Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Friends, prepare yourself to be coerced, convinced, pled with and tremendously “talked into” making this heavenly Roasted Sweet Potatoes. I cannot say enough good things about them, seriously (but you know I am going to try). 🙂 Let me begin by saying that something truly magical happens to vegetables when you roast them in the oven with a bit of olive oil and good old salt and pepper. It does! They get all caramelized and glorious on the outside while the flavor blossoms into much more than it was before. This is not a lie, my friends. Please try it. We could all use an extra vegetable in our lives, right?

Yesterday, I roasted several batches of Sweet Potatoes with different flavor options and they were all so good. My son and I were dying over them and may or may not have consumed two entire pans ourselves. Which is actually much better than consuming an entire pan of cookies ourselves. Ha.  I chose this savory combination to share with you today because it pairs so well with many, many main dishes. Grilled chicken, BBQ Chicken, Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, French Dip Sandwiches, Grilled Turkey and Swiss, Grilled Burgers…so many possibilities!

Make them, my friends. Make them and love them and then roast another pan tomorrow. I know I’m planning to. 🙂

Let me show you how to make it happen!

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel 6 medium sized orange-colored yams. Chop them into 1 inch cubes.
3. Line 2 large cookie sheets with tin foil and lay the yams out evenly on them.
4. Drizzle 2 Tb of olive oil over each of the pans and toss the yams with your fingers making sure the oil is distributed evenly.

5. Into a small bowl combine 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp seasoned salt and 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper.

6. Sprinkle half of the seasoning mixture over each of the pans and then toss them around a bit with your fingers, making sure the seasoning is evenly distributed.
7. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the top.
8. Toss the pans into the oven and allow the yams (sweet potatoes!) to roast for 30-40 minutes, or until they are soft on the inside and the outside gets a little bit charred. Don’t let them burn, mind you. They just need to get a little bit dark on the outside (for maximum heavenly flavor, of course).

Give them a taste and add more salt and pepper to your liking. Enjoy!

Here’s the handy printable…