The Super Simple Tip For The Best Roasted Sweet Potatoes Of Your Life

Versatile sweet potatoes can be a side dish, a savory meal, or even turned into a treat like sweet potato pie. But one of the most satisfying preparations is arguably its simplest form: roasted to perfection. Roasting is an ideal method for getting a ton of flavor and optimal texture out of your sweet potato. At high oven temperatures, the skin becomes slightly crisp while the inside becomes fluffy and tender. Because sweet potatoes boast about 14 times the amount of natural sugars as a standard potato, all that goodness has the potential to become a pure flavor bomb, and there is one super easy tip that ensures your roasted sweet potatoes are superior every time.

Simply slice your sweet potatoes in half the long way before you pop them in the oven, and when combined with just two other staple ingredients, you'll quickly see exactly why this is a game changer. This secret doesn't require any additional gadgets, ingredients, or techniques. In fact, you barely have to do much at all throughout the process, and it will actually save you some time, all while capitalizing on what makes these roots so naturally delicious, creating texture, developing color, and concentrating taste.

By slicing your spud in half lengthwise, giving it a coating of oil and seasoning with salt, and placing it face down (with skin facing up), you're putting the flesh of your potato in contact with the hot surface of the pan. This not only browns your potato and caramelizes those sugars to create major flavor, but also adds a layer of crispy contrast to the surface of this root veggie that you couldn't achieve by roasting it whole.

When it comes to selecting your oil, since most recipes suggest roasting sweet potatoes at about 400 to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, you'll want an option with a high smoke point like vegetable or canola (which are fairly neutral in flavor), or peanut, avocado, or sesame oils (which will be a bit more assertive in taste). From there, seasoning well with salt will not only elevate the inherent sweetness of your potato, but also help extract some of the natural moisture. That's critical to creating a crisp crust, and a satisfying contrast with the soft and fluffy interior.

This trick also helps you get your taters to the table more quickly. Roasting whole sweet potatoes can take up to an hour depending on the size of your spud, while this trick literally cuts cooking time about in half; you're looking at more like 25 to 35 minutes. You can also line your baking sheet with parchment for faster cleanup, but keep in mind you won't get quite as much browning as with the surface of the pan itself.

Once you have perfectly roasted sweet potatoes, you can serve them alongside a simple meat-and-potatoes style dinner like grilled steak, pork tenderloin, or roasted chicken, or cube them up and toss them in a fall quinoa salad with walnuts and raisins for a hearty, veggie-forward main. Alternately, these flavorful halves are a perfect starting point for recipes that call for mashed or puréed sweet potato, like Southern-style sweet potato pie, soups, or even spiced sweet potato muffins. Since they've been roasted to caramelized perfection with this method, you'll be able to add depth of flavor to your favorite root recipe, making this easy tip exceptionally sweet.