Make The Viral Cheesy Sweet Potato Even Better With One Melty Swap

TikTok has become the place to go for unique food hacks and delicious recipes, or even annoying trends that drive fast food workers mad. While these trends go in and out of style, there is one viral trick people can't get enough of. A popular TikToker named Courtney Cook became known for her teacher lunch involving two simple ingredients: a baked sweet potato and block of cheese. It may seem like an uninteresting meal, but people went crazy over how delicious it apparently is. She uses an orange or Japanese sweet potato, stuffs a small block of Butterkäse cheese inside the warm potato, and eats it like a sandwich. Butterkäse may be her cheese of choice, but one swap can completely level up this hack: French raclette cheese.

Raclette is a soft and creamy Alpine cheese known for its amazing melting qualities. It's smooth and savory, features fruity background notes, and melts well on top of meats, vegetables, and potatoes. It makes a great cheese for a gooey and melty mac and cheese. The Butterkäse has a similar creamy and buttery flavor that melts well, but the raclette will give you the ultimate cheese pull. 

The cheesy sweet potato can be made simply by carving out a section from the top end of your potato and stuffing a slice of cheese inside, but there's a couple ways to do this if you're using raclette. For a quick on-the-go lunch, the Courtney Cook method will melt the raclette perfectly. But if you're looking to turn this dish into a meal or get a little more out of the raclette cheese, try slicing your potatoes in half to roast in the oven and add slices of raclette near the end of cooking time to quickly melt it. The raclette adds the ideal cheesy, creamy finish, and the mild nutty flavor pairs just right with the sweet potatoes. For cheese-lovers, raclette may just be the cheesiest of them all. 

Raclette is known for transforming potatoes and while Butterkäse is the original cheesy sweet potato cheese, raclette is a must-try for a soft and luscious result. It's similar to gruyere in the way it melts, but its unique flavor profile — similar to Swiss — adds a nice aromatic touch. You could try this hack with just about any cheese, but raclette is sure to impress your tastebuds.