Fall is one of the best seasons for food because certain ingredients come into play. It’s also a colorful season full of oranges, browns, and reds - which can be reflected in the dishes you choose to make. Today, we’re focusing on one key ingredient that deserves the limelight in fall: sweet potatoes. 

These beautiful orangey/brown potatoes are the perfect thing to use as the base of many autumnal dishes. Sweet potatoes can also be great substitutes for pumpkins if you don’t like how they taste. So, here are three recipe ideas that are absolutely perfect this fall: 

Sweet potato soup

We’ll start with a dish that can easily be a starter or a nice lunch on a cold, dreary, day. Sweet potato soup is extremely easy to make as you just cook down your sweet potatoes, add in some other veg, and then blend it all up. You can throw in some carrots, butternut squash; whatever floats your boat. There’s a good recipe here you could try, but feel free to get creative and try your own ideas as well! 

Soup is a great fall dish because you can blend the ingredients and then freeze your soup to take out and reheat whenever you need it. 

Baked sweet potatoes

A classic thing to do with sweet potatoes is to bake them in the oven until the skin gets all crispy and you can see the sweetness oozing out. Season the outside with a bit of paprika and salt for extra flavor, and you already have a killer side dish for any main course. 

However, you can turn baked sweet potatoes into a meal of their own by adding seriously tasty toppings. Two ideas spring to mind, with the first one being a Spanish sweet potato with chorizo slices, creme fraiche, and onions. The other is to top your sweet potatoes with some slow-cooked pulled pork. It goes so well with the sweetness of the potato, and you can top it with a dollop of sour cream too.

Sweet potato casserole

The beauty of sweet potatoes is that they can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. If you’re looking for a tasty dessert this autumn, look no further than a delightfully creamy sweet potato casserole with pecan topping. Sometimes called a sweet potato pie, this is a very traditional Thanksgiving dessert in the South, particularly among African American communities. 

The dish is so easy to make, largely consisting of mashed sweet potatoes seasoned with extra butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and ground nutmeg. You then make a crumble on top of brown sugar, flour, and butter, topped with pecan halves. Bake in the oven and serve immediately for a delicious dessert that’s sweet, but not too sweet. 

And there you go; three perfect sweet potato dishes for the upcoming fall season. You’ve been treated to three completely different recipes for three different parts of a meal. The soup makes a great starter, the baked potatoes are excellent main courses, and the casserole is a dessert. Obviously, you don’t want to have a meal that’s completely made up of sweet potatoes - even though they’re incredibly healthy! Instead, pick any recipe and use it as part of a meal whenever you please.