I’ll be honest: I wasn’t the biggest fan of sweet potatoes. I didn’t like them, but they were almost never my first choice. However, that all changed when I found Rick Martinez’s recipe for Roasted and Raw Vegetables with Spicy Tahini Cream.
Since then, I almost always make sweet potato his way (and make them more often!). The process is different from most baked sweet potato recipes you’ll find. Fry the potatoes whole, then tear them into large pieces, drizzle with oil, add salt and pepper, and briefly return to the oven at a high temperature to concentrate the flavor, caramelize the top and make the skin crispy.
I love to layer them on a plate with sauce and toppings and then eat them like nachos. Do they taste like nachos? No, of course not. They taste like sweet potatoes – the best sweet potato of your life.
How to make sweet potatoes
- Roast the sweet potato. Bake your sweet potatoes at 350ºF until they are soft (like really soft).
- Increase the oven temperature. Increase oven temperature to 475°F. While the oven is heating, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and let the sweet potato rest until they cool.
- Shred the sweet potatoes. Cut the sweet potato into coarse three-inch pieces. The uneven edges help the crunch. Drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Fry the sweet potato again. Bake until sweet potatoes are browned on top and skin is crisp and slightly charred, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Add toppings and serve. Top with sauce and topping of your choice. I love tahini sauce or ranch with fresh herbs and toasted nuts or seeds. Then, serve them with the rest of the meal.
Why it works
The creamy sweet potato’s textural variety, lightly toasted top, and very crispy skin make them that much more interesting. On a technical level, it also removes some of the water from the sweet potato and concentrates the flavor and texture. Caramelization uses the natural sweetness to your advantage, giving sweet potatoes a deeper, richer flavor.
