I love baked sweet potatoes so much. It’s one of my favorite sweet potato recipes.
I usually buy sweet potatoes at the farmers market. Shop local, support local, right?
Our farmers market usually has really great sweet potatoes earlier than I can get them in stores. And since we work the farmers market every week, I don’t even have to go out of my way to get my sweet potatoes.
What are your plans for these when you buy them? If you need ideas, you’re in luck. I put together a list of Sweet Potato Recipes to help you decide.
The list is split into four sections: sweet potato breads and muffins, sweet potato foods (which is mostly anything savory), sweet potato fries, and sweet potato desserts.
At the end of the post, you’ll get a little more information about sweet potatoes, like if they’re related to potatoes (spoiler alert: they’re not) and how to pick a ripe sweet potato.
The Ultimate List Of Sweet Potato Recipes
1. Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
10. Maple Bacon Sweet Potato Hash
11. Candied Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple
13. Creamy, Vegan Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce
18. Pan-Fried Sweet Potatoes with Leeks with Honey
20. Vegan Thai Green Sweet Potato Curry
22. Whole 30 Grilled Flat Iron Steak Over Marinara Tossed Sweet Potato Noodles
25. Maple Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes
32. Leek and Sweet Potato Latkes with Cumin-Garlic Yogurt Sauce
34. Instant Pot Sweet Potato Steel Cut Oats
35. Baked Sweet Potato Fritters
37. Maple Glazed Chicken and Sweet Potato Tacos
38. Sweet Potato Macaroni Cheese
41. Sweet Potato Fritters with Cashew Lime Cream
48. Sweet Potato Maple Granola
51. Coconut Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Pecan Drizzle
53. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms & Sage
57. Loaded Sweet Potato Dauphinoise
72. Baked Sweet Potato Kale Tots
78. 30-minute Sweet Potato Falafel
82. Sweet Potato Chicken Nuggets
85. Healthy Sweet Potato & Zucchini Nuggets
88. Healthy Sweet Potato Quinoa Bites
89. Sweet Potato Peanut Stew with Chickpeas
91. Sweet Potato and Zucchini Healthy Strata Bake
102. Sweet Potato Puffs
103. Sweet Potato Vegan Edible Cookie Dough
105. Sweet Potato Skillet Cake with Broiled Coconut and Pecan Icing
107. Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding
108. Sweet Potato Bars with Maple Frosting
Are sweet potatoes related to potatoes?
So this is actually really funny. But a sweet potato isn’t related to a potato. That’s a complete misnomer. Sweet potatoes are actually related to morning glories, the flower.
But don’t go ahead and start calling your sweet potato by its other name, a yam, and think you solved all confusion.
Because the yam, when you’re referring to a sweet potato, is unrelated to true yams as well. Real yams are a root vegetable, like yucca. Which is nothing like that sweet orange “yam” your grandma makes at Thanksgiving. Or the pale white variety of sweet potatoes.
So why do we (in North America) call them yams? They were misnamed. Farmers were using a non-English word to describe them, and the word translates to yams in English. So farmers went with it, consumers went with it, and here we are.
The thing sweet potatoes and potatoes have in common is that they’re both tubers. Tubers, in as simple of a way as I can put it, are plants that grow underground and grow edible bits from their underground parts. Potatoes are stem tubers, which means that the potatoes that are edible are actually thickened stem. Sweet potatoes are root tubers, which means that they’re thickened root.
Sounds like a delicious fact you should bring out this holiday season. “No Aunt Edna, I don’t want to eat your thickened root, even if it is covered in marshmallow and pecans.”
When is sweet potato season?
Sweet potatoes grow year round in warm, sunny areas, and with the way the world has become so small because of transportation, you should be able to get sweet potatoes year round at your local grocery store. And that’s why most restaurants can have sweet potato fries as an alternate to traditional fries all the time.
Depending on your climate, you may be able to get the at your local farmers market as well. Ours usually starts carrying them in August-ish.
But generally, peak season is October through December, which is why sweet potato casserole is a popular dish for Thanksgiving.
How do you pick a ripe sweet potato?
You want a sweet potato that’s small to medium sized. Those are going to be the softest and easiest to eat. Once a sweet potato starts to get too large, they become really starchy and don’t taste great.
Look for a smooth skin on the sweet potato. You don’t want any cuts, bumps, bruises, soft spots, or mold on the sweet potato’s skin.
Choose a sweet potato that is hard/firm. Soft/mushy sweet potatoes have gone bad, so you’ll want to leave those at the store.
Which of these sweet potato recipes is your favorite?