Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

Twice baked sweet potatoes have a sweet creamy filling with a crunchy streusel topping. If you’re feeding a crowd, the recipe can easily be made into a casserole, too.

Creamy mashed sweet potatoes with a crunchy streusel topping are encased in a sweet potato shell, bringing sweet potatoes to new heights of deliciousness. If you’re already of fan of this nutritious root vegetable, you’ll love this recipe.

My kids love marshmallow-topped handheld sweet potato casserole served up in mini tortilla boats. Really, they pretty much love anything with marshmallows, and the little mini boats don’t hurt either. While I wouldn’t turn those down, these sweet potatoes are more my cup of tea.

Are you searching for great Thanksgiving dinner sides? Or desserts? This recipe could easily go both ways. Or, in my case, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Maybe all three!

About these easy Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

There are unlimited ways to stuff sweet potatoes. Many recipes lean toward savory, and are intended to be a main dish. They’re filled with meat, beans, grains, cheese, scrambled eggs, avocado, tomatoes, etc., really whatever you like. I like to stuff them with vegetarian quinoa chili, topped with a handful of shredded cheddar.

Then there are the sweet options, like this one. In my opinion, this recipe goes really well with a big dinner. I usually cut the baked potatoes into halves so they aren’t such a big serving. I would compare them to traditional sweet potato casserole, except with a built-in bowl. If I’m really feeling like a splurge, I make my scalloped sweet potatoes with bacon and Gruyère.

There are a few steps to this recipe but they aren’t difficult. The part that takes the longest is baking the potatoes. They’ll need about an hour but that’s completely hands off time. Once they are baked, you’ll need close to another hour to finish them up. Keep reading for make ahead ideas.

I’ll get you started on the recipe here and give you some helpful tips. Look for the printable recipe card near the end of the post with complete instructions, measurements, and nutrition information.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Sweet Potatoes: Look for four large sweet potatoes that are pretty uniformly sized. They should have smooth skins without wrinkly or soft spots.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter and take it out an hour or so ahead of time so it has a chance to soften. I usually take it out of the fridge when I start baking the potatoes. One tablespoon is added to the filling and three tablespoons are for the topping.
• Cream Cheese: Either full fat or lower fat cream cheese is fine. You’ll need just a couple of ounces to give the filling a super rich and creamy texture.
• Cinnamon: This cozy sweet tasting spice makes these sweet potatoes taste like dessert. Again, you’ll need some for both the filling and the topping.
• Nutmeg: There’s nothing like freshly grated nutmeg. Buy whole nutmegs and grate them with a microplane. If you’d rather not bother with that, ground nutmeg is a good substitute.
• Ginger: This completes the trio of spices which makes the filling taste quite a lot like pumpkin pie.
• Brown Sugar: Double duty again, the brown sugar is in the filling and the topping.
• Flour: All-purpose flour is mixed with the butter and brown sugar to make a crunchy streusel topping.
• Pepitas: Green in color, pepitas are shelled pumpkin seeds. Mixed with the streusel, they provide a nice crisp texture and just a bit of color. Pepitas are good for you, too, with antioxidants, magnesium, and vitamin K.

How To Make Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Prep and bake the potatoes. Scrub the sweet potatoes well and prick them a few times with a fork. Put them on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake them until they are soft. It will take about an hour.

Scoop out the flesh. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool a bit so you can handle them. With a sharp knife, cut off the top third (more or less) of each potato. Carefully scoop out the flesh. You’ll want to leave a pretty sturdy shell, about one quarter inch thick.

Make the filling. Combine the filling ingredients: butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. To that, add the potato stuff (I couldn’t say flesh again!) that you scooped out. Beat until creamy and smooth.

Fill the potatoes. Dividing the mixture evenly, refill the sweet potato shells with this delicious amped up sweet potato mixture. Put the filled potatoes back onto the foil-lined pan you used to bake them.

Add the streusel. Now for the good stuff on top! Mix the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the butter into the dry mixture with a fork until it’s blended and sticks together.

Fold in the chopped pepitas. Lightly pat this mixture on top of the potatoes.

Bake again. This is the “twice-baked” part. Pop the filled potatoes back into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or so until they are nice and hot and the topping is browned a bit.

I think you could easily put ice cream on these babies and serve them for dessert, don’t you? Pretty much like sweet potato pie without the crust.

FAQs

Change Up This Recipe

• Ideas for the filling: The filling can be tweaked in lots of different ways. Use honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Add more sweetener or use less. Try pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Ideas for the streusel: Instead of chopped pepitas in the streusel, try chopped walnuts or pecans, shredded coconut, rolled oats. sunflower seeds, or pine nuts. If you prefer, you can just skip the streusel.
• Make a casserole instead. Remove all of the sweet potato flesh from the baked sweet potatoes and blend it with the filling ingredients. Put the mixture into a greased baking dish instead of back into the shells. Top with the streusel and bake as directed. Hint: Double the streusel ingredients for a nice thick layer of streusel on the casserole.

Make Ahead Ideas

Bake the sweet potatoes a day ahead. Scoop out the flesh and either make the filling right away or make it the next day.

You can also make the potatoes completely ahead (up to the second baking time) and either refrigerate or freeze them in a freezer safe container for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before doing the second bake. You’ll need to add five to ten minutes to the baking time to ensure that the potatoes are heated through.

Storage & Reheating Tips

• Refrigerate: Leftover baked sweet potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to four days.
• Freeze: They can be frozen for 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
• Reheat: To reheat individual portions, place in the microwave and heat gently until warmed through. For larger amounts, bake at 350°F until hot.