article about speeding up this process. I believe there was a microwave start to achieve a specific temp, and oven finish. Haven’t tried, but for the time strapped person…
The other night I got home too late to bake my yams/sweet potatoes, so I gave them a white potato treatment: I sliced them about 1/2″ thick, threw them into a 9×13″ pan with a bit of olive oil, and Voila! Yummy sweets in about 30 min.
Winter is probably the best time to keep the oven on for nearly 3 hours. Those sweet potatoes look like sunshine on a plate! Perfect for a cold, grey, snowy day here. Thanks Deb, off to stock up!
Warning…watch very carefully when under broiler…mine wound up with flames shooting out of the top of them. They were delicious though!
Mine flamed up as they broiled and.the fire alarm went off!! I rescued the potato andit was the best thing EVER!!!.I
The best sweet potato I ever had was off the street in Beijing. A woman was carrying a pan strapped around her neck (almost like an upside down pan drum) filled with what was probably coal. Nestled inside the coal were whole sweet potatoes that she would pluck out and hand to you in a bit of foil. I was the only one in my group who purchased one but they all wanted one after they had a little bite of mine. Too bad, she was gone. Best sweet potato ever–the crispy crackly skin, the fluffy creamy flesh steaming in the cold as you pulled open the potato.
Oh my–look what you started! I can’t wait to try this–thank you!!
Could I do this in a slow cooker? I hate turning on an oven for a few potatoes. Wondering if it would work?
Hey Deb, there’s a typo: “lightly blackened skin skin”
Thanks!
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who was obsessed with Mallmann’s episode of Chef’s Table. His passion for food and the outdoors was very inspiring. Love the idea of slow roasting sweet potatoes! Will certainly have to give this recipe a try. :)
Wowza! These are fabulous! My house smells great as well! I made a double batch, hoping to use up this Costco bag of organic sweet potatoes, which was a good call! I topped the first potato (sampling mid-day, here!) with butter mixed with Berriyaki Sauce (River Wave Brand…. local to the USA Pacific Northwest, but maybe not?).
Deb, did you know that you were on BBC Radio 2 today? I was listening to Simon Mayo’s ‘foodie Thursday’ show and they made pumpkin cheesecake and referenced you as the inspiration! Very exciting. It was like hearing a good friend mentioned so I had to tell you!
I did not — what an honor!
Can you cook them in the slow cooker and then broil them?
I’m thinking I’ll bake these along with your better oven ribs. You have a rib option at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. What do you think? Can the ribs and potatoes share an oven to make a whole meal that’s slow roasted?
What a great idea. Please let us know how it goes!
Well, that’s the best meal I’ve ever made. I put the sweet potatoes on the bottom rack and the ribs in the middle. I cooked both for 3 hours at 300 degrees and took turns broiling each for a few minutes at the end.
I dotted the potatoes with homemade garlic rosemary butter and the experience was existential. The entire meal was so easy and hands off, and the result was something worthy of daydreams. I made a tossed salad because I thought the pork and potatoes would be heavy, but neither of us wanted to betray the flavor palette to even take a bite. And both were so tender that it didn’t feel heavy at all. The meal requires nothing in addition to the ribs and potatoes. All I can think of for these thirty minutes after I finished eating is OMG that was good. This is going in the “serve to guests and look like a rockstar” category.
You should provide cross links in both of these recipes so others can also enjoy a 5 Star meal that you just let sit in the oven for three hours.
Thanks for the *perfect* night-before-Thanksgiving very easy, but delicious dinner idea to coddle my baby brother visiting from out of town!
I’m doing that today too! I have the spice rub ready for my ribs, and we were already going to have baked sweet potatoes with them. Now I know they’ll be unbelievable!
Deb, is the use of the broiler at the end only to char the skin, or does it do something for the potato flesh too?
Just for char, although I’m sure it crisps the skin further.
What type of infused whipped cream was used in the original dish you had?
According to Gothamist, it’s “a rich cream made from elecampane, an herb that brings out the natural anise flavors of the sweet potato.”
Make sure you check out Cooks’ Illustrated,(Set/Oct 2017) where they jump start the sweet potatoes in the microwave to a internal temperature of 200, then roast for an hour. They didn’t broil them but maybe a step I need to add.
I had a dream last night that I ate these and they were SO GOOD. Hopefully I can execute them in real life
How is this different from roasting them at a higher temperature for less time? I usually do 45-50 minutes at 425 degrees.
Something about a lower temperature allows more of the potato starches to convert to sugar.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/food-lab-sweet-potatoes-mashed-science-not-sugar-thanksgiving.html —-for more info if you’re interested
Thanks!
these were AMAZING. so creamy and sweet. love your recipes!!!!
Made this last night along with some oven-roasted veggies and pork tenderloin. Loved that the slow roast made the potato skins a little more palatable. I drizzled some balsamic honey reduction on top (that I made for the pork) and they were fantastic!
Just ate one hot out of the oven… o sauces and no butter…excellent! I’m wondering about cold, later, with creme fraiche for dessert…
The ice cream recipe…please work your magic and post that recipe asap!
This will be perfect for me on Sunday I am having a ham that has to be cooked at 275 usually for 2 to 3 hours so it’ll be just perfect thanks
Thanks for this recipe! After thinking about them daily since you posted, I woke up this morning with an empty schedule, a sweet potato, and no more excuses. They were amazing!!! The flesh was melt in your mouth delicious and the skin crisp and flavorful. Only wished I had some yogurt to try out the variation…next time though!
i may never cook sweet potatoes the “old way” again? when you do it this way, the flavor is deep. the skin is toasty. and the flesh is wonderfully smooth. worth the wait! i was out of plain yogurt so i added roasted garlic to cheme fraiche. extreme deliciousness!
We have eaten sweet potatoes since 2009 when we had heart issues. We bake them, and rarely we have them out when we eat at Logan’s.
With the weather here on the East Coast this weekend, this recipe is perfect for tomorrow’s Sunday dinner! Will make my usual roast chicken not seem quite so boring! P.S. That jam band is precious!
I love this post – especially since I’m obsessed with Francis Mallman too!!! Now to make these tomorrow…
Hi, I just got your new cookbook yesterday. I love a good cookbook that is a good read and tells a story. Yours absolutely fills the bill. I have already tagged 35 recipes to make – a new world record! And, that doesn’t include sweets. (I’m not much of a baker.) Looking forward to cooking and the new book gets a two thumbs up from me.
I had one sweet potato, so I started with Cook’s Illustrated’s advice and put it in the microwave for 6-9 minutes to bring it up to 200 degrees. Then into the oven it went because my husband was baking sourdough bread. The temperature was 425 degrees (I know, much higher than your suggestion), but in less than an hour, it was totally done and delicious. Just have to watch that the skin does not scorch because then it is too bitter to eat. Sweet potatoes are one of my very favorite foods and to get a good recipe is priceless. I would love to try your topping some day. Thanks for the inspiration!
The sweet potatoes were delightful, but the winner winner chicken dinner here is the roasted garlic yogurt topping. That is SCRUMPTIOUS. It tasted very much like french onion dip somehow and all I wanted were some Ruffles for dipping. Thanks!
This is very nice, but it just makes me want summertime campfire sweet potatoes even more. You take sweet potatoes along on your next camping trip, rub them down in oil, wrap them up individually in foil, throw them in the campfire and let them sit there all night, then you eat them, cold, for breakfast. There is nothing better.
This is amazing. I used Japanese sweet potatoes and served them with a poached egg on top. Heaven.
We heat with a woodstove and at this time of year it is always burning. Guess where we cook the sweet potatoes. Wrapped in foil and scooted to the side of the fire box sometimes forgotten for at least a couple hours. Always melt in your mouth delicious. Move over Mr. Mallman!
Yessss! I made this last year, I think, or whenever Saveur put it out there. I even tracked down the dill seeds for it, which at first felt overly fussy but then I became addicted. (They’re aces added to an everything-bagel-seasoning situation.) Thanks for the inspiration, I might make these again this week! Any excuse to run the oven for a few hours in the frozen tundra. <3
Yessss! I made this last year, I think, or whenever Saveur put it out there. I even tracked down the dill seeds for it, which at first felt overly fussy but then I became addicted. (They’re aces added to an everything-bagel-seasoning situation.) Thanks for the inspiration, I might make these again this week! Any excuse to run the oven for a few hours in the frozen tundra. <3
Really really good – just made 2 of these in my Wolf toaster oven – which is where I
do virtually all my baking/roasting. So there’s the question. In a toaster oven, for this recipe would you recommend baking or roasting – &/or at what temp. for
either. Also, there’s a convection possibility here, which I’ve never used.And, when wondering, I usually roast, but here I did bake, to follow your directions.
Forgive me for a simple question, but what kind of sweet potatoes do you use? Our closest grocery store is Whole Foods, and I always get overwhelmed by my options. But maybe any sweet potato (or yam) would be delicious.
I use what you see here: orange-fleshed; brown-reddish skins. They’re fairly standard at most of the stores I go to.
Ok, so I made these last night. I also made a yogurt topping with plain Greek yogurt, lemon, and spices. I was licking my plate clean, and thankful that I had one left over for lunch the next day! Not so, as my husband tucked into the last sweet potato. Will be adding these to the meal rotation.
This sounds so good. A few months ago CI published a “best oven roasted sweet potato” recipe. The writer (in the “why this recipe works” section) explains exactly why slow roasting the slices gives them such outstanding flavor. I can’t roast sweet potato slices any other way – this sounds like a similar idea but with the whole potato. I can’t wait to give it a try!
These were so tasty. I am currently on a kick of eating roasted sweet potatoes loaded with veggies, a bit of meat and sauce for lunch. Theses brought my lunch to a whole new level :)
Lovely texture, nice finish. Had them plain, but philistine hubby had to throw brown sugar on his. Gaaa.
Why are these so good?! Only added the lamest, most modest pat of butter, and a bit of finishing salt.
Do you poke the sweet potatoes before putting them in the oven?
Nope, no need to here.
Hi! This looks so yummy! Would you mind telling me how much salt is 2 tsp of kosher salt in grams?
Depending on brand, about 16 grams is a good bet.
How can something so simple look so delicious! Delish!
Loved this one! Will be doing it again soon. It is so easy.
I usually do not eat sweet potatoes. But, after reading your useful article about slow roasted sweet potatoes, I get interest to test this item. I hope I can make it soon and serve it to my friends in our next gathering.
I love sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, butter, and fresh ground cinnamon. I will have to try putting them under the broiler.
Really, really good. So very good.
I made these for tea the other night and I’m making it again tonight! So… 2 and a half hours IS a long time, but straight after work I have yoga to do and other chores, so I can wait probably 2 hours before caving and taking these out of the oven. Still delicious!
N x
http://www.whatnaomiwrote.blogspot.co.uk
As heart patients, we eat more sweet potatoes. I put butter on them, but I refrain with the brown sugar.
These are DELICIOUS! I made them with the roasted garlic yogurt sauce… but we also had them plain plain plain. Either way, so good! Thanks for another great recipe.
I’ve always baked my SPs low and slow but the revelation here for me was oiling and salting the heck out of the skins! What a great idea and delicious too.
About four or five times during dinner my husband remarked “This is the best sweet potato I’ve ever had.” He didn’t add anything to it, and I usually put maple cream out when we have sweet potatoes. He also tried to scrape the caramelized syrup off the baking sheet. So, I’d say, it was pretty good.
Here’s another finish to try, you’ll thank me for it: drizzle high-quality raw tehina paste on the cut-open sweet potatoes while they’re still hot. Pure hedonsitic pleasure.
Note that I mean the raw tehina paste, not the tehina sauce one makes out of it using lemon juice and water.
I may have missed this in the comment section, so my apologies……
How do you suggest reheating tomorrow? I have them in the oven as I type for tomorrow’s lunch….going to top with granola and yogurt!
PS. Had slow roasted charred sweet potatoes last night in Philly at Abe Fisher (a Solomonov restaurant)….they were DIVINE.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks! We were both ‘iffy’ on sweet potatoes – until I made these slow baked sp! They are fantastic. Deeper flavor, better texture. An incredible ‘entree’ needing only a veg or salad. Really a perfect addition to our permanent menus.
What an awesome recipe Deb. I made this a couple of times and love it! The second time I added in some caramelized onions which I always love with sweet potatoes. Thank you,
These look lovely. I must admit I may not ever get around to making them, because throughout the colder months in my city, you will find amazing slow charcoal roasted sweet potatoes –flavoured with chaat masala and a squeeze of lime or a bit of starfruit — sold on every other street corner. Come to Delhi during its short winter and eat shikarkandi ki chaat — you’ll never think of sweet potato the same way again!
It’s true! One of the delights of Delhi in winter! Oh how I miss Delhi! And the charcoal roasted sweet potatoes on the street!
My dream growing up was to be a cheerleader, never happened but YOWZA I am a cheerleader for these potatoes. They are so simple, always eye appealing and loved by family and friends. I tend to buy the largest sweet potatoes I can find and with a salad on the side, a meal. Another plus, if you are watching carbs, sweet potatoes are the perfect comfort food in lieu of mashed potatoes. I make these sometimes as often as twice a month and I do add lime as they come out from the broiler, make them once and I believe you will never look back.
Two word: miso. butter
mix 2 parts butter with 1 part miso paste and finish your sweet potatoes with it. I think it’s magical.
I love this idea.
YES! I love miso butter on corn, what a brilliant idea to put it on these beauties. Thank you Phoebe. My sweet potatoes are going in the oven shortly, in the past I have paired these potatoes with Gena Hamshaw’s “Baked sweet potatoes with spiced lentil salad & Lemon Tahini Dressing on Food52. It is a delicious meal, but when I don’t want something that involved, Miso butter will be my topping of choice.
Skin didn’t get crispy, should I have roasted them longer? They were in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours. I did broil them, is that when they are supposed to get crispy? Thank you.
What kind of sweet potatoes? I find it so surprising that so long baking didn’t even dry the skin out.
I was planning on making this https://dinnercharm.com/blogs/recipes/carrot-soup-with-a-touch-of-spice carrot currie soup tonight but now I’m craving sweet potatoes. Wonder if I can have the potatoes as an app and the soup as an entrée?
Do I need to poke holes in the potatoes before baking?
No, not here.
These were seriously worth the 2.5 hour wait! So delicious!
Loved this… and now it’s on repeat :) Instead of roasted garlic yogurt, I top it w toum… a whipped garlic and oil dip. (Or you can just buy ‘garlic dip’ in the refrigerated case at Trader Joe’s -which is slightly salty but super delicious and easy!!!)
Try with peanut sauce, one of my favorite meals.
Deb,
Would these reheat well if roasted earlier in the day and then popped back in the oven to reheat before dinner?
Thanks!
Never mind, I see you answered this. Planning to try it tomorrow.
Another huge hit. Wow – amazing. Ate them with a little salt and smoked olive oil. Can’t wait to try with just plain butter or ghee.
I have a question about the safety of making a large batch of the garlic yogurt. How long will it last in the fridge and do I need to worry about botulism if I added water to thin the yogurt. I am not sure if the yogurt and water will have the same effect that oil and garlic can have.
P.S. I made it last night and it was delicious!
I made this. They taste like candy!! In a good way. Would be perfect with a roast chicken or even steak.
We had these last night with some sautéed string beans and a riff on the crunchy pork chops from the site. I used pork tenderloin and made them more like medallions (one might say they were more like nuggets). It was easy and delicious. I made the coated pork last weekend as well so had some in the freezer. I put the potatoes in when we popped home after errands and then I went out for drinks with friends (my SO was home, so it was safe). I didn’t have time to do the other toppings but I mixed some harissa with Greek yogurt and then put butter and the harissa yogurt on top of the sweet potatoes.
First time slow-roasting sweet potatoes, or just about anything for that matter. I roast veggies multiple times per week, all year (yes, even in the summer!), and have always stuck with the high-heat method. Partly for speed, but mostly because the deep brown edges are my favorite part of anything that goes in the oven. I was excited to try this low-and-slow approach, but mine didn’t turn out as wonderful as I had hoped. The insides were fairly dry/starchy, rather than mushy/jammy/caramelized as I had imagined. This might be due to the type of sweet potato I used – can I blame the sweet potato?? These were long, skinny guys from the local farm stand, definitely a different variety than the classic “plump” ones pictured here. I’ll certainly try this again with bigger sweet potatoes and hope that solves the problem.
Also, to add to the peel/no-peel debate: I adore roasted sweet potatoes and have always eaten the skin. It’s full of nutrients and quite tasty too! Buying organic and scrubbing well quells some of the fears about pesticides and fertilizers.
This is a tangent to the original post, but one final note. If you must peel your sweet potatoes for a particular recipe, don’t throw the skins away!! Line a baking sheet with foil; toss the peels with olive oil, salt, pepper, and any other ground spices you like; and roast at ~400˚F until browned and crispy. Works with apple peels too! A rare chip that’s both addictive AND nutritious enough to burn all your fingers and finish the entire tray in minutes without an ounce of guilt or regret (except maybe about the burnt fingers).
Definitely my new favorite way to eat sweet potatoes. I also have always peeled them but the skins on these were delicious. Served them with butter alongside some spicy chicken sausage and broccoli but they were the star of the meal. Even did great reheated in the microwave the next day.
I guess I’m really in the minority here but I didn’t love this. Made these with the garlic yogurt topping and it was just blah to me. I’m generally indifferent to sweet potatoes but I had a couple at home and hoped this recipe might convert me.
I believe sweet potatoes are wonderful with melted butter. Some people add cinnamon to the potato also. I grew up eating sweet potatoes mashed, and with marshmallows on top. This with brown sugar was wonderful, but SWEET. I am off sweets again, so I will eat mine with butter. At times, I order a baked potato, and forget the sweet potatoes. Other times I know the sweet potato deserves our pallet.
Just followed this technique to use in sweet potato pie, and boy oh boy it’s a good thing I tossed an extra one in the oven, because I ate most of it. It’s totally worth the elapsed time. I have a feeling this will be a reallllly good pie.
Is there any way to do any of this ahead? Par-cook them today, for instance, then finish them with the second hour in the oven and the broiler tomorrow?
I think your question is answered above!
I’m sitting here drooling!! Thank You!! Off to the kitchen!!
There’s a restaurant called Cala in SF that has very similar, incredible sweet potatoes that stand on their own too. They serve it with fresh corn tortillas and a bone marrow salsa negra or (in my case) a very salty vegetarian condiment that really enhances the flavor of the sweet potato. Will definitely be making this with some of your suggestions soon!
Having trouble with this recipe. I put the sweet potatoes in the oven 3.5 hours ago and they still aren’t caramelizing on the bottom! They give easily when I push on them with my finger or a spoon, so I’m going to take them out now. I didn’t pierce them. The outsides seem nice and dry.
They aren’t going to caramelize on the bottom, just roast. They get color on them when you broil them at the end.
(Love these! FYI, the recipe says, “Bake until very soft inside and caramelized on the bottom, about 2 1/2 hours,” vs. your reply to Whitney’s expectation that they would caramelize with: “They aren’t going to caramelize on the bottom.”)
My two year old granddaughter LOVES sweet potatoes! Well she loves all food, but when the tummy is upset or she’s just feeling “off” we roast sweet potatoes. We like them with just a knob of butter and some sea salt, sometimes we’ll use a sprinkle of brown sugar, but we too feel that simple is better and just let the sweet potato speak for itself
I had the eggplant dessert at that restaurant more than ten years ago and still think about it as well!!! Great recipes :)
I’m obsessed. Amazing “new” way to cook sweet potatoes. I am now a convert to sweet potato skins too. The salt, olive oil, pepper ratio & amount is not too much — makes delicious skins that I’ve been using like taco wraps.
I follow a low fat diet so I lightly sprayed Pam olive oil spray on the outside of the sweet potatoes instead of using so much oil. It still turned out great. I am never making a sweet potato any other way!
I have just read this post in 2019 and can’t imagine how I missed it originally.
This is how I have always baked Sweet Potatoes (known as Kumara where I come from) but without the sweet toppings.
If this is an unusual way for American people to cook Sweet Potatoes how would you normally cook them?
Occasionally I will boil them like Potatoes but more often I bake them. I found this article and the following comments really interesting.
These are good, but I feel like I’ve gotten more sweetness by roasting whole sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for about an hour. Is there a difference in high vs low temperature?
I LOVE these. Rather than the savory treatment on all of them, I rubbed a few of mine with a tiny pinch of sugar and a good dusting of cinnamon for my Littles. However, they didn’t get crispy. Is it because they are small? (like the biggest one is 2” in diameter at the largest end and is maybe 6” long — and it’s significantly larger than the others.)
Wow these are amazingly delicious!!!!! I never knew sweet potatoes could be so good. Thank you for this!
I love your recipes although I haven’t made as many as I wish. But, I enjoy your commentaries and stories so much! What wonderful gifts you have, Deb!
I’m a frequent lurker who almost never comments, but I love your blog – particularly, your writing prowess and your incredible photography. I have to admit that the simplicity of this post was intriguing, which is why I tried your method – and I am so glad I did! I began later than desired, so the first one was eaten straight from the oven, with a slathering of ghee and and a generous dollop of homemade Greek yogurt over which I grated some lemon zest..and OH MY…AMAZING. I ate the 2nd reheated with a scoop of pork, bean and corn chili, more yogurt mixed with lime zest and a little queso fresco, and polished off #3 today with more ghee, smashed roasted garlic, and a big spoonful of lemon zested yogurt. I now need more sweet potatoes and also to make more yogurt (to which I may add lemon zest religiously from now on) and to you, good woman, I am forever grateful for this delicious discovery.
Hello there,
Is this commentary still on ? The last comment was 2018. Anyway I just want to say if I first boil the sweet potatoes till soft then dry them with paper towel & cut them open in halves so all the surfaces get burnt too. It’s the burnt parts that taste good I guess.
I live in a condominium so starting an open charcoal fire would be fire risk and the smoke is a problem too.
My oven is big portable type so the heat is not all that high , you could roast chicken and bake cake. But it will roast the potatoes well.
It will take too long to roast the potatoes if I don’t boil those potatoes first it will never get cooked.
Cheers.
Pascal Yang
I love sweet potatoes and roast them often. I didn’t think it could get any better than roasted sweet potatoes. I was wrong. This couldn’t have been easier, but the results were stunning! Absolutely delicious and amazing texture. Thank you!
Love this recipe!
Sweet potato a prebiotic and the spices cumin and mustard to train kids taste buds… a great recipe to whip up for kids as a snack.
In Japan, they always had a hot baked sweet potato in the supermarkets… I wish we had that here in New Zealand!
This looks like a perfect Self Isolation recipe. I have all the time in the world :)
To be perfectly honest, I am not sure what all the fuss is about making sweet potatoes this way. We followed the recipe to the letter and it came out fine but nothing remotely special, or any different than a sweet potato baked for an hour at 350°.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by steamed sweet potatoes, a technique I picked up after reading a NYT article a few months back. If you haven’t tried steaming them, it really is the best method. Ready in 25 minutes and the texture is incredible.
I made these today and we thoroughly enjoyed them! I wish I had used the full 1/2 tsp of salt because I think that would have drawn the moisture out and made the skins crisper. It would also have added extra depth of flavor. The yoghurt-garlic sauce was terrific also. Thank you, Deb!
Do you think you could slow-roast sausages along side?
I’ve never made slow-roasted sausages. If they were fresh and fatty, perhaps, but I think most will end up overcooked.
Thanks Deb,
I know you can roast sausages at a high heat for around 30-40 minutes. Maybe I’ll try putting them in for an hour, removing them, and then adding them back for the last 30 minutes. Seems a shame not to turn this into a sheetpan dinner.
Keep Safe at home.
Kate (Kitchener, ON, Canada)
I really love this recipe. The saltiness of the crispy sweet potato skins is just the best. My kids are obsessed too and only want me to make sweet potatoes this way. In this time of never leaving the house its easy to remember to thrown the potatoes in at 3:00 for dinner at 6:00 it is perfect, yummy, pantry cooking recipe.
You should rename these quarantine sweet potatoes!! Great idea for an easy lunch — thank you!
I made these and I dressed them with Samin Nosrat’s tahini lime sauce from NYT Cooking. Out of this world.
Sweet potato perfection. I tried this tonight and I see no reason to ever make sweet potatoes any other way. Next time I’m going to make extra so I can see how the re-heating goes. Thank you!! I never would have thought to try this myself and it’s sensational!!
Slow-roasted Sweet Potatoes:
I made this with the one sweet potato remaining in my quarantine pantry, roasting a head of garlic along side. It took all the willpower and goodwill I possess to share half with my daughter-in-law.
I would brave zombies to buy more sweet potatoes and make this again!
Made this for lunch and it was delightful! It was perfect!
One question, do you use coarse Kosher salt or regular sized grains on the outside?
I use kosher
Deb, I’m cooking my way through quarantine with you by my side. Fortunate to have a job and to be able to work from home — but with three kids at home as well, food prep has turned into an entirely new game. These sweet potatoes are in the oven right now for lunch today. Thank you for your sunny, sweet, rational posts at a time when everyone is scared and anxious, and thanks for everything you’ve given your readers over the years. Stay safe!
Made these today. When they were emerged, I was too hungry to go to the trouble of making chaunk, but they were insanely good with just a little butter. This may be the only way I make sweet potatoes for awhile, and the crispy skin with the salt and pepper is heavenly. You’ve outdone yourself yet again!
Well-it took me all this time to make these and I’m thrilled I finally did. Without a doubt the best sweet potatoes I’ve ever had !!
Well-it took me all this time to make these and I’m thrilled I finally did. Without a doubt the best sweet potatoes I’ve ever had !!
Made this with your Slow and Low Dry Rub Chicken… (300 for 2 hours). Both delicious and great together! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Silly questions but do I wrap the potatoes in tin foil or simply place on foil lined pan? Also, when it comes time to broil, do I just leave them as is? Thank you.
I’m not Deb, but I can tell you that you just leave them as is!
I’d suggest These slow-roasted beauties with Samin Nosrat’s tahini butter (Which is to die for) lavished in top.
Could I apply this same technique to purple sweet potatoes? Just got them in my farm share and not entirely sure what to do with them, but this looks delish. Thanks! :)
I haven’t tried roasting them whole, so I’m not sure if they’d be too waxy to get a nice texture, but I happen to have this recipe just for purple potatoes!
Thank you! :)
I think I want to try making these with Japanese purple-skin white-fleshed sweet potatoes (the kind that taste sort of like chestnuts) and use Samin Nosrat’s tahini butter on them, which combines butter and tahini with a bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and garlic — a flavor profile made in heaven.
I use the recipe app called Papkrika. So easy to copy and post your recipes including the web page address. Gotta try these sweet potatoes!!!!
I have made this recipe 4 times, without doubt the absolute best sweet potato recipe by far. I usually stay away from salt, but with this, I treat myself without any regrets, it is a guilty pleasure, I don’t change a thing, so whether Thanksgiving or Covid fugue don’t hesitate to make this recipe.
Can you use Japanese sweet potatoes for this recipe?
Hi, what else can you recommend cooking at this temperature? Frankly having the oven on for this length of time (even at low) for just 3 lbs of potatoes (and, maybe some garlic) seems really un-eco. Have you tried cooking beets in a similar way? Or celery root?
Thanks!
I’ve slow-roasted winter squash, eggplant, tomatoes. All wonderful…
Deb! I don’t know where this “recipe” has been all my life, but since I saw it here, once upon a time, it is my “go to”. I teach piano, so need a veggie that waits on me to teach and get something else ready for our supper. (“Supper” is the Texas term for evening meal that I grew up with. “Dinner” was for big meal at noon as farmers needed strength to get back into fields to complete the day’s work.) We LOVE these sweet potatoes.
I have been mixing this recipe with enchilada chicken sweet potatoes from Skinnytaste. I bake the sweet potatoes with this recipe, omitting the oil and salt. I then throw some frozen chicken breasts and canned enchilada sauce in the slow cooker for 6 hours. When the chicken breasts are done, I shred them. I slice down the middle of each sweet potato and stuff with the chicken. I then top them with green onions and reduced fat mexican cheese. The broil the stuffed potatoes and then Yum!
I think about this post often.
I assumed one needed some rugged expertise to cooking anything beyond s’mores on an open fire, but after camping a few times this year, I realized there was nothing to it more than just doing it. No, I don’t have the same level of finesse as this chef man, but I do feel the same full-colored fervor of stripping cooking down to primal principles. Of being more fully conscious of the intertwining dance of cooking and eating and warmth and chatting…a powerful gas stove feels muted in comparison.
I also realized openfire cooking It’s is something that technically can be done anytime, even if you have to camp, or just buy/make a firepit for your backyard if you have one! (I don’t)
It also makes me relish the predictability and ease of cooking in modern kitchens, haha isn’t it nice when fire is nearly immediately ready when you want it.
Would this work with yams instead of sweet potatoes?
I’d think so!
Any thoughts on making this in an air fryer? I wondering if it would take the same amount of time.
I love sweet potatoes! The best ones come from Florida, because they like a long hot growing season – I have been known to slip a couple into my luggage on the way home, to the bemusement of TSA. I made these when you first published it, and honestly don’t know why you would make them any other way, they’re like candy. Salty crunchy candy.
This is really a question rather than a comment. I saw in some of the previous questions that you also have roasted winter squash on the slow roast method. How long would honey-nut or butternut squash take to slow roast? And do you think you could do green beans also? And if so, how long. Thanks!
Could you slow roast the sweet potatoes if they’ve already been cut into smaller pieces?
Any way to speed this up? Precooking in Instant Pot or slow cooker? I live in a hot climate and having the oven on for that long is too much. Thanks!
Made this tonight and topped with Greek yogurt. I will now never made sweet potato/yam any other way. Simply perfect. A wonder.
Could not be easier or more delicious. My parents fancy themselves sweet potato masters but I insisted on making these for them last night. My mother, who doesn’t eat the skin of ANYTHING (cucumbers, fruit, you name it), looked at me skeptically when I told her the skin was my favorite part of these… & then proceeded to devour it. And my dad happily admitted these were the best sweet potatoes he’s had & this will be their go-to from now on. They don’t quite understand recipe blogs & asked me to “tell the friend who gave you the recipe we said thanks” lol. So, thanks!
I have made these several times and they are absolutely delicious. Because the oven is on for a long time, I would like to team it up with roasting other vegetables. Can you recommend other vegetables that benefit from the low and slow roast?
Rutabagas would like it. Blue Hubbard squash if you roast it whole, or halves upsidedown. Hubbard actually makes the best “pumpkin” pie filling & freezes well.
Made this with purple stokes sweet potatoes and it worked very well! These can sometimes be dry but roasting so low and slow made them super creamy.
I made this as directed the first time and LOVED the result. Best sweet potatoes ever. Have also found that I can get a pretty similar result using the “roast” setting of my air-fryer/multi-function oven at 300 – and takes about 1/2 the time, which DOES make this possible on a weeknight!
What are your thoughts on making these ahead of time?
For anyone following this thread 4 months later – I roast 3 to 5 lbs of sweet potatoes at a time and freeze, maybe twice a month. There’s still fabulous!
This is absolutely THE best sweet potato anyone in my family has EVER tasted. I followed the recipe to a T, and it was pure delight. THANK YOU!
Made these last night. House smelled different while the potatoes were cooking. Not sure the pulp was too different but liked the crisp finish of the skin. And cooking the garlic and then mashing it into greek yogurt was, really, the cherry on top! I have one potato left over which will be a glorious lunch today!
We started roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes on the bbq this summer and I imagine this has a similar but more pronounced result. Will definitely give this a go. I love my roasted sweet potatoes with butter and a slight sprinkle of brown sugar and of course some flaky sea salt!
Ok yes! This is the best sweet potato! I did mine in one of the little countertop ovens. It only gave me the choice of 270 or 280 degrees, so since I used the convection setting I picked 270. The broiler setting only took 2-3 minutes. The finished potato was perfect: I sliced it open, put a pat of butter in, and gleefully ate the entire thing. Fully worth the 2.5 hour wait.
Looks yummy‼️
I baked them the day before Thanksgiving and put them in the fridge whole overnight. About an hour before the turkey was done, I put them on a foil lined baking sheet and put them in the oven on the bottom rack. I took them out when the turkey came out, and sliced them into 2in slices. I served them in a 9×13 pan drizzled with butter, although tbh I barely tasted the butter. The skin didn’t stay very crispy so most people peeled it off, but everyone seemed to really enjoy them!
Do you think I need to adjust cooking time if I have smaller potatoes? I bought a bag from TJs that’s mostly small guys, 3-5oz each.
I would like to add I keep a kosher house so never butter, I always use olive oil and eye the amount of oil, salt, I like black pepper so that I use the amount suggested. I also use raw sugar oh I can taste it now so truth be told when you do these often enough you know what to do. Last but never least, maple syrup to balance the salt and pepper just bubbles under the broiler. I will make these again tomorrow, the fridge feels empty without a pyrext of sweet potatoes.
These are wonderful. The texture is lovely. Definitely worth the extra effort of cooking them so long.
I finally had 2.5 hours to spare this morning and made red sweet potatoes the “low and slow” way. I put one of the sweet potatoes into my kale salad for lunch, and it did not disappoint. Thanks Deb, your website is so much fun! Do you ever make these in the air fryer to speed things up?