Perfectly Roasted Sweet Potatoes

For the first 50 years of my life, sweet potatoes came out of a can, drenched in a sugary syrup and were served on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter topped with an entire bag of marshmallows.  I have exactly NO memories of my mother buying a fresh sweet potato at the store or cooking one in our kitchen.

My sweet potato game has come a LONG WAY since switching to a PaleoPlus lifestyle!

I buy 10 pounds of sweet potatoes every week.  And sometimes we run out and have to make another run...because we LOVE them.  I put them in soups and chili.  I bake them and stuff them and whip them and spiralize them.  I make oven-baked sweet potato fries at least once a week and I roast them with a host of other root veggies as part of my weekly meal prep.  (I adore root vegetable hash with fried eggs for an easy supper and if you roast the veggies ahead of time, you save yourself an hour on a busy weeknight or hectic morning!)

But our go-to sweet potato preparation is oven-roasted cubed potatoes.  Everyone likes them and they go with almost any meal.

Truthfully, any old form of roasted sweet potato is good.  But I feel like I've got this down to a science, so I'm going to give you my step-by-step method for roasting a perfect sweet potato!

And, for what it's worth - Sprout's Market (in North Fort Worth, at least) seems to always stock high quality sweet potatoes at a good price (usually around $1 a pound) 

Step 1:

Scrub, dry and peel the potatoes (we do 3 average-size potatoes for our family of 4, but if I want some extras for breakfast or lunch the next day, I do more...remember, if you're turning on your oven anyway - FILL IT UP!)

Step 2:

Chop your potatoes into cubes.  I like 1" cubes if I have plenty of time to prep and roast them - this size takes just over an hour in my oven, but if I have less time, I cut them into smaller chunks and then adjust my cooking time.

Step 3:

Don't skip this step and try and do it all on the sheet pan to save washing a bowl (I say this from experience!).  Put all the cubes into a large bowl and toss with melted coconut oil - 2 T for 3 potatoes.  Then sprinkle with 1 T of your favorite seasonings...I use a spice mix I make that has cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric, cayenne, onion & garlic powder and sea salt.  You can also use a bit of cinnamon to make them more traditional.  I also like rosemary or thyme with garlic powder, sea salt and red pepper flake.  Play around with whatever you have and whatever you like.  Sweet potatoes play really well with lots of flavors.

Step 4:

Place the seasoned potato cubes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast at 400° for 25 minutes on the middle rack in your oven.  Remove the sheet pan, stir the cubes and put back in the oven for an additional 25 minutes.  (Know your oven...25 minutes in my oven, may be 30 in yours...or 20 - just pay attention the first time you're following any recipe.)

Step 5:

Once the potatoes are cooked through and starting to brown, remove them from the oven, do a final stir and turn with a spatula and drizzle with organic extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil and toss.  Add another sprinkling of sea salt (optional) and put back in the oven on the bottom rack for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are perfectly browned - you decide how much color you like on your potatoes (if you're planning on using some for pan-fried hash - remove them BEFORE this step or they will be too browned to brown again in a pan and will taste bitter in your breakfast hash.)

Step 6:

Enjoy!  These potatoes go with almost every protein.  Last night I make my classic "Empty The Fridge" dinner for my son and I.  I had a few mushrooms, a half an onion, 2 chicken/red pepper sausages, a chicken breast and a handful of green beans and they were all taking up valuable room on my refrigerator shelves - so I cooked them all and added these potatoes as the crowning touch.  YUM!