31 Sweet Potato Recipes to Make for Every Meal (Including Dessert) (2024)

There’s so much more to sweet potatoes than that much-loved casserole found on many a Thanksgiving table. Try them baked, as home fries, mashed with other root vegetables, or made into crispy pancakes. Beyond the side dish, they feature in soup, stew, chili, and curry—ones with meat and ones without. And then there is the "sweet" side of sweet potatoes, playing a starring role in pies, puddings, and cakes.

Though sweet potatoes are available year round, they are at their sweetest in fall and winter. They aresometimes mislabeled as yams, which are actually not widely available in North America (but are also delicious).

When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for ones that are very firm, with no areas of softening, sprouting, or wrinkling, all of which are signs of age. To store sweet potatoes, keep them in a cool, dark place for up to one month.They should never be kept in the refrigerator, as their natural sugars will convert to starch, making them less sweet.

A Rainbow of Sweet Potato Varieties That Everyone Should Try

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Smashed Salt-and-Vinegar Sweet Potatoes

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Steamed till fork tender, then drizzled with olive oil and roasted until they are crispy and golden, these smashed sweet potatoes are irresistible. Serve them with a drizzle of a light vinegar, like Champagne vinegar, and watch them disappear fast.

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Spiced Sweet-Potato Cake with Meringue Frosting

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This spectacular single layer cake pairs sweet potatoes with pumpkin pie spice—and it’s a great combination. On top is an Italian meringue frosting that’s toasted under the broiler (or using your kitchen torch).

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03of 31

Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup

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A bowl of this creamy, soothing sweet potato soup is comfort indeed. The sweetness of the tubers is balanced by a subtle spice from canned chipotles in adobo. The creamy consistency is all down to the sweet potatoes since this soup is made without dairy (sour cream is optional for serving).

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Sweet-Potato Biscuits

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Amp up the color and nutrition of your breakfast baked goods by making these sweet potato biscuits. They bring everything you love about homemade biscuits and then some to the table.

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Baked Sweet-Potato Chips

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Crispy, tasty, and good for you, these homemade sweet potato chips make the best snack—and are also a great accompaniment to a sandwich lunch.

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Cauliflower-Sweet Potato Curry

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A satisfying vegan main that appeals on so many levels; hunks of sweet potato and cauliflower soak up a coconut milk and red curry sauce. Baby spinach, edamame, and zucchini bring plenty of green appeal. This might be the most colorful—and delicious—dinner of the week.

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Sweet Potato Pancakes

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These sweet potato pancakes are too good to save for Hannukah. They’re a tasty riff on latkes that you’ll want to make all through the fall and winter.

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Sweet-Potato Pudding

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Wake up to this nourishing vegan pudding for breakfast. Roast a sweet potato the night before to shorten prep time in the morning. This recipe serves two but feels free to double or triple it in order to treat your entire family to a warming breakfast.

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Tzimmes

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Served as a side dish for Passover, this traditional stew combines sweet potatoes and carrots with prunes and dried apricots, cooking them in orange juice and honey. It pairs well with robust meat dishes like brisket.

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10of 31

Black-Bean and Sweet-Potato Stew

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In under one hour, you can prepare this hearty vegan stew. Chopped sweet potatoes are cooked with a combination of whole and puréed black beans, quinoa, minced chipotle in adobo, and chopped poblano peppers.

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Slow-Baked Sweet Potatoes

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There's no way to rush when making this easy, healthy side dish—medium sweet potatoes are wrapped in parchment and foil and roasted for an hour and a half until they're super tender and their sweet flavor shines. The cook time might be lengthy, but very little of it is hands-on.

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Sweet Potato Casserole

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Here's a Thanksgiving classic: Mashed sweet potatoes are placed in a baking dish, topped with marshmallows, and baked until bubbling and golden brown. Who could resist this sweet side?

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Brown-Butter Sweet-Potato Gnocchi with Seeds

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Upgrade basic gnocchi by using sweet potatoes in place of the usual russet in this colorful, better-for-you pasta recipe. They're garnished with pepitas, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and a butter-sage sauce.

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Taco Salad with Sweet-Potatoes

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Roasted sweet potatoes are the base of this Southwestern-inspired salad bowl. They're topped with black beans, sliced radishes, crushed tortilla chips, and crumbled goat cheese (which you can leave off for a vegan meal).

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15of 31

Sweet-Potato Toast Four Ways

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Instead of sandwich bread, substitute thin slices of roasted sweet potatoes as the base for a gluten-free breakfast or lunch toast. Top with sliced hard-boiled eggs and spinach; sliced avocado and co*cktail tomatoes; nut butter and berries; or hummus, sliced cucumbers, and radishes.

16of 31

Rutabaga-Sweet Potato Mash with Garlic and Sage

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Take a break from the usual mashed potatoes and serve your family this innovative root vegetable side dish instead. Rutabaga and sweet potatoes are mashed with minced garlic, fresh sage, and heavy cream for a flavorful autumnal recipe.

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Sweet-Potato Custard Pie

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Yes, you can serve sweet potatoes for dessert! Roasted sweet potatoes are puréed in a food processor and mixed with eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then topped with mouthwateringly sweet large marshmallows.

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Roasted Sea Bass with Sweet Potatoes, Spinach, and Salsa Rustica

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Sheet-pan suppers are big on taste and short on cleanup. Sliced sweet potatoes roast alongside fresh spinach and sea bass fillets. This recipe comes together in under an hour and will surely be a hit with the whole family.

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19of 31

Vegan Sweet Potato Chili

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This vegan chili recipe doesn't lack flavor—tomato paste, chili powder, ground cumin, and cayenne pepper add plenty of heat.

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20of 31

Sweet Potato Home Fries

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Upgrade bacon and eggs with these breakfast potatoes. Diced sweet potatoes are roasted on a sheet pan, then tossed with chopped onion, green bell pepper, jalapeño peppers, and plenty of unsalted butter.

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21of 31

Sweet-Potato-and-Cauliflower Mash

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Here's a totally creative way to make use of cauliflower: boil it with sweet potatoes and then mash with milk, butter, freshly grated nutmeg, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. It's a delicious side dish for Thanksgiving—or any night of the week.

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22of 31

Soba and Sweet Potatoes in Miso-Lime Broth

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Nourishing, healthy, and hearty, this warm noodle bowl is packed with shiitake mushrooms, diced sweet potatoes, sliced baby bok choy, plus aromatics like scallions, garlic, sweet white miso, and fresh lime juice.

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Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

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Loaded sweet potatoes get a healthy upgrade with this better-for-you recipe featuring trimmed broccoli rabe, cannellini beans for protein, and sliced pepperoncini.

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West African Peanut Stew

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This flavorful, family-friendly stew comes together in under one hour. It's loaded with collard greens and sweet potatoes, which float in a combination of chicken broth and creamy peanut butter.

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25of 31

Pork Tenderloin with Kale Salad

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This simple dinner will transport you to Tuscany. Diced sweet potatoes are roasted with chopped kale for a colorful, plentiful salad that's topped with dried currants and lots of freshly grated pecorino. It's served alongside pork tenderloin and steamed quinoa.

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Sweet Potato Parmesan Fries

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A healthy take on French fries, we keep the skin on for these sweet potato fries. The potatoes are tossed with olive oil, coarse salt, and Parmesan cheese for a rich, sweet flavor and a slightly caramelized texture.

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Sweet Potato-Sausage Soup

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Twenty minutes of prep time yields a hearty pot of soup with Italian sausage aplenty, pasta shells, sweet potato, and nutritious winter greens.

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Sweet Potatoes and Buttermilk

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Simply roasted wedges of sweet potatoes take on an almost candied flavor. Pair them with an easy, tangy buttermilk-mayo for dipping.

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Sweet Potato and Sage-Butter Casserole

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Sage adds a savory note to sweet-potato casserole topped with crunchy toasted breadcrumbs. Best of all: It can be made two days ahead of time.

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Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

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Bourbon and brown sugar have a natural affinity for sweet potatoes. This simple side dish can be roasted in the oven along with the main dish such as turkey, ham, or pork loin.

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Boneless Pork Chops and Roasted Yam Fries

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Pork loin medallions are dredged in breadcrumbs that are with seasoned with oregano. The earthy, fatty flavors pair well with sweet yams tossed in dark brown sugar.

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31 Sweet Potato Recipes to Make for Every Meal (Including Dessert) (2024)

FAQs

How many sweet potatoes do I need for 19 people? ›

“A general guideline to estimating how many sweet potatoes you need when hosting friends or family for a meal is one medium sweet potato per person,” Burgess says, as if she's done this many times before.

How many cups can you get from one sweet potato? ›

We decided to use a medium sweet potato for our measurements. We found that it took 1.25 medium sweet potatoes to obtain 1 cup of sliced potato. When cubing, we needed 1.3 sweet potatoes to reach the 1 cup mark. However, when measuring for 1 cup of mashed, 2 whole sweet potatoes did the trick.

How to cook sweet potatoes for most nutrients? ›

Boiling may actually retain most of the antioxidant power of sweet potatoes, compared to roasting and steaming. If we compare baking to boiling microscopically, boiling helps thin out the cell walls and gelatinize the starch, which may enhance the bioavailability of nutrients.

Why is a sweet potato better for you than a baked potato? ›

Though they can both be part of a healthy diet, sweet potatoes are generally healthier than regular potatoes, partly because of their incredibly high vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes are also lower on the glycemic index, meaning that they are less likely than regular potatoes to make your blood sugar spike.

How many sweet potatoes to feed 60 people? ›

Use 1 medium sweet potato per person.

How many potatoes to cook for 20 people? ›

Plan on 1/3 to 1/2 pound potatoes per person for your feast.

Is it healthier to bake or microwave a sweet potato? ›

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.

What's the healthiest way to eat a sweet potato? ›

The healthiest ways to prepare sweet potatoes are to steam or boil them. You can also bake, roast, or fry sweet potatoes, but you should take care to limit these preparation methods, which will cause the sugars to break down in different ways and often include extra recipe ingredients like oil, butter, or sugar.

What makes sweet potato a super food? ›

Of the thousands of vegetables available today, sweet potatoes are considered one of the most nutritious. The orange- (or sometimes purple) fleshed vegetables are loaded with minerals and A, B, and C vitamins. This has led to sweet potatoes being called a superfood by many.

What is healthier, a yam or a sweet potato? ›

Although both veggies are very close in fiber, protein, vitamin C, and magnesium, sweet potatoes are the healthier option because they are lower in overall calories, lower in carbohydrates, and higher in beta carotene (vitamin A).

Can diabetics eat sweet potatoes? ›

You can still eat sweet potatoes if you have diabetes, assures Huff. The fiber content in sweet potatoes, especially if you consume them with the skin on, can help reduce spikes in your blood sugar. Plus, how you cook your sweet potatoes can also help reduce the extent to which your blood sugar rises.

Are yams and sweet potatoes the same? ›

Yams and sweet potatoes differ in flavor and appearance, and they are not related. Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family, while yams belong to the lily family. Yams aren't as sweet as sweet potatoes, and they are starchier and drier. Their texture and flavor are more similar to potatoes or yuca.

How many potatoes for 19 adults? ›

For a big spread with lots of side dishes, you'll want to have about four ounces (125 grams) of potato (that's precooked weight) per person. If you're serving fewer sides, you can up it to about eight ounces (250 grams) per person.

How many pounds of sweet potatoes do I need for 20 people? ›

You'll want to figure on ⅓ to ½ pound per person. This Sweet Potato recipe feeds about 6, with maybe a little leftover.

How many pounds of potatoes do you make for 10 people? ›

How much Mashed Potatoes should you make? As a side dish, you should plan on ½ pound of potatoes per person. That means if you are planning on 10 people, use 5 pounds of potatoes.

How many pounds of potatoes for 30 people? ›

On average, potatoes lose about 25% of their weight during the peeling and cooking process. So, if you start with 10 pounds of potatoes, you'll end up with approximately 7.5 pounds of cooked potatoes. Based on this calculation, you have enough cooked potatoes to serve 30 people.

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