This recipe for twice baked sweet potatoes is tender potatoes piled high with pecan brown sugar streusel, marshmallows and dried cranberries and baked to perfection. You can prepare them in advance and then pop them in the oven right before your holiday meal!
These sweet potatoes have all the great flavors of a traditional casserole, yet they’re elegant enough for a fancy dinner. When I want sweet potatoes I serve crock pot sweet potato casserole, candied sweet potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes or this fantastic dish.
There are so many different mashed sweet potato recipes out there – some are topped with marshmallows, some with pecans and some with streusel. I can never decide which version I like the best so I decided to combine them all and stuff them into a hand held form. Behold, twice baked sweet potatoes loaded with toppings, the perfect Thanksgiving recipe.
These twice baked potatoes are wonderful with holiday dishes like Cajun turkey, brussels sprouts salad, crock pot stuffing or honey roasted carrots.
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
To make twice baked sweet potatoes you will need sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. For the streusel topping make sure to have flour, more brown sugar, chopped pecans, cubes of butter, mini marshmallows and dried cranberries. For amounts and details check out the recipe card below.
- Sweet Potatoes: Pick any orange or red fleshed sweet potato for this recipe. You can use varieties like jewel or garnet sweet potatoes.
- Pecans: You can chop the pecans for the topping yourself or buy a bag of chopped pecans to save a little time.
- Mini-Marshmallows: These little marshmallows go great with sweet potatoes. Buy a bag from your local supermarket and if you have leftover marshmallows use them for slow cooker hot chocolate!
How Do You Make Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes?
To make twice baked sweet potatoes, first poke your sweet potatoes with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. The sheet pan goes into the oven about 45 minutes until the potatoes finish roasting. Let the potatoes cool and then scoop out the sweet potato flesh.
Mash the scooped out sweet potato with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Put the mashed mixture back in the sweet potato skins. Mix up a streusel topping by combining flour, brown sugar, butter and pecans.
Sprinkle the topping on the potatoes and they go back in the oven. After 20 minutes take the potatoes out and add the marshmallows to the top. Put them back in the oven a few minutes then sprinkle dried cranberries over the top and serve this delicious side dish!
Tips For The Perfect Sweet Potatoes
- Try to pick sweet potatoes that are the same size and shape. They will cook more evenly and the end result will look nicer if all your potatoes look similar.
- I take the contents of 8 potatoes and stuff them into 6 potato shells. This makes each of the twice baked sweet potatoes look full with delicious mashed sweet potatoes.
- Cook your sweet potatoes on a sheet pan so they don’t drip into your oven. If you use a sheet of aluminum foil your cleanup will be easier.
- Make sure to prick your sweet potatoes with a fork before they go into the oven.
- Feel free to double or triple this recipe for a crowd.
Quick Tip
I use a potato ricer for the smoothest end result but you can also use a standard potato masher or a mixer.
Recipe FAQs
I prefer oven baked sweet potatoes over microwaved potatoes. The flesh of the potato is more uniformly tender when roasted in an oven.
The secret to preventing twice baked potatoes from falling apart is to carefully scoop out the roasted potatoes. You want to leave about a quarter inch of potato on the skin so that the skin stays intact. You also want to carefully put the mashed potato back in the potato skins. One trick is to pipe the mashed potato back in place with a piping bag.
You should poke holes in a sweet potato before baking with a fork or a skewer. This allows excess moisture to leave the sweet potato while cooking. It keeps helps keep the shape of the sweet potato which is especially important for twice baked sweet potatoes.
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Flavor Variations
These twice baked sweet potatoes are sweet and delicious as-is; however, you can change up the flavors if you want.
- Maple: Try adding a tablespoon of maple syrup to the mashed potatoes.
- Savory: For a savory version of this dish, omit the brown sugar and cinnamon from the mashed sweet potatoes and omit the sweet toppings. Instead, add a dash of black pepper and 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning to the mashed potatoes. Top the dish with bits of cooked bacon. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, feel free to mix in some thyme, parsley, oregano, basil and garlic powder. For a little spice, try adding cayenne pepper.
- Apple: Instead of cranberries and marshmallows, top the dish with slices of peeled apple that you sauté until tender in 3 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.
- Pie Spices: You can make your sweet potatoes more like a sweet potato pie. Just stir into your mashed sweet potatoes 4 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Fluff: Feel free to top your sweet potatoes with a little marshmallow fluff (marshmallow creme).
This is such a fun way to serve sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving and it’s so convenient to make them ahead of time. The important thing is to not skimp on the toppings. Because come on, we all know that’s the best part!
More Great Thanksgiving Recipes
Southern Cornbread Dressing
1 hr 15 mins
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
1 hr 50 mins
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
2 hrs 5 mins
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
25 mins
Cranberry Jello Salad
6 hrs 10 mins
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Loaded Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
For the mashed potatoes
- 8 medium sweet potatoes similar size and shape
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the streusel
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons of finely chopped pecans
- 2 tablespoons of cold butter cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries roughly chopped
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Place the potatoes on the pan and prick each one a few times with a fork.
- Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until tender.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle gently slice the tops off and scoop out the insides, leaving a 1/4 inch thick border.
- Combine the potatoes with 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste). Mash the potatoes with a mixer, potato masher or ricer.
- Spoon the potato mixture back into only 6 of the shells; discard the remaining 2 shells. Alternatively you can use a piping bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe the potatoes into the shells in a decorative fashion.
- At this point you can store the potatoes in the fridge for up to one day or proceed to baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a bowl combine the flour and brown sugar. Using a fork, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. Stir in the pecans.
- Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the potatoes and lightly pat it down with your fingers so it sticks.
- Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If the potatoes are coming from the fridge you’ll need to add 15 minutes to the bake time.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and gently press the marshmallows into the tops. Bake for another 3 minutes or until marshmallows have melted.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and sprinkle the dried cranberries over the top. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Try to pick sweet potatoes that are the same size and shape. They will cook more evenly and the end result will look nicer if all your potatoes look similar.
- I use a potato ricer for the smoothest end result but you can also use a standard potato masher or a mixer.
- Choose any orange or red fleshed sweet potato for this recipe. You can use varieties like jewel or garnet sweet potatoes.
I love the idea of preparing these sweet potatoes in advance, making them a convenient and stress-free addition to any holiday meal. The fact that they can be popped into the oven right before serving ensures a warm and comforting side dish.
Was a hit at our church brunch with ladies. Easy to make, sweet, loved them.
These twice baked potatoes are incredibly flavorful and yummy. My whole family loves the combination of sweet marshmallows, tangy cranberries, crunchy pecan streusel and sweet potatoes!
Yes!!! I love your idea of using whole sweet potatoes to make twice baked potatoes. What a great mashup of recipe ideas.
These twice baked sweet potatoes are full of marvelous flavors and are a nice addition to any Holiday table. Everyone gets their own individual potato. Such Fun!
Have grandkids coming to the farm, right now sweet potatoes are plentiful. These kids don’t have a very large pallet of food that they eat! I am going to get all the condiments and see if that helps! Thanks for that recipe!
I would like to convert this to gluten free, what type of gf flour would you suggest? Simply an all purpose GF blend? This looks so good!
I think you could use an all purpose GF flour and it would be fine!
These taters are gorgeous and so inviting. I LOVE how you dressed them up!
Looks amazing.
What beautiful little stuffed boats of potatoes and scrumptious stuff. I’m with you on liking my potatoes stuffed with everything good:)
I love the idea of twice baked potatoes but twice bakes SWEET potatoes with marshmallows! Thanks YOU!
Just in time for fall, love sweet potatoes, perfect!
I love that these are like individual sweet potato casserole in a sweet potato itself.
That’s perfect! A sweet potato casserole all for one!! Love!
This is such a great idea instead of the traditional sweet potatoes casserole =)