These spicy roasted sweet potatoes are a great side dish and a wonderful savory alternative. The cayenne pepper gives this dish a little extra heat. They will be a welcome addition to any meal and are perfect for meal prep. Â
While I absolutely love a candied sweet potato recipe sometimes I want them to be a little savory. After playing around with a few different iterations I came up with this recipe. The first time I made these for a potluck with some friends one of them spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out what the spicy side that was on her plate. Everyone got a kick out of her reaction when I said it was the sweet potatoes. Since she loves spicy foods ever since then she asks me to make then every time I we have a potluck.Â
In this recipe
There aren’t a lot of ingredients to this dish which allows these potatoes to go with almost anything. One of the key ingredients is cayenne pepper. While there is regular black pepper in the recipe it is the cayenne that will give that nice little kick in the back of your mouth. If you are like me and love spicy foods feel free to add a little extra cayenne pepper. Be aware that a little goes a long way so you don’t need much. However if you prefer a more mild sweet potato then you can cut the cayenne pepper in half.Â
Slice them thin
You will want to make sure that the sweet potatoes are sliced pretty thinly and evenly. This will make sure that they all cook at the same rate. Also if they are sliced thinly they will cook faster. They should however be thicker than a kettle cooked potato chip. If they are sliced too thinly then they will fall apart as they start cooking and you will have mashed sweet potatoes when you try and remove them from the pan. A mandolin is a great tool for even slices that aren’t too thin.Â
Making spicy sweet potatoes
One of the things that you want to make sure of is that you coat as many of of the slices in oil as much as possible, Don’t add too much extra oil as it will make the potatoes soggy. From there you will want to stagger the slices so that they fill the pan evenly. Since the sweet potatoes are never really uniform in size alternating the sizes of the slices will make a more uniform shape.Â
Perfect for meal prep
One of the things I love about this dish is that it is perfect for meal prep. Once they have been cooked you can can store them in an air tight container. One thing to watch out for is that as they sit in the refrigerator they will get spicier over time depending on how much cayenne pepper you added to the potatoes. They will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator and about 3 weeks in the freezer.Â
Looking for other potato recipes?
Spicy and Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Mandolin or sharp knife
- Large bowl
- Cast iron skillet
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 2½ lbs sweet potatoes skinned
- 1 tbsp thyme chopped
- 1 tbsp rosemary chopped
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper ground
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F or gas mark 7.
- Using a mandolin or knife, slice the sweet potatoes thinly.
- In a large bowl combine the oil, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, rosemary, and thyme and mix thoroughly. Add in the sweet potatoes and toss to coat all slices evenly.
- Arrange the potatoes in a cast iron skillet with the large sides of the slices touching. Cover with the foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to back for another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are firm but soft enough for a fork to pass through easily.
Nutrition
