Sweet potatoes are too often relegated to the end-of-year Thanksgiving menu, but this root vegetable has year-round versatility and numerous healthy and tasty uses beyond roasting.
While they come into season in September and reach their peak around late November, a variety of sweet potatoes are in stock in the majority of supermarkets year-round, and they can be just as delicious and nutritious in a summer salad as they are in a warm and comforting casserole.
To round out your sweet potato repertoire, we’ve collected 30 recipes where this ingredient shines.
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1. Spiralized Sweet Potatoes with Walnuts and Feta
This supernutritious recipe uses a spiralizer to produce strands of sweet potato that roast for a mere 12 minutes, producing a nice touch of carmelization. The creaminess and crunch of feta and walnuts simply highlight the sweet potato’s natural sweetness in this simple but perfectly balanced dish by Nicole Konstantinakos.
Spiralized Sweet Potatoes with Walnuts and Feta
A simple but more nutrient-packed alternative to roasted white potatoes.
Get the Recipe2. Chorizo and Sweet Potato Quesadillas for Two
Quesadillas are the perfect conduit for sweet potato in this hearty recipe by Steve Dunn. Shredding the sweet potatoes and microwaving them concentrates the root vegetable, avoiding a soggy end result that still bursts with vegetal flavor.
Chorizo and Sweet Potato Quesadillas for Two
With a few tweaks to the cooking method, it's easy to bring proteins and vegetables into the fold.
Get the Recipe3. Indian-Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Raisins and Cashews
Baked sweet potatoes are undoubtedly delicious, but for the silkiest mash, we braise the sweet potatoes in a mixture of butter and heavy cream for extra richness and the perfect texture (we prefer using a food mill for the perfect puree consistency). Ground black pepper adds a little kick to this sweet and creamy side.
Indian-Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Raisins and Cashews
Bake, boil, or steam? None of these methods is the right one for the best texture and flavor.
Get the Recipe4. Thick-Cut Sweet Potato Fries
After chopping sweet potato into thick planks, we coated them with a cornstarch slurry that quickly turned crispy when fried for the ultimate crunch. For well-seasoned, creamy, sweet interiors, we first treated the sweet potatoes to a blanch in water spiked with salt. Adding baking soda to the blanching water caused the potatoes’ exteriors to turn a little mushy, creating more surface area for a substantial, pleasingly orange crust to develop when baked.
Thick-Cut Sweet Potato Fries
Classic French fries made with white potatoes—crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside—set a high bar. We wanted sweet potato fries that could truly compete.
Get the Recipe5. Cinnamon-Sugar Fried Sweet Potatoes
This Cajun recipe highlights the caramel sweetness of these spuds, shallow-frying them in lard, dusting them with cinnamon and sugar, and adding a splash of vanilla to make their natural sweetness sing. Bryan Roof’s recreation of this Louisiana method is a surefire crowd-pleaser.
Cinnamon-Sugar Fried Sweet Potatoes
After trying these cinnamon-sugar dusted fried sweet potatoes at a traditional Louisiana pig roast, we couldn’t resist making our own version.
Get the Recipe6. Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
The majority of sweet potato casseroles have you roast the sweet potatoes. This recipe steams them for the perfect silky texture, and whole pecans made the final result not only beautiful but also just sweet enough to please both the kids and the adults. A pinch of cayenne slightly offsets that sweetness for a hint of complexity.
Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
We wanted a sweet potato side dish that is savory enough for an adult's palate, but still sweet enough to please the kids at the table.
Get the Recipe7. Eggs with Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Hash
This wonderfully nutrient-dense dish is just as at home on the dinner table as it is at breakfast. Whatever meal you’re making it for, it’ll be done in a flash, as sweet potato is pre-cooked in the microwave before being tossed into a skillet for ultimate caramelization. This mouthwatering dish is lighter, fresher, and easier on the gut than your average hash, and one you won’t regret making.
Eggs with Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Hash
To speed things up, we microwave the potato mixture before adding it to the skillet.
Get the Recipe8. Sweet Potato Crunch
This holiday-worthy dish is both simple and showstopping, and can be enjoyed as leftovers for days to come . . . that is, unless your guests devour it first. One reader’s thoughts on the recipe make us think it won’t last too long: “My guests and I LOVED this. The orange and Grand Marnier elevated this standard side dish into something special. Also, very easy to make. Highly recommend.”
Sweet Potato Crunch
Families have been making this Thanksgiving side for generations. Now it's your turn.
Get the Recipe9. Sweet Potato Salad with Cumin, Smoked Paprika, and Almonds
Sweet potato shines when it stars in a fresh side salad such as Mark Huxsoll’s recipe. A hot oven highlights all the best features of the sweet potato from the inside out, with fluffy, creamy interiors and crisp, caramelized exteriors. Scallions, cilantro, and toasted almonds garnish this simple side where cubed sweet potato is the hero.
Sweet Potato Salad with Cumin, Smoked Paprika, and Almonds
A fresh new take on a Thanksgiving favorite.
Get the Recipe10. Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Orange
Many recipes tend to mask sweet potato’s naturally rich and earthy flavors with overly sweet or too-robust flavors. Sweet potato fan Ashley Moore wanted to do away with all the unnecessary additions when she created this unique mash. Boiling the vegetables in only 6 tablespoons of water avoids diluting their flavor, and a smattering of autumnal ingredients finish cooking in the same pan, making clean-up a breeze.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Orange
We didn't want to mask the unique, earthy flavor of sweet potato. We wanted to highlight it.
Get the Recipe11. Sweet Potato Biscuits
A tall, fluffy biscuit perfumed with the flavor of sweet potato sounds delicious but can result in a soggy mess. To cut down on moisture, we didn’t use any buttermilk in this recipe, instead relying solely on sweet potatoes bolstered with a bit of cider vinegar to offset the sweetness and replicate buttermilk’s tang. We microwave the sweet potatoes to concentrate their flavor and release their moisture, making for lighter, more flavorful biscuits.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Adding sweet potato to biscuits helped the flavor but hurt the texture. We set out to solve the dilemma.
Get the Recipe12. Loaded Sweet Potato Casserole
This reimagined potato gratin uses sweet potato to its advantage, switching up the traditional casserole toppings for something a little more reminiscent of a loaded potato: sharp cheddar cheese, crumbled crispy bacon, sour cream, and scallions.
Loaded Sweet Potato Casserole
Swapping out russets for sweet potatoes in a gratin? Not so fast. We had a better idea.
Get the Recipe13. Paleo Sweet Potato and Celery Root Hash with Fried Eggs
Who ever said that comforting food can’t be nutritious too? This paleo-friendly hash does away with white potatoes and adds celery root; not only does the celery root offer good textural contrast, but its earthy flavor is also a perfect complement to the sweet potatoes. To speed things up, we parcooked the veggies in the microwave until tender and then moved them to the skillet to brown and crisp.
Paleo Sweet Potato and Celery Root Hash with Fried Eggs
We set out to create a paleo hash with all the crispy, flavorful appeal of traditional versions.
Get the Recipe14. Quicker Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
These wedges are cut to the perfect size that allows them to bake long enough to crisp up without falling apart and have beautifully balanced crispy outsides with fluffy, creamy insides. One of the best things about this recipe (besides the superior flavor) is how simple and weeknight-friendly it is.
Quicker Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
For our roasted sweet potato wedges, we needed to cut the wedges wide enough so that they’d maintain their shape once they were cooked.
Get the Recipe15. Sweet Potato Cornbread
Cornbread infused with the caramelly notes of sweet potato is a no-brainer, and Christie Morrison’s recipe makes for a speedy and perfectly textured result by utilizing the microwave. A combination of cornmeal and flour keeps the cornbread light and avoids the denseness that sweet potato might otherwise add.
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Adding sweet potatoes to crumbly cornbread isn’t a new idea, but it sure is a good one.
Get the Recipe16. Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Shallots and Hazelnuts
These stuffed sweet potatoes are reminiscent of the decadently comforting loaded potato, but take on a more elegant, nutritious note with a few ingredient swaps. Greek yogurt, Parmesan, hazelnuts, and zingy herbs all contribute vital nutrients and flavor to the sweet potatoes.
Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Shallots and Hazelnuts
The elegant and nutritious spuds make the perfect side.
Get the Recipe17. Sweet Potato–Cranberry Juice
As delicious as sweet potato is whole, when juiced, its sweet and earthy flavors can make for a uniquely satisfying beverage. The starch from the sweet potato gives both body and pleasing texture to this juice by Hannah Fenton, which combines it with tart cranberries and orange juice.
Sweet Potato–Cranberry Juice
Sweet potato, cranberries, a slice of orange, and a pinch of cinnamon make up this Thanksgiving-inspired juice.
Get the Recipe18. Candied Sweet Potatoes
Cutting sweet potatoes into rounds—rather than the more traditional chopped cubes—allows for a greater surface area, so the vegetables hold together nicely in the oven while also developing fluffy, well-cooked interiors. They’re also coated in a sweet (but not too-sweet) caramelly glaze.
Candied Sweet Potatoes
No more marshmallow topping. We were looking for balanced sweetness without the toothache.
Get the Recipe19. Best Baked Sweet Potatoes
In typical ATK fashion, we put hours of testing into discovering the ideal internal temperature for the very best baked sweet potato. We then turned everything we learned into this perfect recipe. Another thing we learned was that we needed to hold the sweet potatoes at 200 degrees for about an hour, which allowed time for the cell walls to break down, starches to gelatinize, and moisture to evaporate so that flavor concentrated. You won’t regret making these creamy, fluffy spuds, perfected by science.
Best Baked Sweet Potatoes
The goal—creamy flesh with deeply complex flavor—is entirely different from what you want in a baked russet. And, as we discovered, so is the cooking method.
Get the Recipe20. Curried Sweet Potato Soup with Spiced Pepitas
For anybody who loves the depth of sweet potato’s flavor, Matthew Fairman’s lightly spicy, very creamy and deliciously savory soup magnifies it for a celebration of the vegetable’s earthy notes. Cayenne and ginger complement the spud’s creaminess with a delectable and necessary kick.
Curried Sweet Potato Soup with Spiced Pepitas
This sweet potato–based soup is spiced up with ginger, cayenne, and curry powder.
Get the Recipe21. Sweet Potato Pie
A hugely popular dessert during the colder months, sweet potato pie is easy to come by, but hard to perfect. Hard, but not impossible: This streamlined recipe does away with grainy filling and overly sweet flavors to bring you the sweet potato pie you’re truly craving.
Sweet Potato Pie
Pies with heavy, grainy, cloying fillings were not our idea of holiday dessert. To do this pie justice, we needed time...and lots of tubers.
Get the Recipe22. Sweet Potato Fritters with Feta, Dill, and Cilantro
By mashing boiled sweet potatoes, Morgan Bolling created sweet potato fritters that were texturally interesting but remained creamy and sweet when fried. Shallow-frying made for easier cleanup and shatteringly crisp, caramelized edges to this perfect preparation of the sweet potato.
Sweet Potato Fritters with Feta, Dill, and Cilantro
We love mashed sweet potatoes and sweet potato fries. Could we create a delicious mash-up of the two?
Get the Recipe23. Toaster-Oven Overstuffed Sweet Potatoes with Tofu and Red Curry Vinaigrette
Toaster oven aficionados know why this popular appliance makes serving sweet potato a cinch. But what really saves on time in this clever recipe is halving and stuffing the root veg, which slashes the roasting time from one hour to 20 minutes, and the veggies and tofu cook together to result in a simple, quick, and supernutritious weeknight dinner.
Toaster-Oven Overstuffed Sweet Potatoes with Tofu and Red Curry Vinaigrette
This modern, playful take on an overstuffed sweet potato combines crispy tofu, tender caramelized vegetables, and earthy sweet potato.
Get the Recipe24. Grown-Up Sweet Potato Casserole
Too often, sweet potato casseroles can be cloyingly sweet, but others that omit as much sweetness as possible end up displeasingly vegetal and without flavor. This recipe hits the sweet spot (so to speak). One reader sums it up perfectly: “I think it’s the best sweet potato recipe I’ve ever tasted. It’s a keeper.”
25. Creamy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew
Sweet potato can make the perfect base for a creamy, comforting stew, as it does in this recipe by Steve Dunn, which is loosely inspired by maafe (Senegalese peanut stew). Sautéing chopped sweet potato with aromatics boosts the citrusy and fruity flavor of this stew, and chickpeas add further body and buttery creaminess to this deliciously nutritious meal.
Creamy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew
Creamy, crunchy, whole, or chopped—any way you like them, these versatile legumes are your ticket to an array of satisfying meals.
Get the Recipe26. One-Pot Eggplant and Sweet Potato Curry
Sweet potatoes are a perfect staple for a plant-based diet, whether you’re fully vegan or simply exploring meat-alternative dishes. When cooked with other robust vegetables and fiber-rich legumes, sweet potato curry comes together quickly and easily for an ultrasatisfying weeknight meal.
One-Pot Eggplant and Sweet Potato Curry
For a vegetarian take on curry, we sought out robust spices and a balanced sauce.
Get the Recipe27. Allspice-Thyme Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
For too long, sweet potato wedges have been viewed as an “alternative” to their traditional white potato counterparts. Elevating the wedges on a wire rack during roasting helped to crisp them up instead of letting them roast in their own juices, which would result in soggy sweet potatoes. Using a ripping-hot preheated pan also helps develop a shatteringly crisp exterior.
Allspice-Thyme Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
Roasting usually brings out the natural sweetness of vegetables. So why did a vegetable with sweet in its name turn watery and wan when roasted?
Get the Recipe28. Pomegranate Chicken with Baharat Sweet Potatoes
Chopping the sweet potato into small cubes ensures that they cook evenly and all the way through in this gently spiced dish, alongside perfectly seasoned chicken. Baharat and pomegranate molasses added earthy spice and tangy sweetness to these skillet-roasted sweet potatoes, which are the perfect answer to your weeknight cravings.
Pomegranate Chicken with Baharat Sweet Potatoes
Pomegranate seeds add fresh, juicy pops and reinforce the pomegranate flavor in this dish of glazed chicken and sweet potatoes with couscous.
Get the Recipe29. Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
Sweet potatoes should be no stranger to the grill, as they both steam and develop a delectably smoky char on the fire, eliminating the need to precook the spuds. Tossing the sweet potatoes in a vinaigrette generated steam and helped cook the potatoes through while also seasoning them, making Alli Berkey’s grilled sweet potato salad recipe the embodiment of summer flavors.
Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
Could we create this summery side dish by cooking only on the grill?
Get the Recipe30. Soft Corn Tacos with Sweet Potato, Poblanos, and Corn
Vegetables aren’t just the garnish for these succulent tacos—they’re the main attraction. Spreading the sweet potatoes onto a sheet pan with corn and peppers allowed them to become caramelized and crispy but still fitting for an easy-to-eat soft taco filling. Tangy pickled shallots and radishes complement the sweet potatoes’ creaminess beautifully.
Soft Corn Tacos with Sweet Potato, Poblanos, and Corn
We wanted to make a great-tasting taco that was all about the vegetables.
Get the RecipeMore Recipe Collections
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