Reach For This Aldi Cheese To Upgrade Sweet Potatoes

Although Aldi's cheap groceries may be the store's most famed calling card, don't overlook the retailer for a great cheese selection, too. Being a European-owned company, many intriguing dairy products land on Aldi shelves, like the  German- and Austrian-produced Original Butterkäse Cheese. A yellow block housed in an inconspicuous 6-ounce package, it's an option that's all too easy to pass by. Yet this rich, velvety, meltable foodstuff truly delights, especially when paired with a sweet potato.

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A TikTok-trending combo, the dish construction entails a generous chunk of butterkäse stuffed inside a whole sweet spud. The sweet potato is cooked first — preferably via a long bake — then, when the tater is steaming hot, the cheese is simply shoved into the interior. In mere moments, the butterkäse starts to melt (it does that well), yielding a mouth-watering medley of soft, sweet, and creamy sensations. As you might gather from the name, the cheese tastes pleasantly fatty, with a balanced and milk flavor palate that won't polarize. If you can't find it at your local Aldi, a similar meltable candidate like Havarti or Gouda will do, too — although it's best to track down butterkäse for maximum melting effect.

To really customize your sweet potato, add a pinch of salt alongside the butterkäse for well-seasoned bites, or flavor via classic baked potato toppings like bacon bits and green onions (although there's nothing wrong with keeping it to a two-ingredient pairing). Alternatively, if you're not feeling a baked preparation, there's also an easy way to cook sweet potatoes on the grill, letting you slice on a butterkäse garnish for a more elegant touch. However, if you snag a block of the cheese at Aldi, you'll notice that its culinary qualities make the foodstuff fit for fondue, a pleasant mac and cheese topping, or —in ode to its origins — a terrific candidate for the German version of the dish known as käsespätzle.

You could also replace cheddar with butterkäse to make the best grilled cheese, throw the cheese onto a burger, and the dairy-heavy foodstuff produces a tasty sandwich without any heating, too. Butterkäse makes for a delicious charcuterie board addition, the mild flavor mingling well with pickles, dried fruit, as well as cold cuts. Alternatively, for impressive yet simple-to-make hors d'oeuvres, melt the cheese onto small toasts, and top with a high-quality jam. So buy some butterkäse to try out the viral sweet potato dish, but don't let the rest of the package go to waste.