Back in college when I first started incorporating more vegetables in to my life, my go-to vegetable was broccoli. I’d throw it on everything – broccoli on pizza, broccoli in pasta, broccoli in stir fry. Then one day the world went crazy for kale, and broccoli got left behind. It’s so humble and hearty, yet folks always seem to forget about it. It’s not winning awards for the trendiest vegetable, but who knows? Maybe 2017 will be its year in the spotlight? I’m kicking it off with these delicious Broccoli-Stuffed Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes.
I love this twice baked sweet potato recipe because it’s at least twice as healthy as any version I’ve eaten before. Instead of using a regular baked potato, I opt for the nutrient-dense sweet potato and fill it with broccoli! I make a creamy cashew sauce by blending some of the baked sweet potato mash with cashews and rosemary. Before I bake it all again, I lightly steam the broccoli and toss it with lemon, Dijon mustard, and scallions. And more of that creamy sweet potato sauce goes on top.
How to Make Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
If you’ve never made twice baked sweet potatoes before, they’re not tricky, but they do take some time to prepare. They’re “twice-baked” because the first step is always baking the sweet potatoes. Then, you slice them open, scoop out some of the flesh, stuff them with fillings, and bake them again! In this recipe, this process goes something like this:
- Bake the sweet potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes.
- Slice them in half, and scoop out a tablespoon of the flesh from each half to make room for the filling.
- Blend the scooped flesh with cashews, rosemary, lemon, garlic, and water to make the luscious cashew cream.
- Toss together your broccoli filling! It’s a tasty mix of steamed broccoli, scallions, lemon, and Dijon mustard.
- You’re ready for your second bake! Layer each sweet potato half with the cashew sauce, broccoli filling, and grated cheddar cheese. (I also added some hemp seeds to mine for crunch.)
- Bake until the cheese is melted, and serve with extra sauce on the side!
This is one of those recipes where the cheese is optional or not optional, depending on your preference. The creamy sweet potato/rosemary cashew filling is so delicious that the cheese isn’t necessary for flavor. But if you ask my husband Jack if he wants cheese on anything, his answer will always be “yes, please more cheese!”
What to Serve with Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
These healthy twice baked sweet potatoes would be a great side dish for any holiday meal, along with classic recipes like roasted beets, lemony green beans, mashed potatoes, and cornbread stuffing.
We also love them as a main course on regular fall and winter nights. They’re excellent paired with a hearty salad. Try serving them with any of these recipes:
- Rainbow Kale Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing
- Farmhouse Farro Salad
- Roasted Beet Salad
- Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad with Cranberries
- A Spiced-Up Fall Squash Salad
They’re also delicious with a warming bowl of soup. Try this roasted cauliflower soup, this lentil soup, this wild rice soup, or this corn chowder.
If you love these twice baked sweet potatoes…
Try some more of my favorite sweet potato recipes like these sweet potato fries, these stuffed sweet potatoes, or my vegan chocolate cake with sweet potato frosting!
- 4 medium sweet potatoes
- 4 cups small broccoli florets
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ⅓ cup chopped scallions
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, optional
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
- ½ cup chopped parsley and/or microgreens
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup sweet potato mash
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked 4+ hours & drained
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pierce the sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place them on the baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, or until tender. Slice in half and scoop out a tablespoon of mash from each half to make room for the filling, ½ cup total. (Use this for the Sweet Potato Cashew Cream.)
- Make the Sweet Potato Cashew Cream: In a high-speed blender, combine the water, sweet potato mash, cashews, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Steam the broccoli in a steamer for 5 minutes or until just tender but still bright green.
- In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and scallions and stir. Add the steamed broccoli, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and toss to coat.
- Fill each potato half with a scoop of the cashew cream, some of the cheddar cheese (if using), the broccoli mixture, more cheese, scallions and sprinkle with the hemp seeds. Bake for 10 more minutes or until the cheese is melted. Garnish with the parsley and/or microgreens and serve with the remaining cashew sauce for drizzling. (tip: if your cashew sauce is too thick to drizzle, stir in a little bit of water until it's a thinner consistency).
This is definitely one to favourite and come back to later. I am eating so many sweet potatoes at the minute, so any way to change it up is so so needed
– Natalie
http://www.workovereasy.com
Officially found my contribution to the family Thanksgiving feast this year. Ill shoot you a shoutout when I post it on Yobored.com and make all my friends jealous.
Ha, let me know how you all like it! Happy Thanksgiving!
We are big fans of sweet potatoes, especially mashed. On an excessive day like Thanksgiving, with so many dishes on offer, it’s hard to eat a whole half of one. They’re big! This looks like a hearty side dish or a light dinner unto itself.
BTW, broccoli is not only delicious but full of calcium.
I love eating Broccoli and Sweet Potato. The dish and its recipe is quite outstanding. The dish is healthy and tasty. The pictures of the dish telling story of the cooking itself. Thanks for providing the info. I will make it and enjoy it. The combination of the two main vegetable is really superb.
Kashish Food, Pulses importer in Auckland New Zealand wishes you best complements.
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I love so much broccoli and sweet potatoes ! I think this recipe is for me 🙂
I’m a complete broccoli fan!! I love the sound of recipe, I must give it a try!
Rachael xx.
http://theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk/
Wow, I can tell this is one of those dishes that’s so much more fun and complex flavor-wise than it seems. Really clever recipe Jeanine. 😉 Must try!!
Absolutely excellent one, definitely will try this one this weekend. Hopefully the kids will be vrave enough to try it too (:
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Very creative sweet potato mash-cashew cream! This looks wonderful and a nice post-thanksgiving healthy boost! thank you!
I’ll take sweet potato anything! This is way beyond stunning
I’m wondering if one could use cashew butter as a shortcut for both the soaking and the blending….would that work? Thanks!
If it were raw, unsalted cashew butter that could work (so that it doesn’t taste like cashews in the end). I’m not sure of the ratio – you’d still want to add some water and blend it to be creamy.
im wondering about the knitted pot holder/trivet under the pan. did you do it? what is the fiber? i love how it looks cotton-ish but super thick.
I got it in Norway, the brand says “kid” and the fabric says “bomull” (which I think means cotton?).
thanks muches!
This looks great and super good for me too. I think I will whip them up with the wild salmon my husband ( a chef) caught on a fishing trip in the Pacific Northwest.
This looks really good! Now I know what to do with the broccoli and sweet potatoes in my kitchen 🙂
I’m so excited to make this, saving it now! My mom and I use your cookbook for everything 🙂
Wow… nice recipe wanna try this one too. I hope i can make it. Thanks
What a delicious recipe!
Thank you. I tried it with white potatoes as well. It’s amazing both ways.
Lisa
As much as I really do love kale, I haven’t abandoned broccoli or all the other lovely veggies of the world. I love how you paired the broccoli with a baked sweet potato and the sweet potato cashew cream, oh my. Lately, I’ve been adding cashew cream to almost everything, but never thought to mix in some sweet potato, genius, my wheels are turning now thinking of all the other possible add ins, yum….
Two favorites broccoli and sweet potatoes!!!
What an awesome combination!
Peggy
Since i made sweet potatoes soup, im totally in love. definitely must try this!
Your sauces cashew always look AMAZINGLY creamy and perfect. Even with a Vitamix I can’t quite recreate. I would love to see a video of you making your blender sauces! I feel like I’m missing something. xoxo
Hi Heather – ok I’ll keep that in mind if we do more videos! In the Vitamix, I just blend until it’s really really smooth – add a little extra water if you would like the consistency a little thinner. To get the cashew sauce to drizzle at the end, I just stirred in extra water until it’s a drizzle-able consistency. Hope that helps!
I find that boiling the cashews for a few minutes gets them even softer than soaking them (plus it’s much quicker in a pinch).
What would you substitute for cashews for those with nut allergies? 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Lavanya, you can use raw sunflower seeds!
Do you think you could freeze this recipe before adding the scallions/hemp hearts and bake the day of?
hmm, I’m really not sure. My only concern would be that the broccoli on top would burn by the time the inside of the sweet potatoes thawed/cooked. Let me know if you give it a go 🙂
I can tell this is one of those dishes that’s so much more fun and complex flavor-wise than it seems.
I absolutely love this recipe. It has become one of our staples! My husband is obsessed with the cashew cream sauce and we have used it on multiple other dishes. We leave out the cheese to make it vegan and it is still hearty and delicious. It’s excellent to prepare ahead of time and heat up at work as well.
Oh my goodness this is amazing!! When I first tasted the cashew cream I looked around my empty kitchen and ended up telling the dog that it was soooooo good because I just had to say it out loud! This will definitely be a recipe I save because it’s an easy, delicious vegan meal that is really filling. Thank you SO much for posting this! 🙂 Just a side note: If you have a Vitamix, you don’t really have to soak the cashews first. I ended up soaking them just while the potatoes cooked and it came out perfect.