Last Updated on 23rd April 2022 by
I think the sweet potato gets overlooked sometimes and is considered a not quite standard potato. The slow roasted baked potato is a favourite for family dinners, as it shows effort was put into the meal and honestly tastes amazing. The slow roasting creates a delicate texture and brings out all of the lovely flavours, particularly when you season the potato first.
You can do all of that with sweet potatoes, and I want to share with you my recipe for slow roasted sweet potatoes. This is a dish that is fairly simple to make and yet can be packed with flavour. It is a joy to eat, thanks to the delicate skin, soft, pillowy interior, and decadent flavours.
I know a lot of people look down on the lowly sweet potato, but I want to elevate it here, and I think slow roasting it is the way to do that. Once you bite into the delicious textured skin and taste the sweet, soft flesh underneath, you will be glad you spent all that time baking it. This dish is a time investment- make no mistake about that. You will spend about three hours cooking this potato dish, but let me tell you upfront that it is worth it.
If I am going to spend a few hours on any project, it better be good, and I want to say that this does not disappoint. If I am going to spend a few hours roasting sweet potato, then I better have some good stuff to go with it for the meal. That three hours gives me plenty of time to whip up an elaborate meal as accompaniment, and I may try a recipe of roasted parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, dried cranberries, slow cooker-style that is varied, flavourful and unforgettable.
Slow Roasted Sweet Potato Recipe
Slow Roasted Sweet Potato Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp of kosher salt
- 4 tsp of olive oil
- 1 tsp of black pepper
Instructions
- Scrub the potatoes clean.
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and place the potatoes on it.
- Rub each potato with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, coating all sides of the potatoes. Use as much or as little as you want of these seasonings to make the sweet potato just the way you like it.
- Bake for about 2 ½ hours. That should give you potatoes that are caramelized on the bottom and soft on the inside.
- Warm up the broiler and run your potatoes below it. Depending on your broiler, this can take anywhere from 2-10 minutes. You want the potatoes to become slightly charred on the top.
- Allow the potatoes to cool slightly, on a wire rack, if possible. Crush the top of the potatoes slightly with your hand to reveal the inner flesh. Season the potatoes with some salt and top with butter if you like.
Modifications and Other Slow Roasted Sweet Potato Dishes
For Southern slow roasted sweet potatoes, you may want to top with a bit of cinnamon or make a cinnamon butter spread. If you are making slow roasted white sweet potatoes, you can follow the same recipe up above with no changes.
The recipe slow roasted sweet potatoes Serious Eats uses calls for a sweetener, like honey or agave syrup. They also recommend adding a little parsley for garnish. How Sweet Eats slow roasted sweet potatoes recipe advises to blacken the top of the sweet potatoes is to simply flip over the potatoes about 20 minutes before they are done cooking. You do this in the oven and avoid having to use the broiler at all, so it’s a good fix for people who don’t have a broiler or who would rather use the oven for everything.
If you are making slow roasted fingerling sweet potatoes, you only need to slow roast for about an hour.
Why Roast the Potatoes?
Roasting is different from baking in two key ways. First of all, it usually involves a high heat, and secondly, it usually refers to foods that are not put into the oven in batter or liquid form. So, cakes, muffins and breads are baked, not roasted. You can bake a potato, but you cannot roast a cake, technically speaking. Roasting a sweet potato implies that it is cooked at a high temperature.
Roasting also usually implies some darkening, and to give the sweet potato a darkened look, you can either flip it over during the roasting process or run it under a broiler for a few minutes. Either way, you get a blackened skin on the top that gives it a little variety in texture and appearance. You will also see the skin turn a browner colour than before, actually changing from reddish brown to a darker shade as it roasts. That is a common characteristic for roasting any food as well.
This roasting method I provided in this recipe is going to take a while, and if you don’t have the patience for it, then you may want to cook yours in the microwave. It can come out okay there, but it won’t have a crispy crust. That’s the big difference between roasting and microwaving or any other kind of cooking method for your sweet potatoes.
If you want that crispy crust that is such a pleasure to cut into and see peel back and that tastes delightfully textured, then you need to slow roast it. The slower you roast the potato, the softer the interior gets and the crispier the outside gets, the two textures side by side make for an appealing combination.
You will definitely enjoy this dish more if you slow roast it as opposed to boiling or cooking in the microwave. I know it takes a while, but this is probably the best way to introduce the veggie to people who have never tried sweet potatoes. The soft, pillowy interior and the crispy outer skin, along with some gentle seasonings, make for an unforgettable first experience with sweet potatoes. If someone said that they don’t like sweet potatoes before, then once they try this, they might change their mind. That is how good it tastes, making believers out of people who formerly turned the sweet potato down.
If you want to elevate the sweet potato from second class potato to your favourite dish for dinnertime, then try out this slow roasted sweet potato recipe.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
