Loaded Sweet Potatoes

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Everyone has had a loaded baked potato, but have you ever had a loaded sweet potato? We hadn’t either until we blew our own minds with this holiday-inspired creation!

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How We Created This Recipe

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The creation of this dish to be completely honest, came from me trying to utilize everything we had in our fridge. Having recently made a baked brie, we found ourselves with some of the topping left over. A few days later, when I was making dinner, I put a few sweet potatoes in the oven and scanned the fridge for accompaniments to go with the sweet potatoes and pork chops I was already set on making. As I was scanning the fridge, my eyes came upon the leftover topping I insisted Alejandra did not throw out from the baked brie.

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Knowing that I would hear a “I told you so!” if I let it go bad, I knew I had to get creative. “Let’s see….. Apples, pecans, dried cranberries, fall spices, and fall herbs... that sounds like it would be pretty good on sweet potatoes.”

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So I baked the sweet potatoes, cut them in half, topped them with the topping and baked them further. The result, a pretty freaking good side that had all the homey-comfort of a loaded baked potato. I’m sure glad I didn’t let Alejandra throw out the extra filling!

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Ingredients for Holiday-Inspired Loaded Sweet Potatoes

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• Nuts: Pecans are by far my favorite nut to use in this recipe, but walnuts, or even pistachios, also work as a comparable substitute. The key in choosing your nut is to make sure it pairs well with your other toppings.
• Dried Fruit: For me, no other dried fruit quite says the fall like dried cranberries. That is why I always use dried cranberries when making this recipe during the cold weather months. Dried cherries are the perfect substitute for dried cranberries if you want to go another direction.
• Fresh Fruit: Diced apples really bring the dish together. Their texture and flavor complete the dish and bring it to the next level. An easy substitute for apples is to use pears.
• Herb: I like to use whichever herb is in season during the time that I make these so I typically stick with cold-weather herbs such as rosemary, sage, or thyme.
• Sweetener/Binder: The apple butter and honey not only add complementary sweetness to the topping, but they also bind everything together to create a compote-like consistency. Honey is my go to sweetener but if you are using another type of fruit, it is a good idea to use a jam or preserve made from that fruit.
• Citrus: The zest and juice of the citrus is added to break through the sweetness and add a fragrant burst to the dish. If you choose not to use lemon, orange or even grapefruit are solid substitutes.

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Tips for Making these Loaded Sweet Potatoes

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Making these Loaded Sweet Potatoes is actually pretty easy. Basically, you start by cutting the sweet potatoes in half and baking them for 45 minutes. While they are baking, you perform a few knife cuts and prepare the topping. After about 45 minutes, you remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, season each half with salt, top each half with the topping, and bake them for another 15 minutes. Bam! There you go.

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We have one tip for you here and that is...

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• ‍Taste the topping and adjust accordingly before baking: The recipe is simply a guideline. Make sure you taste a bit of the topping and adjust accordingly before topping the sweet potatoes. If you want more nuts in the topping, add more nuts! The same can be said for any of the other ingredients. Don’t be afraid to adapt the recipe and make it your own. That’s what cooking is all about.

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Give this one a try and let us know what you think! We both really love this recipe and it has now become a staple of ours this holiday season and will be in the cooler months to come.

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Cheers and eat well!