Scalloped Sweet Potatoes (Vegan)

Name: Scalloped Sweet Potatoes (Vegan)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 6–10 medium large sweet potatoes (see note 1); 6–8 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons), to taste; 1½ tablespoons fresh thyme leaves or 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme; ½ cup good olive oil (see note 2); ½ cup shredded vegan parmesan cheese, optional (see note 3); Salt and pepper to taste

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Scalloped Sweet Potatoes make the perfect hearty and delicious side dish. These roasted shingled sweet potatoes with garlic and vegan parmesan are so satisfying and everyone will be asking you for the recipe!

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Hey Internet, it’s side dish season, am I right? Sometimes I love a holiday meal that’s loaded with sides. Or even just a hearty meatless main flanked by a satisfying side.

Enter my scalloped sweet potatoes! These look a little different than normal scalloped potatoes. I turn them on their side and created this beautiful circle design.

But that design wasn’t (just) for looks, it also allows the edges of the sweet potatoes to get super crispy and delicious. So you have a gooey and soft sweet potato center and crispy, cheesy edges. Yum!

These scalloped sweet potatoes would go perfectly with my new vegan cordon bleu, or other warm meatless mains such as vegan steak, vegan turkey, vegan ham, mushroom lentil loaf, Beyond Meat meatloaf, or any other main dish you’re thinking of making soon.

Use these scalloped sweet potatoes as your next potato side dish and you will be glad you did!

Why You’ll Love These Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Both Savory and Sweet: These shingled sweet potatoes have that classic sweet potato flavor, but also a good boost of savory flavor from herby thyme, cheesy vegan parmesan, and of course fresh garlic.
Family Friendly: Kids and adults alike will love these scalloped sweet potatoes. They’re so fun to eat, especially with those crispy edges, yum!
Fun to Make: While an adult will need to slice the sweet potatoes, kids will love helping arrange the slices in the baking dish.
Great for a Crowd: These baked crispy sweet potatoes are a fantastic vegan side dish to bring to a holiday gathering. Eaters of any type will love the flavor of this sweet potato side dish and you likely won’t have any leftovers (but if you did, they’re still delicious the next day!).

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Ingredients

These are the ingredients we’ll use in our scalloped sweet potatoes. For any substitutions to these ingredients, see the next section. For full instructions, nutritional information, and tips, see the recipe card at the bottom of this article.

6–10 Medium Large Sweet Potatoes: Use any variety of sweet potato you like. I prefer to leave the skin on. How many sweet potatoes you need heavily depends on their size and what size pan you use, so I recommend getting more than you need and using the leftovers in another way. Try to get similar diameter/thickness sweet potatoes, so they’re all about the same height when stacked on their sides.
6–8 Garlic Cloves, Minced: Fresh garlic adds so much flavor. Use less if you feel strongly averse to the number of cloves I used, but this is a lot of sweet potatoes so I feel that warrants a large amount of garlic.
1½ Tablespoons Fresh Thyme Leaves: For great herbaceous notes.
½ Cup Good Olive Oil: This helps keep the scalloped sweet potatoes moist on the inside and helps them get crispy.
½ Cup Vegan Parmesan Cheese (plus more for topping), Optional: Shredded vegan parmesan cheese is best for this dish. If you are vegetarian, keep in mind that dairy parmesan is never vegetarian as it uses calf rennet.
Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper To Taste

Substitutions

While I always recommend making recipes as written the first time, the following are substitution suggestions I think you can make without messing too much with the recipe.

Medium Large Sweet Potatoes: I think this recipe should work with regular potatoes as well. Try gold potatoes or red potatoes as they will hold their texture better in the final dish.
Fresh Garlic: I do not recommend using jarred minced garlic if you can help it, because it truly has a different flavor. That being said, if you have to, use about 2 or 2½ tablespoons of minced garlic.
Fresh Thyme Leaves: You can use other fresh herbs like sage, oregano, or rosemary. I tend to be averse to the texture of fresh rosemary (even cooked), so I usually don’t use it (sometimes I use ground rosemary instead). If you want to use dried thyme, use 1½ teaspoons.
Olive Oil: If you don’t have olive oil, you can use another oil you like, such as avocado oil or grapeseed oil.
Shredded Vegan Parmesan Cheese: If you can’t find shredded vegan parmesan cheese, another shredded vegan cheese would be great. If you can’t find any vegan cheese, you can skip it or opt for a good sprinkle of nutritional yeast on top of your vegan scalloped sweet potatoes.

How to Make Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
Slice your sweet potatoes in equal thin slices around ⅛-inch thick. A mandoline can help with this or use a very sharp knife.
Add slices to a very large bowl and mix with the oil first, then with the minced garlic, fresh thyme leaves, salt and pepper, and vegan parmesan cheese (if using).
Grease a large deep baking dish (we used a wide and shallow nonstick dutch oven, but a rectangular 13x9” or square 9" baking dish or oval dish will also work) and add the slices in concentric circles or a spiral (starting from the outside and working inward), packing as tightly as possible. If you find you do not have enough sweet potatoes, you can place some crumbled up aluminum foil in the center to keep them upright.
Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 30–40 minutes. How long will depend on how densely packed your baking dish is. If it is quite densely packed, err on the longer side.
Turn up the heat to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 Celsius) and use oven mitts to carefully remove the dish from the oven and remove the cover.
Spray or brush the sweet potatoes with additional oil. If you'd like, sprinkle some more vegan parmesan cheese on top.
Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 20–30 more minutes. Scalloped sweet potatoes are ready when the vegan cheese is melted and a fork easily sinks through a few layers of sweet potatoes. The tops will be crispy and the insides will be tender. Serve and enjoy.

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Expert Tips

Purchase Firm Sweet Potatoes: Make sure the sweet potatoes you get are firm, including the ends. Wash them well using a vegetable brush.
No Need To Peel: I leave the skin on my sweet potatoes as it helps the edges of the scalloped sweet potatoes get crispy.
Buy Similar Sized Sweet Potatoes: What matters is the circumference or thickness of the sweet potatoes, not the length. This is because, when you stand the slices up in the pan, it’s better if they’re mostly the same size. They won’t be perfectly the same, but they’ll be close. That’s actually perfect, because then the pieces that stick out will get a bit more crispy, and the ones that are a little shorter will get more gooey and soft.
Don’t Skimp on Fresh Garlic: As I mentioned above, I don’t recommend jarred garlic as it has a very different flavor than fresh minced garlic. Get a good garlic press or try grating your garlic cloves with a microplane (also known as a zester).
Use a Mandoline to Slice Your Sweet Potatoes Very Thinly: For the best scalloped sweet potatoes, you’re looking for slices around ⅛-inch thick. Most mandolines can be set to this setting. If you’re slicing by hand, try your best to get the slices as even and consistent as possible so everything cooks at the same rate.
Don’t Skip the Vegan Parmesan if You Can Find It: These vegan scalloped sweet potatoes are extra special with that gooey, melty, vegan cheese on top. Shredded vegan mozzarella will also work in a pinch.

Serving Suggestions

These scalloped sweet potatoes are the perfect vegan side dish. Here are some suggestions of dishes I love to serve them alongside:

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Storage Instructions

Refrigerator: Let the scalloped sweet potatoes cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer: Let the sweet potatoes cool and store in a freezer-safe airtight container. Label the container with the name of the dish and the date and use within 3 months for best results. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
Reheating: I prefer to reheat shingled sweet potatoes in a pan with a little vegan butter or olive oil, it’s the best way to get the crispy texture back. But the microwave can work too if you don’t mind losing the crispy texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this recipe called scalloped sweet potatoes when these don’t look like regular scalloped potatoes?

It’s true, these scalloped sweet potatoes are very different from regular scalloped potatoes. The traditional dish involves layering the thinly sliced potatoes on their flat side and a creamy sauce in a baking dish. This is different, because I stood the sweet potatoes on their edge, like discs, and arranged them in a pattern around the baking dish. And there's no sauce, it’s a coating made from olive oil, thyme, garlic, and vegan parmesan. I firmly believe in being creative with food, and this name still seemed like the best way to describe this sweet potato side dish.

Can I Use Regular Potatoes?

Sure! I think it would work well with red or gold potatoes. I haven’t tried it, but I still bet it would work.

How Can I Slice the Sweet Potatoes Thinly Enough Without a Mandoline Slicer?

While I highly recommend a mandoline slicer for this and many other kitchen tasks, I recognize not everyone has one. Here’s what I recommend doing instead: sharpen your knife using a knife sharpener and get a large, heavy cutting board out. If your cutting board slides on the counter, lay out a kitchen towel and put the cutting board on top of it. Hold the knife the correct way (look it up on YouTube), with most of your hand on the handle of the knife, and your thumb and forefinger gripping the top back edge of the knife (sharp side pointed down). Hold the sweet potato steady in your non-dominant hand, curling your fingers inward like a claw to protect them. Carefully cut through the sweet potato to cut the end off. Then begin carefully slicing, making each piece about ⅛-inch thick. It doesn’t need to be perfect.

More Vegan Side Dish Recipes!