When life gets busy, my crockpot comes out of the closet a lot more. In fact, it stays out on my kitchen counter for weeks at a time during the school year. Not only is it perfect for slow cooking soups, chilies and stews, but it is also great for baking potatoes. I’ve been baking all sorts of potatoes in my slow cooker, including sweet potatoes, and each time, they’ve come out great. You just have to plan ahead.
Crockpot Stuffed Baked Japanese Sweet Potato with Scallions and Cilantro
Of course, you can simply bake sweet potatoes in the oven, which take an hour, but there are days when I’m driving the kids around and it’s just so much easier to stick potatoes in my crockpot and know that they will be ready for dinner since the crockpot will keep the potatoes warm without overcooking them up until dinnertime.
I found a trick recently in one of my Chinese cookbooks that suggests soaking the potatoes in salt water for 30 minutes before baking. Since I love experimenting, I decided to try this method to see if it really made any difference. Pre-soaking potatoes in this salt solution is supposed to reduce the baking time and enhance the flavor of the potatoes. Another interesting note was that baking potatoes without wrapping them in aluminum foil increases their aroma.
Crockpot Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato with Cheese
I tried both pre-soaking the potatoes in the salt solution before baking as well as just baking them without pre-soaking them. I have to say it is hard to say whether or not this method made any difference in the flavor or in the cooking time, but it was fun to try it.
As I noted in a recent post, sweet potatoes are packed with vitamin A and fiber, so I’ve been trying to get my kids to eat more sweet potatoes as fries, in hash browns, and in almost any form I can.
Crockpot Stuffed Baked Sweet Potato with Chicken Chili
Last week, I served these Crockpot Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes topped with Chicken Vegetable Chili (recipe forthcoming). At first, my kids’ reaction was, “Why are you serving chili with a sweet potato instead of the regular potato?” Of course, they know me by now, so it must have something to do with eating more healthy. Right they are.
This week on Food Network’s Summer Fest, a group of talented bloggers are featuring farm fresh recipes using Potatoes that are in season. Each week, recipes using farm fresh produce will be featured on the Food Network website along with recipes by a group of fabulous food bloggers.
Be sure to check out the following recipes from all my friends participating in this week’s Summer Fest!
Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Crock-Pot Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes
Feed Me Phoebe: Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad With Almond-Chive Pesto
Dishin & Dishes: Roasted Potato Salad
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Shakin’ Hash Browns
Made By Michelle: Sweet Potato Macaroni and Cheese
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Red Chile Breakfast Potatoes
Virtually Homemade: Potato Onion Bread With Poppy Seeds
Sweet Life Bake: Tacos de Papa Potato (Potato Tacos)
From My Corner of Saratoga: Easy Crispy Fried Potatoes
Thursday Night Dinner: Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Coconut Oil
FN Dish: The Multipurpose Potato
Easy Crockpot Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 4 tablespoon non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons shredded cheese
- chopped scallions and minced cilantro for serving.
Instructions
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Wash and scrub sweet potatoes. Put water and salt in a pot and place potatoes in salt water for 30 minutes. Remove potatoes from water and prick all over with a knife or fork.
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Place in crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours until a knife can be easily inserted into potato. Cut top third off of potato (lengthwise).
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Scoop out potato flesh and place in food processor bowl.
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Add yogurt and maple syrup; process until smooth.
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Spoon pureed potato into potato shells.
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Top with cheese.
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Sprinkle scallions and cilantro on top. Serve.
More Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipes:
Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Sour Cream, Chipotle and Lime – Kalyn’s Kitchen
Southwestern Stuffed Sweet Potatoes – Pennies on a Platter
Sweet Potatoes Stuffed Over – Healthy Happy Life
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Mango-Black Bean Salsa – $5 Dinners
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle, Maple & Lime – Enlightened Cooking
Easy College Dinner Recipes with Printable Weekly Meal Plan and Shopping List
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Bookmarked! Sounds like a great slow cooker recipe.
My slow cooker is now occupying a place on my counter top as well! I have so many recipes planned for it and can’t wait to make my life just a bit easier 😉
Love using my slow cooker for “baked” potatoes! Thanks for the great ideas for toppings, too.
I really need to get a slow cooker. It would make my life a lot easier.
what a clever idea! cannot wait to try this one.
I love my crockpot – it is at least 20 years old but it still works like a charm.
Oooh, yummy, Jennette! I need to do this for sure! 🙂
Shirley
Thanks jenette, this even looks fairly good for the diabetics amongst us
Hi jeannette
I stumbled upon your site searching for slow cooker recipes for weekday nights and found good recipes and tips. Bookmarked for further reading 😀
I love this simple sweek potato recipe! When you say cook them on low, do i need to raise it up with a stand with some water underneath?
Thanks so much
Hi Cat – my crockpot is really old, so not sure if my low setting is the same as yours, but I simply put the potatoes straight into my crockpot and cook them – no stand or water underneath.
This looks wonderful! Linking to it today!
Thanks so much Brenda!