Name: Baked Sweet Potatoes
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Ingredients: 4 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds), washed, dried, and lightly pricked with a fork in 3 places; 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil; Salt and ground black pepper; unsalted butter

Why This Recipe Works

We wanted to find the perfect baked sweet potato recipe, moist inside with a soft, caramelized skin. We pierced the potatoes’ skins with a fork and rubbed the potatoes with oil and then baked them on a foil-lined baking sheet set on the middle rack of a 400-degree oven. We learned not to turn the potatoes during baking; turning will keep the perfectly browned bottom skin from caramelizing.

Before You Begin

This recipe is for the moist, orange-fleshed varieties of sweet potatoes; drier white-fleshed types take longer to bake and require larger amounts of fat and/or liquid to counteract their drier texture. You can cook up to six potatoes at one time without altering the cooking time. Buying potatoes of the same size is a good idea because it standardizes cooking time.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Rub potatoes with oil, then arrange on foil-lined baking sheet as far apart as possible.

Bake until knife tip slips easily into potato center, 40 to 50 minutes. Slit each potato lengthwise; using kitchen towel, hold ends and squeeze together slightly until soft flesh mounds up. Season to taste with salt and plenty of pepper. Dot with butter to taste and serve.