Go Back
A dark blue dish with roasted sweet potatoes and a spoon visible

Roasted Mexican Sweet Potatoes

Bricia Lopez's recipe for a traditional Mexican street food dish, roasted sweet potatoes, served with a cumin compound butter.
Course Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 medium orange-fleshed sweet potatoes about 1½ pounds (630 g), scrubbed
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Cumin Butter

  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds roughly ground
  • 2 tbsp pepitas
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • ½ stick salted butter
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • finishing salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your grill to 375°F/190°C (if using a pellet grill), to low heat (if using gas), or for indirect cooking (if using charcoal), with the lid closed, for 15 minutes.
  • Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and rub them all over with the olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Grill the sweet potatoes over indirect heat, covered, turning occasionally, until very soft inside, about 45 minutes. For extra char, you can move them to direct heat for the final 10 minutes of cooking.
  • In a small nonstick pan over medium heat, toast the semi-crushed cumin seeds, the pepitas and sesame seeds until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt, shaking the pan occasionally. Stir in the cilantro and remove the pan from the heat.
  • To serve, cut a slit down the center of each sweet potato and top with spoonfuls of the cumin seed butter and lots of flaky salt. Serve immediately.