Try some of these time-tested recipes

You'll need

• 4 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 Tbsp neutral oil
• Coarse salt
• Butter, to finish

How to make it

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and line a sheet pan with foil — the sugars will run out and burn onto the pan otherwise.
2. Prick each potato four or five times with a fork. Rub with oil and a good pinch of salt.
3. Bake 50–60 minutes, until a knife slides in with no resistance and syrup is bubbling at the pricks. Don't pull them early; that last 10 minutes is where the sweetness comes from.
4. Split lengthwise, fluff with a fork, and add butter and salt while it's still steaming.

Tip: skip the foil wrap. Wrapping steams them; baking them bare gives you that concentrated, candy-like edge.

You'll need

• 3 lb sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch rounds
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 6 Tbsp butter, cut up
• 1/3 cup water or orange juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

How to make it

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×13 baking dish and lay the rounds in, overlapping.
2. In a saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar, water, spices and salt. Simmer 2–3 minutes until it's a smooth syrup, then stir in the vanilla.
3. Pour the syrup over the potatoes. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes.
4. Uncover, baste with the syrup from the bottom of the dish, and bake another 20 minutes until the tops are glazed and the syrup has thickened.
5. Let them sit 10 minutes before serving — the glaze sets up as it cools.

You'll need

• 3 Murasaki sweet potatoes, skin on, cut into wedges
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and black pepper
• Fresh rosemary or thyme

How to make it

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the wedges with oil, paprika, salt and pepper until every piece is coated.
2. Spread on a sheet pan in a single layer, cut side down, with space between them. Crowding steams them.
3. Roast 20 minutes, flip, then add the garlic and herbs and roast 12–15 minutes more.
4. They're done when the edges are deep golden and crisp. Murasaki is drier than an orange sweet, so it crisps beautifully — watch it closely at the end.

Filling

• 4 lb sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk or cream
• 2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp salt

Crumble

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4 Tbsp cold butter

How to make it

1. Bake the sweet potatoes whole at 400°F until soft, about an hour. Baking rather than boiling keeps the flavor concentrated instead of watering it down.
2. Scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash. Beat in the butter, brown sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla and salt until smooth.
3. Spread into a buttered 9×13 dish.
4. Rub the crumble ingredients together with your fingers until it clumps, then scatter it over the top.
5. Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes, until set in the middle and the pecans are toasted.

You'll need

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
• 2 cups mashed baked sweet potato (about 2 lb raw)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt

How to make it

1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk the mashed sweet potato with the sugar, butter and eggs until completely smooth — no strings, no lumps. Run it through a sieve if you want it silky.
3. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, spices and salt.
4. Pour into the shell and bake 50–55 minutes. The edges should be set with a slight wobble left in the center; it firms up as it cools.
5. Cool completely before slicing. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream.

You'll need

• 2 lb sweet potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch sticks
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Pinch of cayenne

How to make it

1. Soak the cut fries in cold water for 30 minutes, then dry them thoroughly. Wet fries steam; dry fries crisp.
2. Toss with the cornstarch until lightly coated, then with the oil and seasonings.
3. Spread on two sheet pans with room between the fries. Two pans, not one — crowding is the whole reason oven fries go soggy.
4. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, flip, and bake 12–15 minutes more until browned at the edges.
5. Salt again straight out of the oven and eat them immediately.