Just because Thanksgiving is over doesn’t mean sweet potatoes are over.

You don’t have to make an elaborate Thanksgiving-style dish, or even take the energy to mash or whip. Simple baked sweet potatoes with a pat of butter are delicious. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon if you like.

You can go whole hog (pun intended) with little extra effort by stuffing the baked potatoes with pulled pork barbecue.

This recipe is from Byron’s BBQ, which sells a delicious barbecued pull pork shoulder, cooked and frozen, at Sam’s Clubs. If you don’t like sweet potatoes, there’s a variation using the pulled pork with white baking potatoes, below.
 
RECIPE: BARBECUE-STUFFED SWEET POTATOES

Ingredients For 4 Servings

An entire main course: barbecue-stuffed sweet potatoes. Photo courtesy Byron’s BBQ.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

2. PIERCE each potato with the tines of a fork and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until tender, about 45 minutes.

3. HEAT the barbecue according to package directions.

4. MAKE a slit in the top of each sweet potato and season with salt and pepper. Top each potato with BBQ. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives if desired.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SWEET POTATOES & YAMS

The U.S. government makes mistakes. There are no buffalo in America; the big, wooly animal that roams the Great Plains is a bison—a different genus entirely. Yet, our mint produces a buffalo nickel. Hmm.

So it goes with many other items, including the tomato (classified as a vegetable, but it’s a fruit) and the sweet potato or yam—the words used interchangeably, although like the buffalo and bison issue, the yam is from a completely different botanical family.

You can’t fight city hall—or the Federal government or the produce manager—but here’s the difference between sweet potatoes and yams.

Add while you’re at it, here’s the difference between buffalo and bison.

RECIPE: BARBECUE-STUFFED WHITE BAKED POTATOES

Ingredients For 4 Servings

1. PREPARE the pulled pork according to package instructions.

2. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F. Poke holes in the potatoes and wrap in foil. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes until tender. Alternative microwave directions: Poke holes in the potatoes and microwave on high for 10 minutes or until done, turning the potatoes after 5 minutes. While potatoes cook…

3. COMBINE the sour cream and 2 tablespoons green onions. Set aside.

4. SLICE the baked potatoes lengthwise and fluff the flesh with a fork. Top each potato evenly with the barbecue, sour cream mixture, shredded cheese and remaining green onions.

 
ABOUT BYRON’S BBQ

Byron’s has been making authentic American barbecue since 1957, when Byron Charleton started selling the homemade BBQ recipe that made him famous in his hometown for years.

The barbecue is still made the same way on the same plot of land in Gallatin, Tennessee where Byron set up his first smokehouse. The pit master slowly smokes quality meat over an open-pit hardwood fire and slathers on a signature spicy-sweet sauce. The quick freeze technique enables the company to avoid any added chemical preservatives.

Learn more at ByronsBBQ.com.