My Go-to Weeknight Meal Takes 10 Minutes to Prep and Requires Barely Any Cooking

My go-to weeknight meal when I don’t feel like cooking is one that involves barely any dishes and requires just 10 minutes of active prep time: baked sweet potatoes. Loaded up with melted cheddar, crispy bacon, minced chives, and sour cream, baked potatoes—whether you choose to use starchy russets or sweet garnets—are a simple and filling dinner. Beyond its ease, the beauty of the baked potato is that you can fill and top it however you’d like, and they’re a great vessel for using up leftovers like chili, shepherd’s pie filling, or Bolognese. 

Though baking sweet potatoes isn’t difficult, it’s still worth taking the time to go the extra mile to guarantee each spud is truly delicious and doesn’t taste like an afterthought. (They may be practically effortless, but they don’t have to taste effortless!) Below, you’ll find several key techniques—some of which Serious Eats editorial director Daniel has already touched on in his ultimate baked potato recipe—that will help you make the very best loaded sweet potatoes.

How to Make Outrageously Delicious Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

Choose the right size sweet potato. Sweet potatoes can significantly differ in size, with some as small as a finger and others weighing more than a pound. Though you’re more than welcome to use whatever size of sweet potato you have, keep in mind that the baking time will vary depending on how large or small your sweet potatoes are. In my recipe below, I recommend using medium sweet potatoes, which take about an hour and fifteen minutes to bake. Medium or large sweet potatoes are also easier to load the toppings onto than small ones. 

Puncture your sweet potatoes. Both Daniel and former Serious Eats editor Kenji recommend puncturing potatoes with a paring knife to prevent steam from building up and causing the spud to explode, which can cause a tremendous mess in your oven and, more importantly, can cause burns if a potato explodes when you are checking it in the oven or handling it. So: Puncture those taters and handle them with care.

Oil the sweet potatoes, then leave them unwrapped. For sweet potato skins that bake up slightly crisp, give them a light coating of oil and skip wrapping them in foil. While many baked potato recipes call for wrapping the spuds in foil, this  doesn’t exponentially speed up their cooking, nor does it produce a more delicious potato. As Daniel found in his testing, wrapping potatoes in foil only achieves one thing: soggy skins. By leaving the sweet potatoes unwrapped and rubbing them in oil, we get crispy yet tender potato skins that you actually want to eat.

Bake them on a wire rack. As tempting as it may be to just chuck the sweet potatoes on a sheet pan, placing the spuds straight onto the baking sheet can result in burned bottoms. I recommend baking the sweet potatoes on a wire rack set into a rimmed baking sheet—this allows hot air to circulate around each potato so they cook more evenly. No wire rack? Bake the sweet potatoes straight on your oven rack—just be sure to keep a sheet pan or sheet of foil on the rack below to catch any drips.

Mash the sweet potatoes with butter, then use the mixture to stuff the skins. Go the extra mile by scooping out the cooked sweet potato flesh, mashing it with butter, then using that mixture to fill the skins. If you’re baking four potatoes, you can refill each skin to make four moderately stuffed sweet potatoes, or fill half of the skins for two big, overstuffed sweet potatoes. 

Get creative with the toppings. You can’t go wrong with classic loaded baked potato toppings, but there are lots of other fun garnishes to consider. I love to top my sweet potatoes with a large swoop of labne and tahini, a hearty bean chili, or corn salad. Follow your heart—or your stomach. It won’t lead you astray.