Topped with a sweet and savory rosemary cashew cream and a lemony broccoli salad, these twice baked sweet potatoes are totally irresistible.
These twice baked sweet potatoes are a complete departure from the sweet potatoes I ate growing up. Then, I only had them once a year at Thanksgiving, where they were layered into a casserole loaded with mini marshmallows. For years, I thought I didn’t like sweet potatoes. It turns out, that casserole was just too sweet for me! I actually love sweet potatoes, but not when they’re loaded with brown sugar and marshmallows.
These twice baked sweet potatoes are a perfect balance of sweet and savory. They take the potatoes’ natural sweetness and offset it with cozy, bright, and tangy flavors. Stuffed with a zesty broccoli salad and a luscious cashew cream, they’re super fresh, healthy, and delicious. I think you’re going to love them.
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
These twice baked sweet potatoes are at least twice as healthy as any twice baked potatoes I’ve eaten before. Instead of using regular baked potatoes, I opt for the nutrient-dense sweet potato. Then, instead of adding the usual sour cream or cream cheese, I fill the potatoes with all sorts of nourishing ingredients:
- A steamed broccoli salad – Dressed with garlic, olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and scallions, it’s bright, tangy, and fresh.
- Sweet potato-rosemary cashew cream – This. Sauce! I make it by blending some of the baked mashed sweet potatoes with cashews, rosemary, and lemon. It’s sweet, savory, cozy, and rich. You’ll love it in this recipe, but you might find yourself drizzling it over everything else, too!
- Hemp seeds – They add a nice crunch.
- Fresh parsley – A fresh finishing touch.
- And a sprinkle of cheddar cheese – This is one of those recipes where the cheese is optional or not optional, depending on your preference. The creamy 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!”
These components are healthy, but that doesn’t mean they’re not delicious. Together, they create an irresistible balance of rich, fresh, bright, and zesty flavors.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
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 they’re tender, about 45 minutes.
- When they’re cool enough to handle, slice them in half, and scoop out a tablespoon of the flesh from each half to make room for the filling.
- Blend the potato flesh with cashews, rosemary, lemon, garlic, and water to make the luscious cashew cream.
- Toss together your broccoli filling!
- Next, it’s time for your second bake. Layer the sweet potato shells with the cashew sauce, broccoli filling, and other toppings.
- Finally, bake until the cheese is melted, and serve with extra sauce on the side!
Serving Suggestions
These healthy twice baked sweet potatoes would be a great side dish for any holiday meal, along with classic recipes like roasted beets, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, or any of these holiday side dishes.
Special occasions aside, these twice baked sweet potatoes make a great everyday main course. They’re excellent paired with a hearty salad or soup. Try serving them with any of these recipes:
- Rainbow Kale Salad
- Farmhouse Farro Salad
- Roasted Beet Salad
- Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad with Cranberries
- Caesar Salad
- Roasted Cauliflower Soup
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Many-Veggie Vegetable Soup
Find more salad ideas here and more soup recipes here!
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
- 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
- â…“ 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, and 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 and 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).
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Could you use roasted cashews instead of raw?
This was absolutely delicious!! Can’t wait to make this one again. The hubs finished his plate faster than anyone else and we all practically licked the plates clean. The sauce is the star and does it’s part to really elevate the sweet potato and broccolini.
This was SO good! Great idea with the cashew sauce! Thank you
Can I just replace the cashews with plain yogurt? I’m not vegan and need a faster way! Thanks.
Hi McKena, I think that could work well! We haven’t tested it ourselves though, so I can’t say for sure.
Thank you, I will try it out and report back. 🙂
I just tried making it with yogurt! It taste delicious but I suspect it does make for a runnier sauce than if you used cashew. I would start with less water and add as needed if using yogurt! Cant wait to devour these
Made these for a dinner party and they were excellent! The left over cashew cream pairs wonderfully with Good Thins sea salt & pepper rice crackers. Yum!!
Thank you so much for the healthy and very tasty recipe. ?
I’m so glad they were a hit!
Recently discovered your site and this is the fourth recipe that I have made in the past few weeks! Absolutely loved it. Thanks for creating such tasty dishes. My family loves them for Sunday night dinners!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes!
Any recommendations on how to use the left over cashew sauce ?
Hi Natalie, it would be great on pasta (if it’s thick, thin it out with a little pasta water). If there’s only a little left, we like to dip crackers into it. Hope that helps!
Any suggestions on how to make this ahead of time? Is it possible? Thanks!
I’m all for cashews, but I would love a good recipe for ‘cream’ using a super healthy, omega-3 fat nut/seed like hemp!! Or even walnuts.
Hi Tabitha, you can use walnuts in this recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/cashew-cream/
I haven’t tried it with hemp seeds. Here’s a similar recipe that uses sunflower seeds: https://www.loveandlemons.com/heirloom-tomato-suncheese-toasts/
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.
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.
I can tell this is one of those dishes that’s so much more fun and complex flavor-wise than it seems.
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 🙂
What would you substitute for cashews for those with nut allergies? 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Lavanya, you can use raw sunflower seeds!
Yes! I was wondering the same thing. Cant wait to try. Thanks. 🙂
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).