Go Back
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Shallots
Print Pin

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Shallots

Ingredients

  • 1 to 1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (1 large or 2 medium)
  • 3 to 4 shallots, peeled, ends trimmed and halved lengthwise
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (see Kitchen Notes)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (see Kitchen Notes)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Place in a 9×13-inch glass baking dish. Add shallots and garlic to baking dish and drizzle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss gently with a wooden spoon to avoid breaking up shallots. Season generously with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Toss gently again to spread seasonings more or less evenly.
  • Place baking dish on middle rack in oven and roast 40 to 55 minutes, stirring gently a couple of times during the roasting, until sweet potatoes are tender and slightly browned.
  • The sweet potatoes may absorb a bit of the olive oil and appear to be drying out—just drizzle with some more oil before tossing them. The shallots may brown even more than the sweet potatoes, and the chopped garlic will almost certainly blacken. That’s okay—all will be delicious. If your sweet potatoes were refrigerated before roasting, as mine were, you will probably need the full 55 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

Rosemary—keep it fresh. I’m a frequent user of dried herbs, especially in winter. But this dish demands fresh rosemary. Even though the needles dry during roasting, they’re not as stiff and tough as dried rosemary. And while I often chop fresh rosemary when I cook with it, I left them whole here. Paired with the chunks of sweet potatoes and halved shallots, they work better visually that way, I think. The act of plucking them from the sprigs sufficiently bruises them to better impart their flavor.
Cayenne pepper—how spicy do you like it? We don’t go crazy with spicy foods, but we like them to have a little kick. I used 1/2 teaspoon when I made this dish, which gave it some authority, as I like to say. Depending on your own tolerance levels for heat, use less or more. But unless you’re totally heat averse, don’t skip the cayenne pepper. It adds another dimension to an already interesting dish.