From fries to pies, sweet potatoes are a versatile, delicious ingredient. You can whip them up into an easy side dish in your air fryer, mash them into a holiday casserole, or stuff them into a hand pie.
People typically eat sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving and in autumn in the U.S. However, there's no reason you can't enjoy them throughout the year. In fact, sweet potatoes are a health food full of beta carotene, fiber, vitamins A and C, and potassium, according to the Mayo Clinic.
When you're tired of eating the same meals, try cooking with sweet potatoes. Here are 52 recipes, a new one for each week of the year, to help you add variety to your dinners.
1. Sweet Potato Tacos
Roasting sweet potato cubes with chipotle, cumin, and chili powder forms the base of these vegetarian tacos. Canned refried black beans are a premade, protein-packed addition. Don't skip the fresh lime juice, avocado slices, and cilantro on top.
Recipe: Smitten Kitchen
2. The Best Mashed Sweet Potatoes
The beauty of this mashed sweet potato recipe is its simplicity. You bake the potatoes low and slow in the oven so that the starches turn to sugars in a scientific process that's all explained above the recipe. Then you just mash them with browned butter, maple syrup, and thyme.
Recipe: Serious Eats
3. Smoked Chile Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
This dish from Bobby Flay has only four ingredients: sweet potatoes, cream, chipotle peppers, and salt. Even so, reviewers say it's delicious and worth making again. "I made a small batch of this in preparation for Thanksgiving to try it out first and it was delicious," said one reviewer. "I couldn't stop eating it. I made it again for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit."
Recipe: Food Network
4. Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash
Swap regular potatoes for sweet potatoes in your usual breakfast skillet for a healthful hack. This hash recipe also includes veggies like red bell pepper, kale, and onions, but you can use this as a fridge-cleaning recipe. Bacon is a welcome addition, but you can easily leave it out for a vegetarian version.
Recipe: Downshiftology
5. Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins
Sweet potato muffins are great for breakfast, snacks, or dessert. This is an easy version that uses self-rising flour so you have less ingredients to measure out. Chocolate chips, pecans, orange zest, or dried cranberries would all be great additions. Bonus: They freeze well for busy mornings.
Recipe: Taste of Home
6. Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Marshmallows
This recipe makes sweet potato casserole in individual servings. Cinnamon and maple syrup flavor the filling, plus there's plenty of butter for richness. Browning the marshmallows on top only takes a minute under the broiler.
Recipe: Food & Wine
7. Slow-Cooker Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Pecans
On Thanksgiving, we love using crock-pot recipes. They allow us to focus on other things while our food cooks. These candied sweet potato rounds maintain their shape and have a crunchy pecan topping sprinkled on them. Orange juice brightens up the flavor.
Recipe: Food Network
8. Sweet Potato Chowder
There's nothing better than a big steaming bowl of soup on a cold night, but chances are you've never had sweet potato chowder. This recipe includes tons of the orange beauties, plus pancetta, sage, garlic, and kale. Toasted pumpkin seeds make for a crunchy topping on this creamy soup.
Recipe: How Sweet Eats
9. Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
Hasselback potatoes are sliced thin, leaving the bottom intact. This creates a mix of crispy and soft textures when roasted. Butter and thyme flavor this simple side dish, with an easy and oniony yogurt-and-avocado spread for dipping or topping.
Recipe: Feel Good Foodie
10. Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Smoky and sweet is a perfect combination, so it makes total sense to grill sweet potatoes. Cut them one quarter-inch thick so they cook through without burning. They're seasoned simply with salt and pepper, but you can use your favorite seasonings, including chili powder, garlic, or cinnamon.
Recipe: Two Peas & Their Pod
11. Turkey Chili Smothered Sweet Potatoes
Put sweet potatoes and chili together, and you have the ultimate fall comfort food. Ground turkey and black beans make a hearty and protein-packed chili that you put together while the sweet potatoes are baking. Ladle that chili onto the split potatoes and top with plenty of cheddar cheese.
Recipe: Budget Bytes
12. Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
Save money by making your own sweet potato fries in an air fryer instead of buying expensive frozen ones. With garlic powder, paprika, and a 5-star rating from over 10,000 reviews, these are definitely better than frozen.
Recipe: Feel Good Foodie
13. Sweet Potato Pie
What kind of list would this be without sweet potato pie? This classic Southern recipe is flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. You can use your favorite pie crust recipe, or save some time with a frozen crust — it's the filling that everyone's after anyway. Whipped cream is a nice addition, but not necessary.
Recipe: AllRecipes
14. Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
Not a sweets person? This savory twist on a sweet potato casserole is for you. Instead of brown sugar and marshmallows, it's flavored with shallots, sage, and parmesan cheese. A buttery pecan and breadcrumb topping give it some crunch and texture without adding the typical sweetness.
Recipe: Southern Living
15. Sweet Potato 'Quesadillas'
Don't be afraid of the quotation marks in the recipe title. This is a vegan recipe that doesn't contain cheese, but the results are absolutely delicious in their own right. Mashed sweet potato, pickled jalapenos, cilantro, and green onions make up the creamy filling in these crispy tortilla pockets.
Recipe: Serious Eats
16. Oven-Fried Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans
Sheet pan supper recipes are a life saver. Put everything on a baking sheet, bake it, and a full meal is ready in around 30 minutes. Mustardy breaded pork chops are roasted along with cubed sweet potatoes, shallots, and green beans. A quick vinaigrette on the veggies at the end brightens up the whole meal.
Recipe: Southern Living
17. Chai-Spiced Sweet Potato Pancakes
Chai spices including cardamom, ginger, and cloves, gives these fluffy sweet potato pancakes a unique twist. Maple syrup and butter are traditional toppings, but adding sweetened condensed milk would make it taste like a chai latte.
Recipe: Ambitious Kitchen
18. BBQ Chicken Twice-Baked Potatoes
Not only are these twice-baked sweet potatoes filled with a chili powder-seasoned mash, but they're topped with barbecue chicken, too. Barbecue sauce and sweet potatoes complement each other very well, and a layer of melted gouda doesn't hurt either.
Recipe: Delish
19. Chorizo and Sweet Potato Enchiladas
There are surprisingly few ingredients in this recipe for enchiladas. Chopped sweet potatoes and poblano peppers are sautéed in a pan, then the chorizo is added so all the flavors mingle. Then just roll the filling in tortillas, top with homemade or canned enchilada sauce (we recommend Trader Joe's bottled version!) and bake.
Recipe: Budget Bytes
20. Crispy Sweet Potato Roast
For the most beautiful roasted sweet potatoes, thinly slice them, then arrange the slices vertically in an oval casserole dish. The tops will get nice and brown and crispy. Butter and shallot are the only other ingredients in this simple side dish, but some fresh thyme would be a great addition.
Recipe: Smitten Kitchen
21. Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Maple Glaze
Bundt cakes are back and better than ever. This sweet potato version with its golden hue is flavored delicately with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Creamy maple glaze runs down over the whole thing for a gorgeous finish.
Recipe: Orchids + Sweet Tea
22. Breakfast Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
This is an easy breakfast or brunch recipe that's a great excuse to eat potato skins in the morning. Eggs, breakfast sausage, tomato, and avocado are loaded into roast sweet potato skins before getting a blanket of cheddar.
Recipe: Damn Delicious
23. Creamy Thai Sweet Potato Curry
Thai curry is a great weeknight meal because it comes together faster than you think. Though the recipe links to a homemade curry paste, you can use Thai yellow curry paste from the supermarket instead. Coconut milk makes it creamy, and it only simmers long enough for the diced sweet potatoes to cook through.
Recipe: Pinch of Yum
24. Sweet Potato Crescent Bites
Mini-desserts are so adorable, and they're great if you like to set up a dessert bar buffet-style for the holidays. These sweet potato bites are like a teeny sweet potato casserole in their own Crescent Roll cups, complete with toasted marshmallows and pecans.
Recipe: Delish
25. Yummy Sweet Potato Casserole
With almost 4,000 ratings and 4.8 stars out of 5, this must be one of the most popular sweet potato casserole recipes on the internet. It's got no marshmallows — only a streusel-like topping studded with pecans. There's also no cinnamon, but a dash of vanilla helps the flavor of the sweet potatoes really shines.
Recipe: AllRecipes
26. Brown Butter Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Gnocchi is an Italian potato dumpling, so why not use sweet potatoes to make them? It gives them a beautiful orange color. These little pillows are bathed in a simple sauce with nutty brown butter, garlic, fresh sage, and parmesan.
Recipe: Damn Delicious
27. Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Mashed sweet potatoes make a fantastic topping for shepherd's (or cottage) pie, which normally includes mashed russets. This recipe has a rich filling of lamb, mushrooms, carrots, tomato paste, and rosemary. A little chili powder in the sweet potatoes gives them depth so they complement the filling.
Recipe: The Real Food Dietitians
28. Sweet Potato Bread Pudding with Pecan Praline Sauce
This sweet potato bread pudding recipe is served at Brigtsen's restaurant in New Orleans during the holidays, and it's rich and decadent. The potatoes are cooked with lemon and orange zest and juice for brightness, and it's a great way to use up stale French bread. Don't skip the caramel-like praline sauce.
Recipe: Eating Well
29. African Peanut Stew
Peanut stew is a popular West African dish that's often made with sweet potatoes, like this version. It's made with peanut butter, tomatoes, ginger, and coriander, plus veggies and meat (though you can leave it out for a vegan dish). Bonus: You can make this recipe in your Instant Pot or slow cooker as well.
Recipe: Cotter Crunch
30. Sweet Potato Cranberry Donuts
Believe it or not, there's a type of doughnut made with mashed potatoes, so it's not a big leap to use sweet potatoes instead. These are old-fashioned, yeast-risen doughnuts full of sweet potatoes and dried cranberries. Apple cider glaze keeps with the autumn theme.
Recipe: Taste of Home
31. Sweet Potato and Avocado Green Salad
Sometimes you just need a big bowl of greens, and roasted sweet potatoes can help bulk it up. This recipe also includes avocado as a creamy counterpart, plus a simple dressing made with tahini (sesame seed paste), lemon juice, and maple syrup.
Recipe: Minimalist Baker
32. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
Unlike meat-based chilis, vegan chilis like this one don't need to simmer for hours. Cumin and chipotle give this version tons of flavor and some smokiness, too. It freezes well, so make a big batch and have an easy dinner ready to go on a busy weeknight.
Recipe: Eating Well
33. Sweet Potato Waffles
Ground cardamom gives this waffle recipe an earthy, warm undertone that goes perfectly with the sweet potatoes. Pecans are folded into the waffle batter before cooking for extra crunch.
Recipe: Taste of Home
34. Sweet Potato Biscuits
Move over waffles, because sweet potato biscuits are just as amazing on a brunch table. Mashed sweet potatoes are folded into a cream biscuit dough and give it a fantastic golden color. But the best part of this recipe is the cinnamon sweet potato butter that they're brushed with straight out of the oven.
Recipe: Divas Can Cook
35. Sweet Potato Soup
There's nothing more comforting than a creamy, smooth bowl of soup. Sweet potatoes form the base of this one, with ginger, coriander, and smoked paprika as seasoning. Coconut milk makes it super creamy while also keeping it vegan (not to mention gluten-free).
Recipe: Love & Lemons
36. Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
Pork and sweet potatoes are a great combination, but they're even better when you add another fall favorite: apples. The beauty of this Instant Pot recipe is that the pork cooks on top of the other ingredients, which you then puree into a sweet potato mash to serve as a side dish.
Recipe: A Mind Full Mom
37. Sweet Potato Cornbread
Savory cornbread people, look away now! Sweet potato cornbread is rich, dense, and a little sweet thanks to the potatoes and brown sugar. Plus buttermilk makes just about any baked good recipe better, and this one's no exception. Serve it with a drizzle of honey or sorghum syrup for a super Southern touch.
Recipe: Butter Be Ready
38. Sweet Potato Pasta with Brussels Sprouts
This pasta recipe is fall on a plate. Sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, sage, and feta all are mixed into bowtie pasta. The best part is that this is a true one-pot meal: You cook the potatoes and the pasta in chicken broth at the same time.
Recipe: Well Plated By Erin
39. Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce with Spaghetti
For a totally different kind of sweet potato pasta, try this recipe. It's got a creamy, smooth sauce that clings to spaghetti like an alfredo, but it's much healthier for you. Though the recipe is vegan, you can substitute cream for the plant-based milk and parmesan cheese for the nutritional yeast if you like.
Recipe: Plant-Based on a Budget
40. Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
If the name of this recipe didn't already get you drooling, then we don't know what will. Sweet potato in the dough gives these buns a warm orange glow, while nutmeg and cloves in the filling build on the cinnamon. Plus there's maple cream cheese icing, if all that wasn't enough.
Recipe: Butter Be Ready
41. Chana Masala Cheese Fries
This Indian-American cuisine mashup is genius. Baked sweet potato fries serve as the base for chana masala, a chickpea stew. Then it gets a layer of melted cheese, plus a homemade, bright-green mint chutney for freshness. This recipe is a lot of work, "but it is worth every bit of effort," according to one reviewer who raved.
Recipe: Epicurious
42. Crispy Sweet Potato Latkes
Swap out regular potatoes for sweet potatoes in latkes and you've got a new unique dish. These are flavored with grated onion and garlic, and flour and an egg keep them together. Cinnamon yogurt is served on the side for dipping, but traditional sour cream or applesauce would work well, too.
Recipe: Cooking For Keeps
43. Sweet Potato Black Bean Bowls
Sweet potatoes go well in almost any kind of grain bowl. Black beans add protein to this one, and the sweet potatoes are roasted with Southwestern spices. They sit on a bed of brown rice along with kale, avocado, and a creamy, spicy chipotle-lime sauce.
Recipe: Skinnytaste
44. Sweet Potato Cheesecake
Forget pumpkin cheesecake this Thanksgiving and give sweet potato a try instead. A gingersnap crust gives the cheesecake a spicy base, while the cheesecake itself is only mildly seasoned with vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg so that the sweet potato shines through.
Recipe: Grandbaby Cakes
45. Sweet Potato Biscoff Pie Bars
Sweet potato pie gets a fun makeover in this bar recipe. It includes a Biscoff cookie-crumb crust — if you can't find them, use spice or gingersnap cookies instead. Sweetened condensed milk makes the sweet potato filling decadent and creamy.
Recipe: Curly Girl Kitchen
46. Sweet Potato Baked Oatmeal
Baked oatmeal is like a cross between porridge and cake: You can scoop it, or you can cut it into squares, especially once it's cooled. This version is sweetened with maple syrup and topped with nuts.
Recipe: Eating Bird Food
47. Cinnamon Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie
People put all kinds of things in smoothies now, so why not sweet potatoes? It's creamy, it's good for you, and most importantly, it tastes like liquid sweet potato pie.
Recipe: Ambitious Kitchen
48. Sweet Potato Stew
This simple Mediterranean-style stew is flavored with turmeric, Aleppo pepper, coriander, and cumin. You can cook it on the stove, in a slow cooker, or in an Instant Pot, and it's great over couscous or with some crusty bread.
Recipe: The Mediterranean Dish
49. Sweet Potato Salad
Not that far off from traditional American potato salad, this sweet potato variation includes bacon, celery, and corn. The dressing is tart and rich with mayo, relish, and a little Dijon mustard.
Recipe: Spend With Pennies
50. Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
There's plenty of cheese and cream in these scalloped sweet potatoes. The hardest part is slicing them — after that, you just pour the cheese-filled sauce over the top and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Recipe: Natasha's Kitchen
51. Honey-Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potato Skillet
Skillet-roasted chicken thighs and sweet potatoes brown beautifully in a cast iron pan. Honey and Italian seasoning create a glaze over everything, and pecans lend a nutty crunch.
Recipe: Creme de la Crumb
52. Instant Pot Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup
Sweet potatoes make up the bulk of this Tex-Mex soup, but don't skimp on the toppings: The crispy tortilla strips (or crushed chips!), avocado, cilantro, and queso fresco are the best part.
Recipe: Pinch of Yum