This smashed sweet potato recipe is absolutely mind-blowing! The sweet potato rounds are the perfect balance of tender and crispy, and the aioli on top rounds everything out.
Given the choice, I’d choose sweet potatoes over regular potatoes 9 times out of 10. They’ve got so much more going for them – more flavorful, more colorful, and more nutritious – all things that you probably already know. Just like their colorless brethren, they can be delicious in so many different preparations.
The best white potato I’ve ever eaten was a smashed one. Boiled, smashed, seasoned with savory garlic and spices, and oven-roasted to crisp perfection. When those smashed potatoes haunted me in food-vision last week, I only had sweet potatoes on hand and that was fine by me.
My logic was simple behind this recipe: If you can do it with a regular potato, you can do it with a sweet potato. And as it turns out, you can. The preparation and cook time is slightly different and so is the end result of my smashed sweet potato recipe.
While your smashed sweet potatoes are roasting, you have plenty of time to make the aioli that is going to blow your mind. Now, before you get scared off by the word “aioli,” I’ll share a secret with you. We had never made an aioli or even tried to make one before this recipe. It took 1 attempt, 1 bowl, 4 ingredients, and 1 blender. And what we ended up with was a decadent, creamy, sauce that tastes a little bit like crack.
Just a quick note for blending the aioli – you can use a regular blender, but I found it much easier to use an immersion blender in this instance. If you have one, definitely use it! If not, you can find one on Amazon for relatively cheap.
Drizzle and dip at your own risk – this aioli can make an addict out of anyone.
How to Make Savory Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Lemon Garlic Aioli
Savory Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Lemon Garlic Aioli
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into 3/4" cylinders.
- Heat a large pot of water until boiling.
- Carefully dump the sweet potatoes into the water and allow them to boil for 20-30 minutes, under they are very tender.
- Preheat the oven to 415º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or oiled aluminum foil.
- Drain the sweet potatoes and allow them to cool for a couple of minutes.
- One at a time, place the sweet potatoes on the baking sheet and use a fork to gently smash them, keeping them mostly intact. You want them to spread out just a little bit because it will allow the edges to crisp.
- When you've smashed all of the potatoes, lightly drizzle oil over each one, sprinkle minced garlic, sea salt, and pepper.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for 15-20 more minutes. The edges with start to brown and look crispy – that's when they're done!
- Remove and allow to cool, garnish with fresh chives and serve with this garlic-lemon aioli for maximum flavor impact.
- In a high speed blender, combine garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks (or aquafaba). Mix on a medium speed until well combined.
- Slowly pour olive oil through the hole in the blender lid. Continue blending until the aioli becomes creamy and slightly fluffy.
- Combine garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks in a bowl, then blend.
- Slowly pour in olive oil while blending on high. Continue blending and moving the blender around until the consistency is creamy and slightly fluffy.
I screwed up and didn’t drizzle the olive oil in, so didn’t thicken at all and i find this way too lemony sour. I added a tsp of honey and tbsp of mayo. Still sour but it should be ok over the sweetness of the potatoes.
How long does the aioli keep in the fridge? Can you freeze it? Very tasty
Hi Debbie! The aioli should keep for 10-14 days in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend freezing it – with the fat content, I doubt it would thaw well and still taste good.
I’m just wondering how safe are the raw egg yolks in the recipe…it sounds awesome but I’m afraid of raw egg yolks..thank you,Debra
Hi Debra –
I totally understand where you’re coming from. Aioli is a pretty common condiment, though, and I’ve never had any issues with it. You could certainly make the sweet potatoes without the sauce!
You can also use aquafaba instead of egg in aioli. It is how I make vegan aioli. Use about 1/4 cup. I used the aquafaba from a can of chickpeas.
Good to know! Thank you. :)
Made these last night for a dinner party and they were delish. One word of caution: as the recipe says, boil the potatoes until they’re **very** tender. Mine were not quite soft enough and tended to break apart when pressed. But still really good. And the aioli–fabulous indeed. This stuff would be tasty on pretty much anything. Thanks for this lovely recipe!
Would it work to make the aioli ahead of time and store in fridge until il time I o serve?
That should be just fine! It may thicken in the fridge – if so, just stir and/or add a bit of oil.
I feel really dumb, but what exactly is a 3/4″ cylinder? 3/4″ around? Or tall? How do you chop them into this shape? I’m sorry, I’m m just not picturing it. Please advise.
There are no dumb questions! Perhaps I just didn’t explain it very well. You just cut the potato horizontally, into rounds that are about 3/4″ thick. Here’s a picture to help –– sweet potato rounds.
think you could freeze these??
That is a great question! I would assume you could freeze them. I mean, they sell frozen sweet potato fries at the grocery store and those always taste fantastic… so why not?!
what does cylinders mean and how do they turn into little rounds??
Hi Leda –
Instead of chopping lengthwise, or into cubes, just slice rounds out of the potatoes. Hope that helps!
Jordan & Clark!!!
first of all…great job!! looks delicious, sounds delicious and, sure, its delicious!!
Jus leave an advise or “tip”… you can emulsify about 20lit (cant remember exactly the number, but close to that) of oil just with one egg yolk; that means, with less than half egg yolk you´ll have more than enougth to emulsify the amount of oil you want. The taste will be almost the same and the animal proteine will be much more balanced.
Keep doing this “tasty” blog!!! All my support from Spain!!
Best!
How many servings does this make? I’m plugging this into my Fitness Plan
Hi Jillian –
Depending on the size of your sweet potatoes, the amount of smashed potatoes will vary. We ended up with 16! Hope this helps. :)
This looks so amazing! Wish I had these for dinner!
This looks amazing! Question though, do you have any idea of what we can substitute for the eggs in the aioli? Hubby is allergic :(
Hi Emily –
I would just try to make the aioli without the eggs, just omitting them. The consistency will be slightly different but it will still taste great with the sweet potatoes!
Would mayo work to replace the eggs? I’d use vegan mayo, btw. Thanks
Hi Angelica – You could certainly try! I haven’t ever attempted it that way, but I would probably try about 1/4-1/3 cup of vegan mayo because that’s about the quantity of the two egg yolks.
Any concerns over the raw eggs in the aioli?
Hi Lee –
There should be nothing to worry about, as long as the sauce is not allowed to set out for a long period of time. Hope that helps!
Can u make aioli ahed of time?
Hi Jess –
Sure you can! It will stay good in the fridge for about 3-5 days.
Love this creative idea! We just got some sweet potatoes and we can’t wait to try this tonight. Thanks!
Hi Megan –
Hope you enjoyed the sweet potatoes! This is definitely a tasty way to prepare them. :)
Can’t wait to try this recipe
This looks delish!
They were SO good. You have to try them! ;)