30-Minute Sesame Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Do you love sweet potatoes?

Meee tooooo.

And as of recently, I love roasted sweet potatoes with sesame oil, cilantro, tahini, and sesame seeds drizzled all over the place. Hello awesomest, randomest, most fancy-feeling-easy-snack-turned-dinner.

Sesame oil is a new thing in my life, and here’s the thing about it – you don’t need much of it to give your food a really strong, really nutty richness and, uhh, sesame, flavor. It’s just so very delicious. I am slowing learning, though, that you shouldn’t really use sesame oil in cooking that involves high heat. Woops? Ignore past mistakes, please. I’m learning to be a real adult foodie one slow day at a time.

Sesame oil tastes the best when just a few drops or drizzles are added to something that’s already cooked. And I’m in a phase where I LOVE the taste of sesame oil. I probably should have been doing this for years, but using it to finish off the flavor of a recipe rather than using it as a cooking oil has just completely rocked my world.

Gahhh.

So with all these new sesame oil feelings, Sesame Roasted Sweet Potatoes came into being. Tossed with regular cooking oil and chili before roasting and drizzled with that luscious sesame oil at the end.

And tahini, because it’s creamy and really unique tasting and perfect with sweet potatoes. (Tahini haters please take note – normally I don’t like tahini at all, but this just works. Have faith.)

And flecks of sesame seeds and cilantro, because pretty food tastes better.

One last comment which is –> we are picking up our sweet pup at the end of this week when we come home from California! And yes, okay, fine, she’s a mostly grown up dog, but I’m going to call her a pup for at least a month and we’ll all just have to deal with that. Bringing her to home is now a matter of days, or hours, depending on how creepy you are when it comes to counting down to major life events. And I’m never creepy like that ever ever ever.

Part one of impending dog ownership: I am dying of excitement. I could squeeze my eyes shut and squeal happiness for all the remaining hours until we pick her up.

Part two of impending dog ownership: I am majorly lacking knowledge of what kinds of things we need to buy. We have, oh, let’s see: NOTHING. Zero dog items except, like, an old towel. I mean, where do we even go? PetSmart? PetCo? Garage sales of families and friends? I hate to be the person who always crowd-sources valuable life knowledge from you guys, buuuut I’m willing to be that person for the sake of our new pup.

If you know of any must-haves for new dog parents, TALK TO ME PLEASE.

I’ll make you virtual Sesame Roasted Sweet Potatoes in exchange?

xoxo

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• a pinch of cayenne pepper for spiciness
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• fresh cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes with the vegetable oil, chili powder, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, stirring gently every 5-10 minutes.
2. Increase the heat to 400 degrees and roast for another 5-10 minutes until the sweet potatoes are turning golden brown. Continue to stir the sweet potato pieces as needed to prevent over-browning. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
3. On a separate platter or directly on the baking sheet, drizzle the sweet potatoes with the sesame oil and tahini. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Add a handful of cilantro leaves. Serve immediately.

The post 30-Minute Sesame Roasted Sweet Potatoes appeared first on Pinch of Yum.