loaded sweet potato bites

It's a good thing I have no interest in football, or else I might be upset that my Bay Area team came up short. The Niners did not have a great Super Bowl Sunday, but I sure did. Big surprise, my favorite part about Super Bowl Sunday is making cute bite-sized foods.

Since making these, I've had this carton of sour cream chillin in my fridge. Even though it's not Paleo, I just hate wasting ingredients. After work on Saturday, I made a stop at Trader Joe's. I knew I wanted to make little loaded sweet potato bites. It was a little disappointing to come home realizing I did not have the green onion I thought I had. Worst feeling in the world as I scoured every drawer and shelf of the refrigerator. Oh well, I made it work. Try these out. They are delish!

Loaded Sweet Potato Bites

INGREDIENTS

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp granulated garlic

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp chili powder

toppings (optional): 

3 slices crispy bacon, chopped

parsley, chopped (can also use green onion or chives)

sour cream

shredded cheese

whatever you put on your loaded baked potato!

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Thoroughly wash sweet potatoes and dry with a paper towel. Cut off and throw away the ends. Then, slice sweet potatoes into about 1/4" thick pieces.

3. Place sweet potatoes in a medium bowl along with all the other ingredients (except toppings). Mix everything together well with a spoon or your hands-- whatever works for you. Make sure all sweet potato slices are coated well with olive oil and seasoning.

4. In an even layer, spread sweet potatoes out onto the lined baking sheet.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Then, flip all potato slices over. Place back into the oven for about 12 more minutes or until they develop a nice golden "crust" color.

6. Let the sweet potatoes cool slightly first before adding toppings (don't want your sour cream to melt!). Top with whatever you like! If you want to add cheese, I would sprinkle a little bit of shredded cheddar or parmesan on top and pop back into the oven to melt before adding other toppings.

To make this recipe Paleo, you would just omit sour cream as a topping option. Honestly, they would still taste good. I just happened to have sour cream I needed to use, and it also helps all the other toppings to stay on top of the sweet potato. My compromise for using the sour cream was not adding any cheese. Although, I do not recommend skipping out on the crispy bacon. Crispy bacon with the seasoned sweet potato is heavenly. But that's just my personal fatty opinion. I believe everything tastes better with bacon.