Breakfast Sweet Potatoes

These breakfast sweet potatoes are savory and deceptively fancy looking yet simple to prepare. This recipe works great for two but is very scalable for holiday guests and big brunches. We used small sweet potatoes (really, garnet yams) and a batch of Paleo Granola the night before. In the morning, scrubbing and laying the potatoes out took minutes, brushing the parchment with some of the oil as well as the potatoes on the cut and the skin sides.

Once the potatoes were in the oven, the spices were measured into a small bowl and, to keep the nutmeg from being too dominant, I used fluffy freshly grated nutmeg which is NOT compacted to measure. I added the maple syrup and stirred to make a well-mixed slurry before adding the yogurt and then thoroughly blending with the spatula. The ginger and other spices came thru nicely and complemented the seed and nut granola. This could easily work with cashew cream to keep vegan if preferred. A small drizzle of the spiced yogurt means you will have some left for another batch of these breakfast potatoes or maybe for use on sliced apples, persimmons, or fall pies. Loved the slightly savory but sweet balance of this meal. It is a winner.

What a lovely way to start the day! The sweet potatoes are warm and comforting as they gently slump on the plate, the spices from the yogurt waft up from the heat of the potato and give you hints of the sugar and spice and everything nice that you are about to enjoy, and the granola adds a nice crunchy contrast to top it all off. Not only was this recipe simple enough to throw together even on a bleary-eyed morning, you could make it even easier by mixing the yogurt the night before and then just slide the potatoes in the oven the next day while you make the coffee and set the table. This would be easy to scale up to feed a crowd and the bright orange colour from the sweet potatoes was like bringing a platter of sunshine to the breakfast table.

These sweet potatoes are calling out to brunches everywhere! I’d like mine with a cup of hot apple cider, but they’d work equally well paired with hot tea or coffee.

I used a fruity and nutty granola to add some chewy to the soft and tender potato; if using a crisp granola, rather than a chewy granola, I wonder if the addition of some dates or raisins might be enticing for added texture? And, if you use organic sweet potatoes, eat those skins!

My potatoes baked for 23 minutes. Instead of the yogurt, I used a local thick kefir, made with whole milk from grass fed cows on two small Amish farms and it was just as perfect as the yogurt would have been! A thick Greek yogurt could also be ideal here.

One whole potato is a nice light but full serving; if used as part of a brunch, one half per person would be the correct portioning. Lastly, a quick word of advice to watch out for the nutmeg, and measure extra carefully, as it could easily overtake the yogurt mix. Right now, it is teetering right on the edge, and, when I make this again, I will err just slightly shy of the nutmeg measurement, while keeping all the rest of the ingredient measurements the same.

These sweet potatoes were actually easy to make and quite tasty. I liked the flavor generally, although there is a lot of nutmeg. This can be adjusted to taste.

You can make less of the sauce or you can use it later on fruit and granola for another breakfast. I also think you can add more granola. I’d also roast the sweet potatoes the evening before and then re-heat for breakfast.