How Long To Bake Sweet Potatoes In The Oven
Answer
Sweet potatoes can be baked in the oven for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. However, a longer bake time will ensure that the sweet potatoes are cooked through and have a more crispy texture.
Sweet potatoes are a popular vegetable that can be baked in the oven. However, it is important to follow the correct baking instructions to ensure that sweet potatoes are cooked through and not too soft. Baking sweet potatoes for a long time can also cause them to become rubbery.
How To Make This Recipe
Its pretty simple. Get your oven preheating . A nice hot oven is essential for crispy roasted sweet potatoes.
Get out a large rimmed sheet pan. My sheet pan is well-seasoned so it doesnt need to be greased or lined with parchment paper. If you like, give the pan a very light coat of cooking spray or oil. If you want a quick cleanup, line it with parchment paper instead. I find that the potatoes dont get quite as crispy when I use parchment paper but sometimes its worth it not to have a pan to wash.
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How Long Should You Bake A Sweet Potato In Foil
Baking a sweet potato in foil takes around 1 hour. After 45 minutes, you may test the doneness with a fork. When the sweet potato is completely soft, it is done.. Could you wait a few minutes to eat it safely?
Here are some esteemed calculations about different temperatures:
- Should cooking take place in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit? Longer than 75 minutes
- Time required to bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit? Between sixty and seventy-five minutes
- At a temperature of 425 degrees for should bake for 45-60 mins
It all depends on the oven temperature, the size, and the thickness of the potatoes you use to determine how long they need to bake.
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How Long Do You Bake Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potato time in the oven varies and potatoes cook faster when cut up.
This sweet potato recipe that bakes cut up potatoes in the oven takes approximately 40 minutes to soften and bake potatoes in dish.
If you bake a sweet potato whole, it typically takes a full 60 minutes and a higher oven temperature.
I will be publishing a separate article on how to do bake a whole potato coming up.
How Long Does It Take To Cook A Sweet Potato On 375

Cooking a sweet potato can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on a standard kitchen stove. However, it can take up to four hours in a pressure cooker, so its important to be careful when cooking
sweet potatoes. When cooking sweet potatoes on the stovetop, be sure to time them carefully so that they cook evenly and dont overcook.
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What Temperature Should Baked Sweet Potatoes Be
Make sure the potato is tender all the way through by poking it with a fork. An instant-read thermometer can be used for a more accurate reading of the interior temperature. Potatoes are considered done when the internal temperature is between 205 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest region of the potato.
Should You Pierce Sweet Potatoes Before Baking
Sweet potatoes are a great source of carbohydrates and dietary fiber, which can help regulate blood sugar levels. However, some people believe that piercing sweet potatoes before baking may have
negative consequences. They argue that the piercing could cause the sweet potatoes to become dry and brittle, which could lead to their failure during baking.
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Perfectly Baked Sweet Potato
- 4largesweet potatoes
- 4tablespoonsunsalted butter
- 1tablespoonextra-virgin olive oil
- 1teaspoonKosher salt
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Wash, scrub, and dry the potatoes thoroughly. Place on a foil lined baking sheet.
- Rub oil and salt all over the potatoes.
- Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork.
- Bake until tender, about 40-60 minutes
- Let cool for about 5 minutes, then split the tops open with a knife and gently squeeze it open.
- Top with a pat of butter and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper before serving. Enjoy!
Secrets To The Best Sweet Potatoes In The Oven
With their natural sweetness, crispy outsides, and meltingly creamy insides, roasted sweet potatoes are quite possibly one of the easiest vegetables to adore. Discerning adults and picky eaters alike can rally around them. And theyre good for you too!
We eat roasted sweet potatoes often and were perfectly happy with them , so I didnt think my technique needed improving. Then, one night, I was in a hurry and I tried something new.
I cut the sweet potatoes into large chunks.
GAME CHANGER.
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How To Store And Reheat
Sweet potatoes are a great meal prep ingredient! Bake a few at the beginning of the week to enjoy throughout the week. Theyre super easy to store if you have leftovers.
- To store: Place the whole or halved sweet potato, or the scooped out flesh in a storage container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
- To freeze: If you have a lot of leftovers, you can freeze them! Just scoop out the flesh into a storage container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- To reheat: Pop the sweet potato in the microwave for a couple of minutes or in the oven at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until warmed through.
Tips For Baking Sweet Potatoes In Oven
The more enormous and spherical your sweet potatoes are, the more time they will need to bake and the more likely they will turn up undercooked in the middle. So instead, you should search for sweet potatoes that are lengthy and consistent in size.
If you want perfectly baked potatoes, you need to dry them thoroughly first. This will stop them from steaming during cooking, resulting in lovely, crispy skin.
Prepare a baking sheet by spraying liberally with nonstick cooking spray and lining it with foil or parchment paper. Baking brings out the natural sugars in sweet potatoes, which caramelize and become increasingly sweet as the potatoes continue to cook. Sugar crystallizes and adheres to surfaceslike cookie sheets.
Similarly, never bake on an unrimmed baking sheet unless you plan to wrap the pan with aluminum foil.
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How Long To Bake Sweet Potatoes
So, now that you know how to roast sweet potatoes, how do you know when sweet potatoes are done? It depends on the size of the sweet potato, what temperature you bake them at, and whether youre baking them whole or roasting them in pieces.
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.
Youll 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. Wearing an oven mitt, you can also squeeze the sides to check for doneness there should be a little bit of give. In either case, if you encounter resistance, its a sign that the sweet potatoes arent cooked all the way through and need additional cooking time.
If youd like a more precise indicator, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the sweet potato. The internal temperature of a cooked sweet potato should read between 205- and 212-degrees Fahrenheit.
Chopped sweet potatoes coming to the boil in pan
Rachel Husband/Getty Images
Should You Wrap Potatoes In Foil Before Baking

Are you wrapping your potatoes in foil before baking them to help keep them from becoming soggy wrappings can help keep potatoes from sticking to the oven racks, and they also make cleanup a breeze.wrapping your potatoes in foil before baking them can help prevent them from sticking to the oven racks, and they also make cleanup a breeze.
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How Many Times Should You Poke A Potato Before Baking
Potatoes are a type of tuber and can be cooked in many ways. The most common way to cook potatoes is by boiling them. Boiling them will kill the potato and make it easy to peel.
You should also poke the potato several times before baking it. This will help to ensure that the potato is cooked through and doesnt turn into a mess.
For The Best Baked Sweet Potatoes Skip The Oven
In recent years, sweet potato fries have grown in popularity, being added to restaurant menus across the U.S. and even sold in the frozen food aisle. But, in your search for convenience when making sweet potato fries, don’t skip over the baked sweet potato.
Recipes abound for sweet potatoes that involve roasting, mashing, grilling, air frying, and microwaving them. Betty Crocker says that no matter the method you choose, you can’t go wrong when preparing a sweet potato. One of the most classic sweet potato dishes that grace dining room tables on the holidays, is candied sweet potatoes, which includes brown sugar, butter, heavy cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg, , per a Southern Living recipe.
A great bonus to the delicious taste of sweet potatoes is that, as starches go, they are quite healthy. A medium-sized sweet potato contains vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber, according to Healthline. If you are looking for a way to keep sweet potatoes as healthy as possible, while also keeping the process simple, baking them is a great option. But what if we told you the oven might not be the best place in which to do that?
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How To Bake A Sweet Potato
Set the oven to 400°F.
Wash the sweet potatoes, and then prick them all over with a fork.
Brush the sweet potatoes with olive oil
Place the sweet potatoes directly on the oven rack with a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any juices that drip while they bake.
How long to bake a sweet potato at 400? Bake those potatoes until tender, about 60 minutes!
Helpful Tips Are They Done
Do a poke test to see if they are ready they should greatly yield to the touch. The skins will puff up around the flesh and an air pocket forms around the reduced flesh.
This takes a bit of practice! They will start to feel this way about 30 minutes before they are really done. Just be patient, and keep baking them.
I like to pull on the skin. If the sweet potatoes are ready, the skin pulls off very easily.
When you cut open the sweet potato, you want it to very easily squish and come off a fork very creamy.
If youre baking a purple sweet potato, the process is slight different, because they are lower in sugar and have a more dry texture.
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Meal Prep Baked Sweet Potatoes
Once your sweet potatoes are ready, serve them for dinner, or pack them in meal prep containers ready for the weeks meals.
Top them with protein like eggs, leftover turkey/steak, beans, or even tuna fish. Add some veggies. I love easy greens like arugula and spinach. Salsa, sour cream, hot sauce, and salad dressings make great toppings as well.
Freezing Baked Sweet Potatoes
One reader gave the tip that you can freeze leftover baked sweet potatoes by mashing them after theyve been baked and then transferring the mashed-up leftovers to a jumbo-sized muffin pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Cover with foil and place in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer portions to a zip-lock bag or large plastic box.
If you prefer not to freeze your baked sweet potatoes, they will last for up to 4-5 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
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Why We Prefer Bake Sweet Potato In Foil
Starchy and sugary sweet potatoes have both of these qualities by design. So, sweet potatoes may be used as a building block for a wide variety of tasty dishes.. You may boil it, mash it, fry it, or bake it in tin foil. Wrapping your sweet potatoes with foil before placing them in the oven will help them cook more quickly and improve their flavor and texture.
If you follow this recipe to the letter, youll end up with baked sweet potatoes that are both soft and sweet, and you wont be able to get enough of them. When baking sweet potatoes, it might be helpful to cover them with foil first. After removing them from the oven, the foil keeps them toasty and adds some steam to keep the skin nice and soft. Dont use foil in the oven if you want the skin to get roasted and crispy instead, wrap them up after roasting. I never bother with aluminum foil while baking sweet potatoes since we always devour them as soon as they come out of the oven.
Use foil to protect the sweet potatoes exterior from the grills heat. However, using foil might further lengthen the cooking process.
Baking Versus Instant Pot

When I first created this Instant Pot Sweet Potato recipe I was in awe of how quickly you could cook them by using a pressure cooker.
However, I soon realized that if you want to cook more than 4 at a time, there is another way that simply cant be beat.
So I learned how to bake sweet potatoes in the oven.
Not only can you put up to 15-20 sweet potatoes in the oven at the same time, but they also get a wonderfully crisp exterior the Instant Pot just cant reproduce.
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Use A Common Kitchen Appliance
The best and easiest way to make a baked sweet potato is in a slow cooker, advises Forks Over Knives. That’s because the slow cooker is especially good at drawing out the sweetness of these potatoes’ natural sugars. To prepare them, simply clean the exterior of four or five sweet potatoes, use a fork or other utensil to poke holes in the skins, then place them in a slow cooker in a single layer. Allow them to cook on high for about eight hours or until you can pierce the skin easily.
It’s easy to keep the baked sweet potatoes healthy, but be careful when topping them. Skinny Taste suggests using butter, salt, and pepper to taste. For a bit more cozy flavor, you can also use cinnamon and pumpkin spice butter. But if you want to go all out, Bon Appétit suggests decadent toppings like hot honey, cashews, and sausage as possible toppings. This recipe for Hasslebeck sweet potatoes can easily be adapted to the slow cooker and features ingredients like maple syrup and red pepper flakes that makes being healthy oh so delicious.
What To Serve With Baked Sweet Potatoes
We cant deny that baked sweet potato with pepper, butter, and salt is incredibly delicious. However, you can pair it with veggies, protein, and different sauces to make a full meal.
- Sauce: Cilantro lime dressing, Fry Sauce, Honey Mustard sauce, Taco Sauce, Lemon Pepper Sauce, West African Pepper Sauce
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How Can You Tell When A Sweet Potato Is Done
Sweet potatoes cannot keep a secret. When theyre done, the whole world will know it.
They start to ooze out their sweet caramelized juice, wrinkle up a bit, and if you want to for sure make sure, just stab one with a fork or knife. The knife should slide in easily when a sweet potato is fully cooked.
Why Do Restaurants Serve Baked Potatoes Wrapped In Aluminum Foil
There are a few reasons why restaurants might serve baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. The most common reason is to protect the potatoes from becoming overcooked or dry. Another reason is
that the foil helps to keep the potatoes from taking on too much flavor from the sauce or dressing. Finally, some restaurants may use aluminum foil for aesthetic purposes.v
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Simple And Homey Baked Sweet Potato
Im a big fan of sweet potatoes. I love their taste they are a vegetable but can taste like dessert. I also love their texture, and how easy they are to cook plus, they are nutritious and filling. If youve never eaten them before, then you should try some of these:
Baked sweet potatoes are one of the simplest foods you will ever make. It is a warming and comforting food perfect for all seasons. This recipe is ideal for busy weeknights after a long day at work. In addition, it uses 3 ingredients and minimal effort.
When it comes to sweet potatoes, they can be enjoyed any time of the year, even if the bright orange-hued tuber conjures up memories of thanksgivings and the fall season!
Is It Better To Bake A Sweet Potato Or Microwave It
There is a lot of debate over whether it is better to bake a sweet potato or microwave it. People seem to think that either way is better, but there are some factors that might make one decide which metho
d is better for them. For example, baking a sweet potato will probably require more time and energy than microwaving it, so it may be worth the wait. Additionally, baking a sweet potato will likely be less healthy because OF COURSE foods like potatoes cook in the microwave.
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