Nothing is better than baked potatoes, except maybe baked sweet potatoes. It seems many North Americans agree. We eat about seven pounds of sweet potatoes each year and a whopping fifty pounds of white potatoes. I’m here to say we should do our best to flip those numbers around. Not that I mean too much disrespect to the white potato. Mashed, baked, roasted and even fried I love and eat white potatoes often. However, the truth is there considerably less nutritional value in a white potato than there is in the more nutrient-dense sweet potato. In fact, nutritionally speaking baked sweet potatoes are almost too good to be true. Even if you call them yams.
Which you might be inclined to do. Though technically yams and sweet potatoes are different tubers from different genera (that’s the proper plural for genus I think). Years ago, when orange-fleshed sweet potatoes were introduced in the southern United States, producers and shippers thought they needed to distinguish them from the more traditional, white-fleshed potatoes. So the marketing geniuses settled on the name of a similar tuber known in Africa as nyami (of the Dioscorea genus). The word needed to be Americanized (of course?) and became yam. So, in this country at least, yams are actually sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) and have a moist texture and an orange (or sometimes white) flesh. Although the terms are generally used interchangeably, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato” (but not vice versa). Which is probably what led to the confusion and has nothing to do with the Baked Sweet Potatoes I’ve dressed up with a bacon vinaigrette and baked shallots. GREG
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Shallots and Bacon Vinaigrette
Print This Recipe Yield 4–6Source Adapted from Sam KassPublished
Ingredients
- 4–6 medium sweet potatoes (scrubbed)
- 4–6 whole shallots (skin on, root end intact)
- 6 ounce thick cut bacon slices
- ¼ cup sherry vinegar
- freshly cracked black pepper
- coarse sea salt (as needed)
Directions
Heat oven to 400° F. Pierce each sweet potato several times with the tines of a fork. Place the sweet potatoes and whole shallots on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake until the potatoes are tender and the shallots skins are very well browned about 45 to 60 minutes, depending on size. The shallots might need to come out of the oven before the potatoes, again depending on size. Use your judgment.
While the potatoes and shallots bake, cut the bacon crosswise into ½‑inch pieces. Place them in a large cast iron skillet and place it over medium heat and cook stirring occasionally, until the fat renders and the bacon is brown and crisp. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and season with black pepper.
To serve: Make a lengthwise slit in the top of each potato and mash a generous pinch of salt into the flesh with a fork. Spoon on the bacon dressing and squeeze the interior of a shallot (like toothpaste out of the tube) on top of each potato. Discard the browned shallot skins and serve immediately.
We love sweet potatoes and enjoy them in the winter as a main course. I don’t think of them as often in the summer, but now I want one with shallots and bacon!
I am a big fan of sweet potatoes,I usually roast them but your recipe looks very good. Thanks!
When I met Mark, he wouldn’t touch a sweet potato! Then, one day, I made them with a savory preparation and it was as if I had invented the wheel! He now loves them, and I know he will love this version. Being a food historian, he is always telling people the difference between a yam and the sweet potato. Apparently, most people in the U.S. have never seen an actual yam… They are huge! From what I hear, the size of a watermelon…
Thanks for the interesting history of the terms! I love sweet potatoes, and bacon is the perfect accompaniment.
I’m making this tomorrow! I’d make it today but it’s cinco de mayo. I always have sweet potatoes and shallots on hand! Love that top photo.
Mmmmm, love sweet potatoes but I never think to have them other than at Thanksgiving! Love that this one is such a simple recipe that highlights each ingredient beautifully. Gorgeous colours too.
Still trying to figure out that whole sweet potato yam thing! Whatever. I’ll take either!
Thanks for the clarification between yams and sweet potatoes. This is a good reminder that I need to eat sweet potatoes more. I love them plain but when you dress them up with bacon, shallots and sherry vinegar I know I will fall in love with them all over again. Great recipe.
LOVE sweet potatoes. And they wonderful when baked. Quite good roasted, too. And I’ll sometimes have half of one for desserts — just add a bit of butter and brown sugar, and you’ve put that traditional Thanksgiving side dish preparation in the proper place in the meal. 🙂