Baked Sweet Potatoes (Foolproof)

Put a small sheet of foil in the center and bottom of your oven. This will catch any of the syrup that may escape from the sweet potatoes. For easy cleanup, simply remove the foil and throw it away after baking the sweet potatoes. Update a reader does not recommend covering the bottom of the oven with foil, as it may block the vents. This has never happened to me, but I use only a small square directly under the sweet potatoes and not over the entire oven.

Don't preheat the oven. Prick your sweet potatoes each 2-3 time with a fork, then place them directly on the oven rack in the middle of the oven, above the foil. Turn the oven on to 425.

Bake for 45 minutes for sweet potatoes/yams that are 2-3 inches in diameter. For sweet potatoes that are up to 4 inches in diameter, bake for an hour. For super large sweet potatoes, bake for an hour and 15 minutes.

After the time has elapsed, don't open the oven but turn it off. Let the sweet potatoes sit in the oven for at least 30 minutes but up to an hour. Remove from the oven and eat immediately, or remove the skin and store in a container in the fridge.