Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes are flavored with sour cream, Chipotle, and a touch of lime for a delightful Southwestern twist. We made them into sweet potato cups, but you can just stuff the whole sweet potato if you want a larger serving.
PIN Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes to try them later.
For this week’s Friday Favorites post I’m reminding you about these delicious Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes that are loaded with flavor from sour cream, Chipotle, and lime juice, and they’re another sweet potato recipe that shows how I prefer savory sweet potato recipes over the sweet ones that some people make during the holidays.
And sweet potatoes like this are a perfect choice for a side dish any time it’s sweet potato season! It’s important to find straight-sided sweet potatoes if you want to make cups for these twice-baked sweet potatoes, but you can definitely stuff the whole sweet potato if you prefer a larger serving or less fuss.
If you’re preparing a big Thanksgiving dinner, you can make this earlier in the day and do the final baking part right before you serve them. Using a Ziploc bag (or a real pastry bag) to squeeze the filling into the sweet potato cups also makes it quick and easy, and makes the cups look pretty. And if you want another option for twice-baked sweet potatoes check out Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Feta and Sumac.
What ingredients do you need?
- orange-fleshed sweet potatoes with straight sides (see notes)
- Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- sour cream
- soft butter
- fresh-squeezed lime juice, I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
- ground Chipotle chile pepper (affiliate link)
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- green onions
Are they sweet potatoes or yams?
If you’re looking for them in a U.S. grocery store these orange-fleshed vegetables might be called yams or sweet yams but they’re really sweet potatoes.
Are sweet potatoes a healthy food?
Sweet potatoes are loaded with nutrients, and they’re considered a good carb by some diet plans. Check the nutritional information to see if these are too much of a carb splurge for you.
Want More Tasty Sweet Potato Dishes?
Check out Favorite Healthy Sweet Potato Recipes to see lots of tasty ideas using sweet potatoes!
How to make Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe with nutritional information.)
- Choose two large sweet potatoes with straight sides, and cut each into 3 thick slices about 2 1/2 inches tall. Save the end pieces too so the mashed sweet potato from those can become part of the filling.
- Spray a pan with non-stick spray. Rub the outside of the sweet potato pieces with olive oil and arrange them standing up on the baking sheet.
- Bake at 400F/200C until sweet potatoes are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork, about 45 minutes. Turn them once during the baking time.
- Once sweet potatoes are done, scoop out the inside and put into a bowl, leaving enough of the flesh around the skin that it creates a “cup.” I used a melon baller for this, which worked perfectly. (If the piece has a thinner end and a wider end, put the wider end up.)
- Whisk together the sour cream, softened butter, pinch of ground Chipotle pepper, and lime juice.
- Taste the mixture at this time to see if it’s as spicy as you’d like, but be careful with the ground Chipotle pepper; it’s very spicy!
- Stir the sour cream mixture and green onions into the mashed sweet potato you scooped out.
- Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and taste to see if you want more lime or Chipotle flavor.
- Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a small Ziploc bag, then cut off the corner of the bag so you can use it to squeeze the filling into the sweet potato cups.
- Fill sweet potato cups with the mixture, using all the filling and making it come up slightly above the top of the cups.
- (If making ahead, the sweet potatoes can be prepared to this point and refrigerated until you want to cook them.)
- Bake at 400F/200C until the filling is hot and very slightly browned, about 20 minutes. You’ll need a bit longer cooking time if you make ahead and refrigerate, or if you stuff the sweet potatoes whole without making cups.
- Serve hot, garnished with thinly sliced green onions if desired.
More Amazing Sweet Potato Recipes:
- Crockpot Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Gratin
- Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms
- Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
- Sweet Potatoes with Feta
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
These Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes have a delicious Southwestern touch; you can also stuff the sweet potatoes whole if you don't want quite this much work!
Ingredients
- 2 large orange-fleshed sweet potatoes with straight sides (see notes)
- 2 tsp. olive oil, for rubbing sweet potato skins
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 T soft butter
- 2 tsp. fresh lime juice (more or less to taste)
- very small pinch ground Chipotle chile pepper (see notes)
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions + more for garnish if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray or olive oil.
- Slice sweet potatoes crosswise into thick pieces about 2 1/2 inches thick. (You will get 3-4 thick pieces from each sweet potato.)
- Rub sweet potato pieces with olive oil, including end pieces.
- Arrange sweet potatoes standing up on the baking sheet and roast until they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes, turning them once during the cooking time.
- When sweet potatoes are soft, remove from the oven and let cool until they can be handled. Then use a melon baller (affiliate link) or small spoon to scoop out most of the sweet potato flesh and put it in a bowl, leaving enough flesh attached to the skin and on the bottom to make a “cup.”
- Stand the empty cups back on the baking sheet.
- Mix sour cream, soft butter, lime juice, and pinch of ground Chipotle chile pepper (or very small amount of finely chopped Chipotle pepper).
- Stir the sour cream mixture and 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions into the mashed sweet potato in the bowl.
- Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Taste the mixture to see if you want more lime or Chipotle flavor and add if needed. (One small pinch of Chipotle was enough for me, but I didn’t want it overly spicy.)
- Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a small Ziploc bag (or pastry bag if you have one.)
- Cut off the corner of the bag and squeeze out the mixture to fill the cups, filling them so it rises slightly above the edge. (If making ahead, sweet potatoes can be refrigerated at this point and reheated later.)
- Put filled sweet potato cups back into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until filling is hot and very lightly browned.
- Serve hot, garnished with thinly sliced green onions if desired.
Notes
Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are sometimes called yams or sweet yams in the U.S.
You can use more ground Chipotle chile pepper (affiliate link)Â to taste, but use sparingly, this is very spicy. You could substitute a small amount of chopped Chipotle chile from a can.
Recipe adapted from Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile at Fine Cooking.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 137Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 146mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 3gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes may be a bit high in carbs for a low-carb diet, but check the nutritional information and see what you think. This recipe would be approved for Phase 2 or 3 of the original South Beach Diet (although South Beach would use margarine if you’re following the letter of the law), and sweet potatoes are considered a good carb for most low-glycemic diet plans.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Sweet Potato Recipes to find more tasty ideas for sweet potatoes! Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010. It was last updated with more information in 2022.
39 Comments on “Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes”
I try this recipe at home. what wonderful recipes. Thanks for sharing.
So glad you like it.
I just printed this one out.. these sound and look delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Lauren! Glad you like it.
I came across this post from Tastespotting… what a creative way to serve twice-baked potatoes! I love, love, love sweet potatoes, and the flavor additions you used for this recipe are fantastic.
Karen, so glad to hear it worked out for you!
Made these this weekend for a last minute dinner party. Thought it might be time consuming but turned out pretty simple. (I did bake about 15 min more than called for) Spooned the sweet potatoes into the cups instead of using the plastic bag but still unique and pretty. Absolutely delicious! Everyone loved the flavors of all the ingredients and a plus as a healthy side dish!!!
Rose, so glad you liked them!
I made these last week and they were incredible. Tonight I'm making them again to have with black bean soup. What a wonderful recipe! Thanks!
I know they are two different vegetables. My point is that they're sometimes *called* yams, not that they *are* yams. If you search the blog, you'll see I have written about that many times.
I cannot wait to make these tomorrow!
At the risk of being nit-picky sweet potatoes and yams are two different veggies.
In stores in the U.S. orange fleshed sweet potatoes are often called "yams" or "sweet yams." It goes way back to when these were first introduced in the U.S. You can find a lot of articles talking about how this got started if you google it.
These look really good.. but i was just wonder way you said sweet potatoes were sometimes called yams, when they're two completely
different things?
These look amazing! I am definitely going to try them this next week!
O-o-o-o Kalyn, These are so clever and could be changed up easily. Since most sweet potatoes are so large, this is much better for portion control. Love your wide selection of sweet potato recipes.
Super tempting side dish!
hihi, I associate them with sushi..
so artistic!
Oooh this looks so yummy♥ I love how it's in little cups!! I'll definitely be trying these 🙂
xoxo
Ai
These look fantastic! What a wonderful was to "dress up" the side dish. Love your blog 🙂