How to Bake a Sweet Potato (by Wrapping in Foil!)

Rub-a-dub-dub, scrub-a-spud. Do you want to know how to easily bake sweet potatoes in the oven by wrapping them in foil? A foolproof baked sweet potato recipe that makes a healthy side or main dish the whole family will enjoy. Hey there, I'm London Brazil from EvolvingTable.com where you'll learn how to make nourishing meals to serve the ones you love. And today I'll be teaching you how to bake a sweet potato that is wrapped in foil. This is a super simple, basic cooking technique that every home chef should know how to do. And once you master it, there are so many sweet and savory recipes that you can cook up for a quick and easy meal. In this video, I'll show you a few tips and tricks that will give you a super crispy skin, ultra fluffy potato, and you won't blow it up in the oven. Yes, this can actually happen. So if you're ready to get to baking, then come on in and let's get started. We'll first start off by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Before we dive into how to bake sweet potatoes, we'll first need to get them ready. Sweet potatoes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from small and thin to large and round. In order to evenly cook the sweet potatoes, you'll want to bake similarly sized potatoes for the best results. Since potatoes are grown underground, they can be quite dirty, especially these. My goodness, that's a lot of dirt coming off of there. You'll wanna make sure and thoroughly rinse and scrub your potatoes before baking them in the oven. Using a vegetable brush, scrub the potatoes until all of the visible dirt is removed. Dry the potatoes thoroughly. Poke holes into the sweet potato with a large fork five to six times. This step enables the sweet potatoes to release any excess moisture while baking in the oven. Our potatoes are all squeaky clean, the holes are poked, so now it's just time to get them ready for the oven. If you like to eat the fibrous skin on the outside of the potatoes, you'll wanna make sure and drizzle each one with about a teaspoon of olive oil. And rub it in really good. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and black pepper. Next, tear off a large enough piece of aluminum foil so that it wraps around your sweet potatoes at least two times. I think that'll do it. Wrap potatoes in the large piece of aluminum foil and fold over the ends so no juice escapes the packet. If you would rather not have the foil directly touching your potatoes, you can also opt to place a layer of parchment paper between the foil and the potato. Place wrapped sweet potatoes on a large baking sheet. Now we're gonna pop them into our preheated 400 degree oven for 40 to 60 minutes. Larger sweet potatoes will take closer to one hour to cook, while smaller sweet potatoes can be ready in as little as 40 minutes. You'll know they're done baking when a fork or knife easily cuts into the potato. Once cooled to room temperature, baked sweet potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four to five days. You can also freeze them for up to four to six months. Wasn't that so incredibly easy? And just look at how perfectly cooked our potatoes are, how soft and fluffy the inside is. And there are so many ways that you can enjoy a baked sweet potato. From adding a bit of shredded chicken and barbecue sauce, to stuffing them with canned corn, beans, and salsa, or if you're like me and you like it a little bit more on the sweet side, with a little butter, sugar, and of course, a sprinkle of cinnamon. Oh yeah. Mm, mm, mm-mm, mm-mm-mm. If you liked what you saw here today, make sure you check out these other easy potato recipes. Thanks so much for hanging out. I'll see you again soon.