Loaded Sweet Potatoes With Marshmallows
These loaded sweet potatoes are the perfect treat and Southern side dish to serve this holiday season, thanks to the caramelized brown sugar, butter, and toasted gooey marshmallow topping.
If you’re a fan of my sweet potato casserole recipe with marshmallows, you’re going to love these loaded sweet potatoes! There’s basically a mini casserole (how good does that sound?). These loaded sweet potatoes are easy to make and stuffed with so much sweet goodness, I know you’ll be making them not just around Thanksgiving (they’re just that good). The tender twice-baked sweet potatoes are loaded with cinnamon, melted butter, brown sugar, and toasty marshmallows.
I mean, what’s not to love about a piece of food that counts as a vegetable but tastes like a treat? Even without the sweetness of the added toppings, I love me some sweet potato recipes! If you do as well, check out my vegan sweet potato cake with maple cashew icing, easy candied sweet potatoes, sweet potato bread with cinnamon swirl, and sweet potato pie (Southern Plate-style).
Plus, if you keep reading, I’m going to show you the easy foolproof way to bake a sweet potato so it’s perfectly done. This means it’s soft, tender, and fluffy as well.
Recipe Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes
- Butter (I used unsalted butter)
- Brown sugar (either dark or light brown sugar, whatever you have on hand)
- Cinnamon
- Marshmallows
Place sweet potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet.
You can skip the aluminum foil if you want but it will mean some cleanup later as sweet potatoes often weep a sticky liquid onto your baking dish while cooking.
Now for the baking part. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 and bake for an additional 60 minutes.
These are how they will look when done.
Slice each baked potato open at the top. I just use a butter knife or whatever I grab first.
They are soft at this point so a butter knife will do.
Use a dish towel so you don’t burn yourself or cover your hand with an oven mitt and grab hold of the sweet potato and push both of the ends together towards the center, which causes it to open up like in the picture above.
Add butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to each baked sweet potato, according to taste. I do about a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in each one.
Now, they are ready to serve UNLESS you want to top each with toasted marshmallow goodness! You know you wanna… (or at least I want you to).
Top with mini marshmallows.
Return to oven until marshmallows are toasted.
Voila! Our perfect loaded sweet potatoes!
These make a great simple Thanksgiving side dish but I like them any time I can get them!
Storage
I don’t recommend freezing leftovers. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the air fryer or in the oven to toast the marshmallows again.
Recipe Notes
- It’s a totally personal preference when it comes to baking your sweet potatoes. I don’t do anything to mine, but if you like, feel free to poke holes in your sweet potatoes, drizzle them with olive oil, or wrap them in foil prior to baking.
- If you want to brown your marshmallows faster, turn the broiler on low and keep a close eye on it. If you’ve never cooked anything under your broiler you need to know that it can go from just fine to burned beyond recognition in a matter of minutes. So stay right there and keep an eyeball on it. My mother usually cracks her oven door open a little and watches.
- For additional spice, add a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg to each loaded sweet potato.
- You can also add a sprinkle of chopped pecans before you add the mini marshmallows.
- Another option is to drizzle the sweet potatoes with before
Recipe FAQs
Can I make the loaded sweet potatoes in advance?
Yes, you can store your stuffed sweet potatoes covered in the fridge overnight. Return them to room temperature before topping them with marshmallows and baking as per the recipe instructions.
Does the cooking time change if I bake more sweet potatoes?
No, the cooking time shouldn’t change no matter the number of sweet potatoes.
Should I use yams or sweet potatoes?
I prefer the rounder ones that fill up my palm like the picture above. Sometimes, though, all you can find are the skinny ones and if that is what you have, they’ll do just fine.
Some people (and stores) refer to these as yams, which is an entirely different vegetable altogether. You’d be hard-pressed to find a true yam in the United States. Yams are from Africa and can grow up to three feet in length. They aren’t even related to the sweet potato but when Africans arrived (against their will) in the American South and saw the sweet potato could be cooked in the same manner as they cooked yams, that is what they began calling it, which makes perfect sense, and this caught on.
Why do I call it a sweet potato? Well, for two reasons. 1. That’s what it is. 2. That is what my mother called it. Having said that, though, if you grew up calling them yams, keep on doing your thing!
Here are some more Thanksgiving favorites:
Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- sweet potatoes
For each potato:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Wash sweet potatoes. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 60 minutes.sweet potatoes
- Cut a slit down the center of each potato. Using an oven mitt, press in on both ends of the potato at the same time, pushing towards the center to puff up the potato. Fill each one with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Top with a handful of marshmallows.1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
- Return potatoes to oven until marshmallows are browned and puffed up, about five minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Another great way to top a sweet potato is just like a loaded baker. Butter, bacon crumbles, cheese and sour cream. Delish!
Made them. They were PERFECT! Just like a restaurant.
I am so glad you liked them!! Thank you for giving them a try 🙂
I love you so much. now I have started a pinterest board for your non food and non children’s book videos. (I have boards for those 2 as well.) Anyway, I like tangents too, I love sweet potatoes and encourage folks to eat a serving every other day. They are so good for you. I cook up enough to have all week then keep them in the fridge to reheat in the microwave or toaster oven later.
Thank you. Barbara, I love you too!!
I’m going to try your way because it’s easier then reaching in the oven to see if they are squishy. However, my Momma eats hers with maple syrup and butter. I picked up my way at a restaurant that did them an odd way, but it’s my current favorite. I use the brown sugar and just a smidge of chili powder. I mean I literally take a pinch of chili powder and then sprinkle it over my tater as I rub my fingers together. If you like chili powder, you may want more. Sometimes I just to brown sugar and cinnamon. So many ways to enjoy sweet potatoes! Thanks for sharing yours.
So today I’m playing catch up…wanting to give you feedback on all the recipes I’ve tried here. This one goes back to serving for Thanksgiving. Instead of my usual sweet potato casserole I thought it would be nice to change it up a little. I usually bake my sweet potatoes for the casserole in the microwave, but after doing these in the oven I’ll never do them in the microwave again. They have a much better texture and flavor baking them in the oven, it just requires a little more planning. These individual servings are perfect to make for any size gathering and I will definitely be making these again!