Baked Sweet Potato Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long to bake a sweet potato at 400 without? ›

The foil wrap will help them stay moist which is important due to the long baking time required to cook them properly. Depending on the size of the sweet potatoes, 400 degrees F for about an hour should be sufficient. You can bake sweet potatoes in the oven without wrapping them or basting them with oil.

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

A good rule of thumb for whole baked sweet potatoes: 45 minutes to 1 hour at 400 degrees F; 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 350 degrees F; 1 and 1/2 hours at 325 degrees F. You'll know the sweet potatoes are done by piercing the center of the sweet potato with the tip of a sharp knife; the flesh should yield easily.

For something smoky, tangy, and nicely salty, smear some plain Greek yogurt on your sweet potato, then layer with smoked fish, scallions, and briny capers. Roast whatever mushrooms you have until crispy. Thin some tahini, adding a little yogurt for creaminess. Or mix hummus and yogurt, and spread on your potato.

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

An instant-read thermometer is vital to cooking the potatoes to exactly 200 degrees.

Trapping that spud in aluminum foil where the moisture cannot escape results in a wet potato. Over baking the potato in foil cannot be seen (or easy to smell that it is overcooked) so you can end up with dark brown skin on the bottom, tough to eat and giving off a slightly burnt taste.

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

Not only do you get better baked potatoes when you bake them unwrapped, you also save money. Cost calculations show that eliminating foil saves an average of $3.00 per 90-count carton of potatoes, including labor and foil costs.

It's really the best way. Microwaving sweet potatoes cuts down cook time by 45 to 55 minutes, and, according to a 2018 study, helps maintain the potato's nutritional value. All cooking methods cause foods to lose some of their nutrients, but the quicker your potato cooks, the more nutrients it will retain.

Why is my baked sweet potato hard? ›

The reason they are hard in the middle is cook them longer or on a higher temperature. Soaking will not help soften your sweet potato unless you are putting the potato and water in a pot on the stove and cooking it. If your sweet potato is still hard it's not cooked enough.

This may sound tedious, but you'll want to avoid overcooking the sweet potato, which can make it dry on the outside and soggy on the inside. The timeframe for cooking may depend on the size of your sweet potato and the wattage of your microwave, so it's essential that you check for doneness yourself.

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

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy.

Directions. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the potatoes in a bowl with the oil, salt, and pepper until completely coated. Place on a baking sheet and bake until fork tender, about 45 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes:Sweet potatoes tend to have a higher moisture content than regular potatoes. This can result in a slightly faster baking time. When baked at the same temperature, a medium-sized sweet potato might take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour at 425°F (220°C) to become fully tender.

We recommend 400° F. In previous studies with Kitchen Consultants, out of Los Angeles, we raised our baking time suggestions from 45 or 55 minutes to one full hour or when the internal temperature of the Idaho® baked potato reaches 210° F. Baking in foil is NOT recommended, as it steams the potato.

As a general guide line with the convection oven you can bake the potatoes at 375 degrees F versus a higher temp in a conventional oven. Still, I have found 400 degrees F for 55-60 minutes works well and the potatoes are fully cooked when they reach 210 degrees F.