Salt roasted sweet potatoes
Thanksgiving is nigh, guys. The holiday where families gather to celebrate togetherness — assuming we all don’t strangle each other before dessert — and express gratitude for the gifts we have in life.
It’s also the holiday where the poor sweet potato is drowned in sticky-sweet syrupy goo and capped with marshmallows. Like the texture of shredded coconut {shiver me timbers}, this is a dish I just don’t understand. Please don’t take offense if it’s your Thanksgiving specialty — I know it’s just me with the thing about sweet potatoes and marshmallows.
I simply prefer a savory treatment (and for the folks who believe they harbor a general dislike of the sweet potato, it’s worth a try to salvage the enjoyment of this healthy tuber, too).
As a plus, this method for baking sweet potatoes in a bed of salt yields a super-tender inside with a crispy skin outside, subtly infused with salt and herbs.
Salt roasting is nothing new — it’s a great treatment for russet potatoes, too — you can salt roast steaks, and even whole chickens, on the grill. Far from oversalting the food, the salt does double-duty as both tenderizer and subtle (yes, subtle) seasoner. In the covered environment of the baking dish, the potatoes are gently steamed with moisture from the salt and flavor from the herbs and garlic.
The result is restaurant-quality, if you ask me.
Use the garlic cloves to make garlic butter to stuff into the salt roasted sweet potatoes (vegans, you already know that Earth Balance makes quite the tasty spread with roasted garlic — I used it here).
I’m kicking myself, though, because I recently scored some black garlic and totally forgot about it — that would’ve been awesome.
Although I prepared this for a light dinner with a quinoa salad, you can easily scale up this recipe for your family to prepare more salt roasted sweet potatoes: use a larger baking dish with enough salt to cover the bottom by an inch, and add another sprig or two of rosemary and thyme. You can also roast an entire garlic bulb — just slice off the top to expose the cloves, and nestle the bulb in the salt.
Karen xo
Hello, and welcome to SoupAddict, my little corner of the foodie world on the Interwebs. I'm Karen, and it's true, I'm addicted to soup. The seasons guide my cooking and eating, and when I'm not behind the stove — or the keyboard: I'm a writer by trade — you can find me in my vegetable garden. 
Hmmmm…this looks interesting. I like sweet potatoes most any way but will definitely give this a try.
Can the kosher salt be saved and used again?
Yes! And the top layer will have some of the flavor of the herbs, as well, especially rosemary.
Oh I’m glad to read this. My first thought was ‘no! 2 cups of salt used once?’ I’ll save the savory salt in a separate cellar (say that 3 times fast) for use in other recipes.
Thank you!
kirsten recently blogged about: Silken Turnip and Potato Soup (and How To Make Chicken Stock)
Having written it off in all forms (ala Thanksgiving versions), you may have just saved the sweet potato for me. Ages ago went to a restaurant on the East coast that was known for it’s prime rib cooked in salt and herbs. So good. I’m actually going to try this in the next day or so. Thanks!
Christine recently blogged about: The Mr. Cane-a-Man Show
Cool1 I’ve heard of salt roasting meat but didn’t know you could use it for vegetables. Since I don’t eat meat (except the very occasional fish) this recipe is a lot more apropos to my kitchen. You are not the only one who does not understand the sweet potato/marshmallow thing. I love sweet potatoes just as they are, especially this time of year when the crop is new. They are so sweet naturally, I can’t imagine adding sugar to them.
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