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These Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potatoes are the perfect nutritious main or side dish. Cooking these in the air fryer with less oil makes them an even healthier option! With crispy skin on one side and caramelized potato on the other, you won’t believe how delicious these are.
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👩🏻🍳 Why You'll Love Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are the BEST. They are chock full of nutrition, especially if you eat the skins.
And here's one of my busy mom hacks. I make the sweet potatoes as the MAIN DISH. Yep, potatoes are not just served on the side in my house! Pair them with a quick salad (Caesar salad is a fav with my gang) or a bowl of warm, comforting soup, and a steamed veggie, and there is more than enough food for even my hungry boys!
I love using the air fryer for cooking my sweet potatoes because it does the best job at getting the skin nice and crispy, but you can do these in the oven, too. (Oven directions included below!)
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- sweet potatoes - look for them to be approximately the same size and shape for the most even cooking results.
- avocado oil - I like to use avocado oil because it performs well with high heat (it has a high smoking point).
- cinnamon - a great complement to the starchy sweetness of the potato.
- brown sugar - adds a deeper, complex sweet yumminess for your potatoes!
- salt/pepper - rub on the outside of the potatoes. The salt contrasted with the sweet of the potatoes is amazing!
- Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. In my opinion this is the best way to cook them because the fleshy side gets all caramelized and extra tasty!
- Rub or mist the sweet potatoes with the avocado oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, pierce the skin with a fork, and place flesh side down in your air fryer basket. Leave as much room in between the potatoes as possible. Air fry at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking, place the cinnamon and brown sugar in a small bowl.
- Mix thoroughly. When serving sprinkle the mixture over the potatoes for an incredible flavor experience!
🔷 Oven directions
Don't have an air fryer? You can get similar results in your oven or even your toaster oven.
- Preheat the oven (or toaster oven ) to 400 degrees F.
- Follow the directions to prepare the sweet potatoes as indicated in the recipe card.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet (for easy cleanup) and place the sweet potatoes flesh side down on the parchment paper.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender all the way through.
👪 FAQs
No, you can use any oil. However oils with high smoking points are best for cooking at higher temperatures. Some other good choices are extra light olive oil, peanut oil, and sesame oil. (Sesame oil has a strong flavor so make sure you like that flavor before you use it!)
I will assume that 'regular potatoes' means russet potatoes. Russet potatoes actually take a bit longer to cook, so if you want to cook them in the air fryer, make sure allow extra time for cooking. Also, I wouldn't suggest the cinnamon/brown sugar topping for the russets. Try sour cream, cheddar cheese, guacamole, or even leftover chili!
Sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene as well as other nutrients. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, boiling sweet potatoes with the skin on for 20 minutes in a tightly covered pot is the best way to retain most of the nutrients. This is a good method if you want to serve mashed sweet potatoes, but if you want that nice crispy skin, air frying is a good alternative since you will be able to keep the amount of oil to a minimum.
You don't technically have to. For air frying or baking, I definitely recommend leaving the skin on because it gets so crispy and yummy. If you are going to serve them mashed, you may want to peel before cooking. However, they will retain more nutrients if you leave the skin on while cooking and remove it before mashing. So either way works in that case and you can decide how you want to do it.
Both are very nutritious, although russet potatoes are higher in potassium and sweet potatoes are higher in vitamin A. However, according to the Cleveland Clinic, sweet potatoes have an edge over white potatoes. But either type is delicious and healthy in the right quantities, so cook the ones you family loves the most!
You can, but you will lose some of the advantages of using the air fryer basket. The whole point of the air fryer is to have super heated air flowing all around your food to cook it faster and get it nice and crispy. The aluminum foil will just block the flow. So it's definitely better to not use it.
I use and love my Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Digital Air Fryer. It has an extra large interior and it flips up when not in use to save counter space! Other good options are the Ninja 4-Quart Air Fryer and the Instant Vortex Air Fryer.
🧊 Storage
Wrap tightly in foil or plastic wrap, or place in an airtight container, place in the refrigerator and store for up to 5 days.
You can reheat the leftovers in the microwave, but for best results heat them in the oven at 350 degrees F until warmed through. This keeps the skin crispy!
To freeze leftovers, wrap them tightly in foil or plastic wrap, and place in a heavy duty airtight container, zipper-top plastic bag, or silicone food storage containers in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then reheat by following the directions above.
💭 Helpful Tips
- Choose potatoes that are similar in size and shape. If you will want them to cook more quickly, choose thinner potatoes. If you have more time to let them cook, chunky ones are fine. The key is consistent size and shape so that they are all done in about the same amount of time.
- Make sure you wash your potatoes well since you will be eating the skins. Then pat them dry.
- You only need a little oil! A little goes a long way. I usually either use my hands to coat the potatoes or I use an oil mister.
- Poking the potatoes with a fork gives a place for steam to escape during cooking. I confess I have forgotten to do this and my potatoes did not explode, but the skin did pop open in several places and the cooking was a little more uneven.
- If you will be short on time, you can make these ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator. Wrap them tightly to store. Reheat them at 350 degrees in the oven until warmed through.
- Once you remove your sweet potatoes from the air fryer, let them site for 5-10 minutes to finish cooking before you serve them.
- Garnish with some chopped pecans or walnuts, or even a bit of chopped parsley for a pop of color.
Slicing the sweet potatoes lengthwise is a great way to prepare them for air frying, because the skin gets all crispy and the potato side gets all caramelized and extra tasty!
📖 Variations
- Sweet potatoes can be topped with all kinds of delicious things - keep it simple with butter or sour cream, or try some chili powder or seasoned salt.
- Scoop out some of the flesh, fill it with chili, leftover pulled buffalo chicken, or sloppy joe filling.
- Spicy guacamole is a great topping as well.
- Make a yogurt sauce by mixing plain Greek yogurt with some smoked paprika and drizzle it over your cooked sweet potato.
🥗 Suggested Side Dishes
Here are some great sides that will round out your sweet potato main dish.
🥔 Related Recipes
Here are a few more potato ideas for you!
Check out this story on how to make Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potatoes!
'Bake' your sweet potatoes in the air fryer
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📋 Recipe Card
Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes
- avocado oil
- salt/pepper
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Slice each potato lengthwise.
- Season each potato half by rubbing with just a bit of the oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper.
- Pierce the skin of the potatoes with a fork, then place flesh side down in the air fryer basket. Leave room between the potatoes for air flow. Cook in two batches if needed. Air fry at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender all the way through.
- While the potoatoes are cooking, mix the cinnamon and brown sugar together.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar over the caramelized flesh side of the sweet potatoes. Yum!
Notes
- Potatoes with a similar size and shape will cook more consistently. Thin, long potatoes will be done more quickly, where as thick ones will take a little more time.
- Wash your potatoes and pat them dry so you can enjoy eating the crispy skin!
- You don't need a lot of oil - just a thin coating so that the salt and pepper will stick.
- If you can remember, poke a couple of holes in the skin side of your potatoes to help them cook evenly.
- To reheat leftovers, or if you make these ahead or time, put them in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 degrees F until warmed through.
- Let sit for about 5 or 10 minutes to finish cooking, and then serve.
- Chopped pecans or walnuts are a great choice to add some extra crunch, or chop some parsley and sprinkle on top for a little color.
Nutrition
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