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Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes are flavored with sour cream, Chipotle, and a touch of lime for a delightful sweet potato dish. We made them into sweet potato cups, but you can just stuff the whole sweet potato if you want a larger serving.

PIN Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes to try them later.

square image of twice-baked sweet potatoes on serving plate with green onion garnish

For this week’s Friday Favorites post I’m featuring these delicious Savory 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. I hope you’ll try this idea if you’re a fan of savory sweet potato recipes like I am!

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

Why did we make cups for the Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes:

We cut the sweet potatoes crosswise and then scooped out the cooked inside to make cups for portion control, since sweet potatoes are a higher-carb vegetable. And I did think the Twice-Baked Sweet Potato cups were cute! But if you want larger servings or don’t want to bother making cups, just cook sweet potatoes and cut lengthwise to stuff them.

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 these Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes a healthy dish?

Sweet potatoes are loaded with nutrients, and they’re considered a good carb by some diet plans. Personally I’d splurge on carbs a bit for a holiday meal, but 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!

Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes collage of recipes steps.

How to make Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.)
  5. Whisk together the sour cream, softened butter, pinch of ground Chipotle pepper, and lime juice.
  6. 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!
  7. Stir the sour cream mixture and green onions into the mashed sweet potato you scooped out.
  8. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and taste to see if you want more lime or Chipotle flavor.
  9. 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.
  10. Fill sweet potato cups with the mixture, using all the filling and making it come up slightly above the top of the cups.
  11. (If making ahead, the sweet potatoes can be prepared to this point and refrigerated until you want to cook them.)
  12. 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.
  13. Serve the Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes hot, garnished with thinly sliced green onions if desired.

Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes on serving plate.

More Savory Sweet Potato Recipes:

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chipotle finished dish on serving plate
Yield: 6 side-dish servings

Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

These Savory 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

  1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray or olive oil.
  2. Slice sweet potatoes crosswise into thick pieces about 2 1/2 inches thick. (You will get 3-4 thick pieces from each sweet potato.)
  3. Rub sweet potato pieces with olive oil, including end pieces.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.”
  6. Stand the empty cups back on the baking sheet.
  7. Mix sour cream, soft butter, lime juice, and pinch of ground Chipotle chile pepper (or very small amount of finely chopped Chipotle pepper).
  8. Stir the sour cream mixture and 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions into the mashed sweet potato in the bowl.
  9. 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.)
  10. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a small Ziploc bag (or pastry bag if you have one.)
  11. 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.)
  12. Put filled sweet potato cups back into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until filling is hot and very lightly browned.
  13. 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) 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

6

Serving Size

1
Amount 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.

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© Kalyn Denny
Category: Side Dishes
Cropped image of Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes on serving plate.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Savory 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 for twice-baked sweet potato cups with a savory filling was first posted in 2010. It was last updated with more information in 2024.

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