Meet your new favourite sweet potato recipe! Set in a mesmerising ringed pattern, this Sweet Potato Bake is simple to make, eye-catching and tastes even better than it looks. Here’s an excellent, special occasion-worthy side dish that’s still easy enough for dinner tonight!
A sweet potato side dish to impress!
I actually don’t have that many sweet potato side dishes in my repertoire. I think it’s because when I think of potato side dishes, I tend to think crispy (like Duck Fat Potatoes) or creamy and cheesy (like Potato Dauphinoise). So sweet potatoes are never my natural choice. For one, cream + cheese + sweet potato sounds like an odd combination to me (perhaps someone can prove me wrong here). Secondly, sweet potato just doesn’t properly bake up to be crispy like regular potatoes do.
So I decided it was time to expand my sweet potato collection. This spiral Sweet Potato Bake is what I’ve come up, to put an eye-catching spin on an otherwise straightforward bake!
What you need to make this Sweet Potato Bake
Here’s what you need to make this dish:
Sweet potatoes – To make this dish look neat, look for long, evenly-shaped ones so the slices will be as similar size as possible. But really, if the sweet potato you find aren’t exactly shaped like the above, don’t let that stop you from making this!
Rosemary – I often pair rosemary with sweet potato. The strong, woody flavour and aroma goes so well, and as a hardy herb it can also stand up to the 50 minutes it takes to bake. Dried herbs would also work here: rosemary, thyme, oregano or a herb mix all come to mind;
Garlic – For flavour. Not many savoury dishes happen around here without garlic!
Butter and oil – Butter for flavour, oil to promote some nice crispy edges.
Did you know? Butter is ~20% water and dairy solids. This is enough to stops things from baking up to be crispy. Oil on the other hand is 100% fat and makes things truly crispy. We love butter for flavour, though. So to get the best of both worlds, I use a combination of both!
Salt and pepper
How to make a spiral Sweet Potato Bake
Slice sweet potato – Leave the skin on and slice the potatoes 3-4mm thick. You can make short work of this if you have a mandoline that can slice them to this thickness. We don’t want them too thin or they’ll flop over when you try to arrange them;
Toss – In a large bowl, toss the sweet potato slices with butter, oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. It’s best to use your hands. Separate the slices as you do this because they tend to stick together. We want each slice nicely coated!
Arrange in skillet – Arrange the sweet potato slices in an ovenproof skillet (mine is 26cm / 11″) in circles. (Yep, you got me, it’s not a true spiral! But rings actually make more sense here to fill the skillet properly.) To do this, gather a stack at a time (photo 3) and place them in the skillet on its side (photo 4). Continue placing end to end until you’re three quarters of the way around the skillet. Then push them over so they overlap each other. As they spread out, they should fill the perimeter of the skillet.
Other shapes: It doesn’t have to be round and it doesn’t have to be a skillet. I used my cast iron skillet because it looks great against the orange potato plus it retains heat so well. You can use a baking dish – round, oval or a 25cm/10″ square one. For square or rectangle dishes, I suggest arranging them in lines rather than spiral;
Arranging in skillet (continued) – As described in step 3 above;
Fill centre – Now do a small overlapping circle in the centre of the skillet, to fill the space as best you can;
Bake covered – Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 180°C/350°F (all oven types). In this step, the potatoes should cook most of the way through but not completely;
Bake uncovered – Remove from the oven then crank up the oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan) to brown the top of the potatoes. Remove the foil, drizzle with olive oil (just to give the potatoes a little helping hand for the browning), and pop it back into the oven for 20 minutes or until the tops are a nicely coloured and a bit crispy.
Crispy facts: Sweet potato just doesn’t go truly crispy, unlike regular potato. It’s just a plain fact of life, sadly. We will get some nice edges, but actually they’re more chewy caramelised edges rather than crispy. Still, the caramelised bits are delicious and everyone’s favourite part!
Finally, garnish if desired with a little sprinkle of fresh, finely chopped rosemary, maybe also a little whole sprig or two, and a pinch of sea salt flakes.
Now serve your dazzling sweet potato side dish with anything and everything! The only catch is that those edges do soften over time so it’s not the best to keep. As sweet potato already struggles to get real crispiness, it’s at its peak fresh out of the oven. As it cools, the crispy edges soften and they can’t be resurrected.
After leaving it in the fridge overnight, you’ll find it’s completely soft. But that’s not to say it’s not tasty! It still is, with the lovely rosemary-garlic-butter flavour. I’ve been known to give it a freshening by pan-frying slabs of it until golden and crispy. SO GOOD! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Sweet Potato Bake
Ingredients
- 1.25 kg / 2.5 lb 4 -5 sweet potatoes (each 6cm / 2.5" wide, 20cm / 8" long, as evenly shaped as possible); finely sliced, skin on; (Note 1)
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil , plus a little extra for brushing the skillet
- 3/4 tsp kosher / cooking salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped , plus more for garnish / serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Brush skillet base and sides with a little olive oil.
- Slice potatoes: Slice potatoes 3-4mm thick. A mandoline will make short work of this.
- Toss: Place in large bowl, pour in all butter plus 1 tbsp olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Toss well with hands, separating the slices so they are all coated with oil.
- Layer in skillet: Layer potato in skillet in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices. (See post for details)
- Bake covered 30 minutes: Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes until potato is quite soft (almost fully cooked).
- Brush with oil: Remove from oven, turn up to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan). Remove foil, brush potato with remaining 1 tbsp oil.
- Bake uncovered 20 minutes: Bake 20 minutes until tops are golden and slightly crisp, and potato is cooked through (check with a knife or skewer).
- Serve: Scatter with more rosemary leaves, a whole sprig of rosemary and pinch of sea salt flakes if desired. Serve immediately! Sweet potato loses crispiness as it cools.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More sweet potato love
Life of Dozer
Photo from the Golden Retriever boarder while I’m in Tasmania – this is what surrounds her every morning when she’s munching on dry toast. (That’s Dozer’s big face at the front there, shoving his way to the front of the pack!).
Nagi, to avoid the “butter for flavour, oil for crispy” decision, I use clarified butter for recipes like this. Best of both worlds! I make my own, but you can buy ghee, the Indian version.
Hi Minty, yes you can definitely sub ghee in here if you prefer! I have a handy link here: https://salesdock.info/how-to-make-ghee-and-clarified-butter/%3C/a%3E N x
We love sweet potatoes so will for sure be trying this one! Loved your pictures from Tasmania. Looks like you really enjoyed! good for you!!
I’d love to know what you think once you try it Cherie!! N x
For sure I will let you know! Hugs and kisses to sweet Dozer!
Hey Nagi!! This looks amazing–would you be willing to make a version like in the movie Ratatouille?! I’ve seen a couple recipes online but I’m never convinced they’ll taste good (but your recipes I trust implicitly since they turn out every time!)
Like the cartoon movie Meredith?? N x
Hey – Tasmanian here! I live in Launceston make sure you head this way for a few treats. 🙂 If you get a chance to visit Rupert and Hound, Christmas Hills Raspberry farm and the Local Hideout Cafe you wont regret it! Local Hideout Cafe has THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE. My coffee came out 1-2mins later than my mums and i got a free muffin – fresh from the oven haha!
Thanks for the tips Amber!!! N x
Not cooked yet but visually impressive. Apropos sweet potato cheese and cream, mandolined, tossed and seasoned with salt, pepper and chilli flakes is seriously good with a good steak for example and some vine tomatoes. Just an FYI 🙂
Sounds divine Jonathan – one for me to try!! N x
NICE HANDSTAND
Thanks Peter, just add it to my list of skills 😂 N x
Thank. You for introducing me to Tazmania. My knowledge doesn’t go much beyond the cartoon with the animated Tazmanian devil I watched as as a kid in the USA.
I’ll teach you all there is to know Patricia!! The food is amazing as is the scenery! N x
Hi from New Zealand! Will try this yummy recipe for my family Mid winter Christmas this weekend. Anything with Kumara (sweet potato) is always a big hit over here!! Love to see what Dozer is up to, he is spitting image of my beautiful golden. Best dogs ever!
I have been making a near identical recipe for a few years, and it is amazing! The only difference is that I use shallots instead of garlic. I put thin slices of the shallot between the sweet potato slices, every few slices until they’re evenly spaced. They crisp up and are so good! Maybe I’ll have to try it now with BOTH garlic and shallot! Thank you for all of your lovely work. I make so many of your recipes on repeat!
Genius Alicia, I love that idea!!! I’ll try it next 🙂 N x
Great recipe, and impressive at parties. I’ve made a similar dish but changed out the Rosemary with Garam masala for an eastern profile. Of course I used ghee rather than the butter/oil combo, and suggest it would work in your version as well. The last trick I sometimes make is to prepare the dish in individual servings using ramekins to create rose-like forms!
Yes ghee would be amazing Ken, great idea!! N x
Looks great!!! I put it on my list to try when the weather cools off and I feel good about cranking up my oven again!
The picture of Dozer is priceless–I would love to wake up to those faces every morning!
I hope you do Kathryn, it’s soo good!! Yes, I’m very lucky to wake up to that fluffy face each morning! N x
Another stunning recipe, Nagi! Just wonderful. Patty and I visited Tasmania years ago and have never forgotten that trip. Bruny Island! Brings back memories! Enjoy your trip!
Thanks so much Mike!! N xx
The sweet potato recipe looks great, it’s another interesting variation that enhances a meal and I’m certainly going to be using it in the near future.
Tasmania is such a beautiful place. They have everything, inland freshwater lakes, beautiful mountains, rainforests, interesting little villages and a coastline that gets better at every turn.
Dozer looks like he’s occupied but wondering when the most important person in his life will return. No guilt implied. 🙂
Yes exactly Alan, it’s absolutely magical!! And don’t worry about Dozer, I’m sure he’s too busy to think about me! N x
Hi Nagi, love and follow you, make lots of your recipes and of course love to see what the boy is up to, hansom chap. My partner and I are keen to do a foodie trail in Tasmania, in the warmer months, Covid allowing. We get the Bruny Island cheeses frequently, adore a drop of gin, a plate of fat oysters and a handful of quality boutique chocolate, seek out good bread (a godsend), and would love to do a long table lunch at Mathew Evans place, Fat Pig Farm. Beyond that, an idea of a foodie trail you recommend would be such a great help, a real gift. Can you put one together based on your experiences for all of your followers? Thank you in advance.
Hi Yasmin, yes something on my to do list – everyone should visit if they can!! N x
Hi,
I did with a round pyrex. Not so fond of sweet potatoes but came out very tasty. My little grandson is now eating with great pleasure. I think I will also try with potates.
I’m so glad you found it tasty Aliza, I love hearing this!! N x
Great recipe Nagi. Looks fabulous as well. Looking forward to trying it out and adding some crumbled feta.
Pleased that you got away for a break to lovely Tasmania.
Feta would be amazing Margaret!! YUM! N x
I think TAS are wonderful at promoting their produce the rest of Australia needs to take a leaf out of their book get on board with promoting our wonderful Aussie produce. It looks like you are having a wonderful time there I know Tas has won international awards for their whiskey and its well worth tasting! Im going to try the sweet potato side dish it looks like a nice fancy way of doing it-I might even impress the husband😉. Have fun!
Couldn’t agree more Ailsa, and we have such GREAT produce!!! N x
I love reading all your stuff…such a great writer! Loved the vacation info ( you are a true foodie) and the daily Dozer updates!
And when I do want to make something…its on a great video! I’m curious to know what your background is….is it writing or visual arts or culinary arts? It’s all put together beautifully!
Thank you Nagi
Renee Kelly
Thanks so much Renee, I’m so glad you’re loving the blog! I talk more about my background in the “about me” page – you’re going to be surprised 😂 N x
I’m sure Nagi can be more specific, but her “About” page covers some of your questions 🙂
Can thisrecipe be prepared in
Advance
Many thanks Gillian
Hi Gillian, it really depends on how far in advance you want to prepare it as sweet potatoes can turn grey when left too long before cooking. N x
Opps sorry you lost me at whiskey. Need read the recipe
Looks delicious. Now I am seriously jealous, I always wanted to do a cartwheel, not an embarrassing flop! 😂
😂 Practice makes perfect Lorraine! N x