Easy Sweet Potato Apple Cranberry Bake – Whole30 Recipe

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Sweet potato apple cranberry bake. YES. When I’m able to take three of my favorite foods and put them into a dish ALL AT THE SAME TIME, there isn’t really anything better than that. And to top it off, the dish is healthy AND Whole30 compliant? SIGN ME UP.

That’s basically what I said last year when I saw a similar recipe on a Whole30 recipe site (which unfortunately is now closed). I made the dish with a few of my own tweaks, and shared it on my clean eating Facebook page. I had no idea how much of a huge hit it would be, and unfortunately at the time I didn’t write down my recipe to be able to share!

No worries. I have it all fixed now.

Today I decided to recreate the baked sweet potato apple cranberry dish for you guys so you can make it too! It is an easy side dish for holiday dinners, and is a great alternative to the traditional sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce (which I really don’t like).

Here is my version of the recipe:

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Ingredients for Sweet Potato Apple Cranberry Bake

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
• 1 apple, washed and diced (no need to peel)
• 1 cup fresh cranberries (NOT dried cranberries)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• salt to taste
• (Optional: chopoped pecans or walnut pieces)

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peel your sweet potatoes and dice into evenly sized pieces. Sweet potatoes (or yams – although they are different, I use them interchangeably) can be difficult to cut, so make sure you are using a really good knife. We have a set of Wusthof Classic knives that make a huge difference in cutting ability.

Cut your apples (tart apples have the best flavor) into pieces the same size as your sweet potatoes. I don’t peel my apples for this recipe. The peels add color, crunch, and flavor to the final dish.

Wash the cranberries and sort through them to find any that are soft. A mushy cranberry does NOT taste good. Trust me.

Grease the inside of your 8×8 baking dish with your oil of choice. I usually use coconut oil or avocado oil, but you can also use cooking spray.

Add the sweet potatoes, apples, and cranberries to the greased casserole dish, in that order. I like to keep the dish fairly shallow so that everything cooks evenly.

If you aren’t following Whole30, or if you don’t want to keep this recipe super healthy, you can add a couple of small pats of butter on top of the dish. Otherwise, I think it tastes perfectly fine without any added oils.

Sprinkle a teaspoon of cinnamon across the top of the dish, or more if you prefer. Honestly I don’t measure my cinnamon, I just shake shake shake until it’s all over everything. I’m sure it’s possible to put too much, but that hasn’t happened yet!

Put the dish in the oven and bake for about an hour. I check a couple of pieces of roasted sweet potatoes to make sure they are fork tender before removing from the oven. Sweet potatoes take the longest to soften, so you want to make sure they are done!

Now is when I sprinkle walnuts or pecans on top, and add a little salt to really bring out the flavors. Feta cheese is a delicious topping too!

Sweet Potato Apple Cranberry Bake Recipe

This healthy side dish is amazing for fall and winter, and I typically serve it every year at Christmas. I wasn’t following the Whole30 at that time, so we sprinkled crumbled feta cheese on top for some added flavor. It was a hit.

It also makes an appearance on our Thanksgiving menu pretty often too, and again for regular family dinner around the holiday season!

If you want to be able to make this at other times during the year, you may want to stock up on fresh cranberries and freeze them. Dried cranberries aren’t recommended due to added ingredients that aren’t Whole30 compliant – plus I just don’t think they would work out as well in a baked recipe like this one.

This recipe is also easily doubled for a family or for extra leftovers. I decided to keep the recipe small because my family doesn’t always want to eat my Whole30 foods. And honestly – that’s ok with me because I love this dish so much that I want it all for myself!

Let me know if you try out this easy Whole30 recipe, and tell me what you think! You can find more delicious Whole30 recipes here (a month of them, actually).

Check out all of our favorite recipes before you go!

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