This Is the New Avocado Toast—and 5 Ways to Make It

Remember when you first heard of avocado toast, and before long it had practically taken over your Instagram feed and edged its way onto breakfast and brunch menus across the land? Well, there's a new game in town, and it's just as photogenic, customizable and (we admit) truly delicious.

Sweet-potato toast doesn't actually involve any bread. Instead, it consists of a slice of fiber-rich sweet potato, toasted until lightly browned and topped with whatever you'd like. The vibrantly colored spuds cook impressively well in a toaster, though you can also bake them in a toaster oven or a regular oven. First, cut the sweet potatoes into quarter-inch slices, keeping the slabs as uniformly thick as possible, so they don't undercook or burn. Next, place them into the toaster slots just as you would bread and run them through the longest cycle at least once. Every toaster is different; our model needed two full cycles to ensure that the potatoes were crisp on the outside and tender when pierced with a fork or a sharp knife.

Somehow, slices of sweet potato feel more substantial than slices of bread; the sweet potato is less crunchy, more smooth and richer-tasting (gluten-free, too). Once you've gotten your "toast," you know the drill: adorn those blank canvases with any manner of sweet or savory ingredients you like.

Here, we brushed the toasted potato with some olive oil, then laid thin slices of strawberry on top, followed by baby arugula, crumbled ricotta salata cheese (though you could also try feta) and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, for a sweet, salty and peppery lunch.

Toasted sesame oil and sriracha are a powerful duo that can bump any dish up a few notches with just a couple of shakes. This deeply flavored "toast" is a perfect example. Once your potato is toasted and cooled slightly, spread it with sriracha-spiked mayonnaise. Gently fry an egg, tilting the pan somewhat so the egg slides over to one side and cooks in an oblong shape (to best fit the torpedo-ish shape of a sweet potato; you can help it along with a spatula). When the egg is cooked to your liking, carefully lay it over the mayo-slathered potato, and finish with three or four drops of toasted sesame-seed oil, salt and pepper.

Baked potatoes often feature bacon and cheese, so turning a sweet-potato slice into an open-face BLT makes good sense (when is bacon on anything not a good idea?). We scattered shredded, sharp cheddar on top of the toasted spud, slipped it under the broiler until it bubbled, layered a few slices of ripe, juicy tomatoes over it and finished the dish with a smattering of crumbled, smoky bacon.

Sweet potatoes have an earthy, sugary flavor that goes especially well with tart Granny Smith apples; add a little nut butter and you've got a satisfying meal that will carry you well through the morning. First, spread your toasted potato with a spoonful of almond (or other nut) butter, then arrange thin slices of apple all over. A sprinkling of hemp seeds provides a crunchy finish; any variety will do, but the seed-mix "toppers" you can find in health-food stores in a variety of flavors, such as maple and cinnamon, are particularly good.

It's only fitting that we'd nod to the original with an avocado-sweet potato hybrid. Mash about a third of a ripe avocado with a fork and cover the toasted-potato slice with it, and squeeze some lemon all over to brighten the flavor. The sky's the limit when it comes to additional toppings, whether you fancy slivered almonds and a few pinches of turmeric; mango, chili and mint or tomato and feta.