You guys know how I love sweet potatoes, right? They’re pretty much the perfect vegetable. They are inexpensive, shelf stable, and are sooo versatile. The fact that I can use them in both sweet and savory dishes alone makes them magical. Anyway, when sweet potatoes went on sale for $0.49/lb. a couple weeks ago, I decided to snatch some up. While filling my basket with a mountain of sweet potatoes (not really), I looked down and saw that the grocery store had merchandised some prepared sweet potato dishes right next to the plain sweet potatoes. The one that caught my eye was a microwavable Moroccan Spiced Sweet Potatoes. And, of course, I said to myself, “I can do that myself!”
Stay tuned this weekend to see what I packed these sweet potatoes with for my weekly meal prep!
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For this easy side dish I borrowed my favorite blend of spices from my Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Stew and coated the diced sweet potatoes in the heady blend. I also added just a little paprika for color and a touch more earthiness. The warm aromatic spices pair really beautifully with the subtle sweetness of the sweet potatoes. I’m in love.
This spice blend is fairly spicy, but you can knock it down to a little spicy “bite” of heat by cutting the cayenne powder down to 1/8 tsp.
Now I’m brainstorming about all the other vegetables that would benefit from this Moroccan spice treatment! I’m thinking definitely cauliflower. Probably carrots. Maybe even regular potatoes?
Moroccan Spiced Sweet Potatoes
Servings 4Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl combine the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, and olive oil.
- Peel the sweet potatoes, then cut them into about 3/4-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a bowl and pour the oil and spice mixture over top. Stir the potatoes until they are well coated in oil and spices.*
- Spread the spiced sweet potatoes out over a baking sheet so they are in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast the potatoes for 15 minutes, then stir the sweet potatoes, return them to the oven, and roast for 15 minutes more, or until tender.
- Once the sweet potatoes have finished roasting, give them a taste and add a pinch more salt, if needed. Roughly chop the cilantro and sprinkle it over top just before serving.
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Notes
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How to Make Moroccan Spiced Sweet Potatoes – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 Tbsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp salt, and 2 Tbsp olive oil.
Peel and dice 2 lbs. of sweet potatoes. I cut my potatoes into about 3/4-inch cubes. Keep in mind that if your cubes are larger or smaller, that will affect the roasting time (larger pieces = longer roasting, smaller pieces = faster roasting).
Pour the oil and spice mixture over the sweet potato cubes and stir until the cubes are evenly coated in oil and spices. Remember, turmeric will stain your hands and clothing bright yellow, so be careful as you stir! :)
Spread the seasoned sweet potatoes out onto a baking sheet, making sure they’re in a single layer.
Roast the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, give them a stir, then roast for another 15 minutes. By this time they should be tender all the way through and a little crispy on the edges! Give one a taste and add a pinch of salt, if needed.
Roughly chop a handful or two of cilantro and sprinkle it on top of the Moroccan Spiced Sweet Potatoes just before serving.
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simple and delicious, I couldn’t stop popping them in my mouth.
These would have been perfect for a Christmas get together! They’re delicious and I cut mine a little smaller so they cooked quickly. Awesome recipe!
Making these with balsalmic garlic pork chops and tabouli. The spices smell great in the oven, I know these will be amazing with dinner!
Fantastic!
So good! I’m planning on adding these to a quinoa bowl. I didn’t find them super spicy but savory. Adding this to my meal rotation and even bringing it to future holiday dinners!
This is delicious! I love this spice mix and I want to try using it on other things too. It really shines on the sweet potatoes, though. I served this with the Greek turkey burgers recipe and I kept eating the finished sweet potatoes off the tray while cooking the burgers because they were so good! Highly recommended!
5 stars, by the way!
This recipe was a great find! I used a bag of frozen cubed sweet potatoes, subbed pepper with ground ginger and added some brussel sprouts. I skipped the salt all together and sprinkled with a little feta cheese before serving. So. Good.
I thought I invented this! I do something similar but mash mine with butter. I use homemade baharat spice if I have it on-hand. Otherwise, I throw something together on-the-fly that is almost identical to you mix. I occasionally use smoked paprika and chili powder for a twist, and I second the ground ginger—it’s really nice.
“Authentic” was what a friend who lived in Morocco for a couple years said about these delicious nuggets-o-goodness. The hardest part was not eating them all before friends arrived (I’ll absolutely double batch it next time!) “Bnine!”
Love the recipe, I’m trying to use sweet potatoes with my breakfast more (I’m a diner breakfast guy, hash, eggs, meat, toast) and the spice combinations I use for my regular potatoes don’t work as well.
I do this up with two over easys on top in a bowl two or three times a week nowl
Awesome! I love that idea!
Beth, would this pair well at all with some kind of sausage?
Hmm, honestly I can’t picture any type of sausage that this would pair particularly well with. It’s a unique blend of spices, so I’d almost pair it with something more on the plain side so they don’t compete.
I ended up going with garlic chicken. Big mistake, they ended up competing too much as you said. But nonetheless good dish. If I were to do this again I’d use ground beef or plain chicken.
I also would decrease the amount of cinnamon and increase cayenne pepper. That’s on me though because cinnamon isn’t my favorite in food recipes.
If the cayenne pepper gives too much heat for you substitute one teaspoon of ground ginger for it. I also found that just a little more olive oil will help coat the potatoes just a little better.. Anyway, a great dish.