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These baked sweet potatoes are the easiest thing you’ll make all season. Olive oil, salt, pepper, a hot oven — and you get something golden, caramelized, and genuinely impressive with almost zero effort.
Why You’ll Love This
Barely any prep — scrub, slice, drizzle, done. The oven takes it from there.
Naturally sweet and caramelized — the cut edges get dark and jammy in a way that no boiling or microwaving can replicate.
Totally customizable — go savory with thyme and olive oil, or sweet with butter, cinnamon, and Brown Sugar. Both are right.
Great for the holidays — they hold beautifully and can be made ahead without losing texture.
Crowd-pleaser, every time — simple enough for a weeknight, impressive enough for a holiday table.
A Word About the Potatoes Themselves
Buy the ones that feel heavy for their size. I know that sounds vague, but you’ll understand when you’re standing in the produce section — some of them feel almost hollow, and those are not your friends. You want something solid, with skin that’s taut and unbruised. Medium-sized works best for even cooking. I’ve done the enormous ones before and they take forever and sometimes the outside gets ahead of the inside, which is frustrating.
As for varieties — I’ve mostly used the standard orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, the ones labeled “garnet” or “jewel” at the store, and occasionally I can’t even find them labeled at all and I just buy whatever looks right. I tried purple sweet potatoes once because they came from some farmers market and they were interesting, a little drier, kind of starchy in a way I didn’t mind but wasn’t sure I loved. Stick with the orange ones if you want that classic sweetness.
Olive oil. I don’t use anything else for this. Some people say coconut oil, and that’s fine, but the olive oil gives you a subtle richness that plays off the sweetness in a way I think coconut oil overdoes. Also I always have olive oil. I almost never have coconut oil.
Ingredients
4 medium sweet potatoes, cut crosswise — maybe about 2 inches thick per piece, though I eyeball this completely
2 tablespoons olive oil, or a little more if the potatoes look like they need it
1 teaspoon sea salt (I use coarse, which I realize not everyone has — regular salt works, just use a bit less)
½ teaspoon black pepper
Dried thyme if you’re feeling savory about it, which I often am in October
Toppings, if you want them: butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, or marshmallows if you’re feeding people who want dessert to arrive disguised as a side dish
How I Make Them
Preheat the oven to 400°F. I always forget to do this first and then I’m standing there with everything prepped, waiting, and feeling quietly annoyed at myself. Do it first.
Scrub the potatoes under cold water. Really scrub them — the skin is edible and you’re going to be eating it, so you don’t want whatever is on the outside of a potato. Dry them off. Cut them crosswise into rounds — I like them about two inches thick, but honestly I’ve done them thinner (crispier, cooks faster) and thicker (more pillowy inside, takes longer). Both are good. The thicker ones are more dramatic-looking on the plate, which I appreciate.
Line a baking sheet with parchment — not foil. I used to use foil and I have no idea why, it sticks worse and the bottoms don’t get as caramelized. Parchment. Lay the potato pieces flat.
Drizzle the olive oil over everything. I usually just pour it and then use my hands to make sure each piece is coated, because a spoon never quite gets the sides and I’ve stopped caring about the mess. Sprinkle the salt and pepper, turn them over, do the other side.
Into the oven. Now — and this is important — don’t rush this. 45 minutes is the minimum, but I often go 55 or even 60, because I want the cut surfaces to have genuinely caramelized, not just browned slightly. The difference is enormous. You’ll know they’re done when a fork slides in with zero resistance and the edges look almost lacquered.
Let them sit for five minutes. I know. It’s hard. But they’re very hot inside and they need a moment.
If you’re adding toppings, now is the time. I usually put out butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar and let people do what they want. The marshmallow thing I have done exactly once and it was delicious and also I felt like I was seven years old and that wasn’t entirely bad.
Variations
I’ve done these with rosemary instead of thyme and that works beautifully — it goes more savory, very good alongside a roast or a pork loin. A version with harissa butter on top is worth trying too — rich, smoky, a little heat against the sweetness. Really good.
If you’re doing a sheet pan dinner situation, you can roast these alongside halved Brussels sprouts or wedges of red onion and everything will be roughly done at the same time, which is useful. Just make sure nothing is crowded or it steams instead of roasts.
Leftovers and Storage
They keep in the fridge for about four days, though I find the texture is really best the first day. If you reheat them in the oven — 375°F for 10 minutes or so — they come back pretty well. The microwave makes them slightly sad. Not terrible, but sad.
I have, on multiple occasions, eaten a cold sweet potato directly from the container in the refrigerator at about 10:30 at night while also looking at my phone. They’re good cold. Not the same, but good. I’m not ashamed.
Actually, I think the main thing I want you to take away from all of this is that the oven is doing the work, and your job is mostly to get out of the way. Trust the heat. Trust the time. Don’t open the oven every ten minutes to check, which I know is tempting. They’ll tell you when they’re ready — you’ll smell them.
There’s one more thing I keep meaning to mention and I keep almost forgetting: if you can find sweet potatoes at a local farm stand this time of year, do it. They are not the same as the grocery store ones. I don’t know why exactly. Something about sitting in actual dirt for an actual season, I think. Or maybe I’m just romanticizing it.
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes cut crosswise into 2-inch thick pieces
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus more as needed
- 1 tsp sea salt coarse, or use a little less regular salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme optional
- butter for topping, optional
- cinnamon for topping, optional
- brown sugar for topping, optional
- marshmallows for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scrub the sweet potatoes well under cold water, then dry them thoroughly.
- Cut the sweet potatoes crosswise into rounds about 2 inches thick.
- Arrange the pieces flat on the prepared baking sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil and coat all sides evenly.
- Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper, and dried thyme if using. Turn and season the other side as well.
- Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the centers are very tender and the cut surfaces are deeply caramelized. A fork should slide in easily.
- Let the sweet potatoes rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve as is, or add butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, or marshmallows as desired.
