Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak sweet potatoes before baking? ›

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Wrapping the sweet potatoes in foil ensures that they don't dry out too quickly, and allows you to add aromatics if desired.

TIPS & TRICKS to Make this Recipe: The main secrets to achieving that incredible crispy texture, is to soak the cut sweet potatoes in cold water for at least 30 minutes. This helps remove the starch from the sweet potatoes so they´re not limp & soggy.

Give them a cold water bath: Once your fries are chopped, toss them into a large bowl. Then cover the fries completely with cold water and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight). This will help to rinse off the excess starch and help the potatoes crisp up beautifully in the oven.

Scrub and pat potatoes dry. Pierce potatoes all over with the tines of a fork and bake in oven, directly on rack, until soft and caramelizing, 1 1/2 hours. Slash the tops of potatoes open with the tip of a sharp knife and push ends of each potato toward each other to open.

Don't Overcrowd Your Baking Sheet

The secret to crispy (instead of soggy) sweet potato fries is to spread them out in an even layer with enough room so that they don't touch. This is especially important if you're making a big batch of fries.

Unless the goal is to bake your potatoes whole, cutting them into 1" cubes means a faster cook time and more surface area per bite for delicious caramelization. Aim for equally sized potato pieces so they cook at the same rate. I keep it super-simple here with a drizzle of oil and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Potatoes: Peel or pare and chop up to a day in advance. Store in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator. Sweet potatoes: Peel and chop 3 to 4 days in advance. Store in a sealed bag or container with an airtight lid in the refrigerator.

Cutting sweet potatoes in advance is a great way to meal-prep your way to an easier weeknight dinner, but raw sweet potatoes dry out pretty quickly after they're cut. When chopping sweet potatoes in advance, make sure to store them in cold water in the refrigerator.

What brings out the flavor of sweet potatoes? ›

Slow-roasting the sweet potatoes activates endogenous enzymes that bring out their natural sweetness.

Don't overcrowd the baking sheet!

If the baking sheet it too crowded, the sweet potatoes will not crisp.

Baking can also cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels, twice as much as boiling. Therefore, from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking should be recommended for cooking sweet potato.

The reason is to prevent the potatoes exposure to air, which causes dehydration, oxidation, and discoloration. Immersing cut potatoes will also help rinse off excess starch.

To remove excess starch, place cut sweet potatoes into cold water making sure the cut surfaces are submerged. This step is especially recommended for "kinton" (Japanese-style mashed sweet potato) and other lightly seasoned dishes where a delectable color is desired. Soaking time of about 5 minutes is sufficient.

Soaking the potatoes in cold water can help to firm up their texture and remove any excess starch that may have accumulated on the surface during cooking. This can result in potatoes that have a fresher taste and texture.

After cutting sweet potatoes, the easiest way to prevent browning is to submerge them in water. You can store them in water in the fridge for 3-4 days in advance.