6 Awesome Ways to Cook Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are considered to be one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world. It’s also one of the most delicious foods. Fortunately, they are extremely versatile too regarding the ways you can cook them. Thus, a fan of sweet potatoes has many ways to cook them and enjoy them.
Just as melting sweet potatoes is a way to enjoy this sweet, juicy, soft root veggie, there are several other methods to cook it including roasting, baking whole or in a gratin, steaming and mashing, frying and so on. Foodies having a sweet tooth can even increase the sweetness of sweet potatoes by adding ingredients like honey, orange juice, coconut milk, maple syrup, molasses or sweet spices like nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Those who prefer savory foods can add pungent spices like ground chile, fennel, cumin and coriander to make spicy sweet potatoes. Here are a few methods of cooking sweet potatoes that will help you bring the much-desired versatility in your cooking. Remember to scrub sweet potatoes with a vegetable brush under running water before starting cooking.
1. Mashing
- Peel sweet potatoes and cut them into cubes.
- Add water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Add sweet potato cubes.
- Cover and cook until very soft. This will take around 25-30 minutes.
- Mash potatoes with a potato masher and add salt, pepper and butter.
2. Baking
- Puncture sweet potatoes in several spots with a fork.
- Place them in a baking dish and bake in the oven at 425-degree F until tender evenly to the center. This will take around an hour. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Next, make a cross cut in the center of each potato with a sharp knife.
- After opening the potatoes this way, season each of them lightly with salt, ½ teaspoon butter and pepper.
3. Roasting
- Take a large sweet potato and cut it into wedges. Sprinkle the wedges with salt, pepper and a little olive oil.
- Take a rimmed baking sheet and spread the wedges out on it.
- Bake them in the oven at 450-degree F until tender and browned, flipping once. Do this for total 20 minutes.
Alternately, you can make the delicious melting sweet potatoes where you have to slice sweet potatoes and bake them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and top them with sweetener and pecans.
4. Spiralizing
- Cut sweet potatoes lengthwise into thin, long strands with a spiral vegetable slicer or julienne vegetable peeler.
- Cook the strands in boiling water. Stir gently once or twice, until a little soft, but not totally tender. This will take around 1 ½ to 3 minutes.
Alternately, you can take a large skillet and heat oil in it over medium flame, and add the strands to it and cook, stirring infrequently until the strands become soft. This will take around 5 minutes.
5. Cooking on the Stove
- Shred or cube a large sweet potato.
- Take a large skillet and heat oil in it over medium flame. Add shredded or cubed sweet potato and cook.
- Stir until it starts browning in spots. This will take around 5-7 minutes.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper.
6. Adding Honey
For sweet fans, adding honey to sweet potato is another excellent way to enjoy them.
- Wash sweet potatoes thoroughly 2-3 times in warm water to totally remove dirt.
- In a wide pan, take enough water and add the washed sweet potatoes. Bring the water to a boil. Then cover and cook over medium flame until soft. This will take around 20-30 minutes.
- Check with knife whether it’s done or not.
- Once done, cool them and then drain water completely.
- Peel them, add honey or sugar and enjoy!
So, you realize you can cook and eat sweet potatoes in various ways that increase its taste and enjoyment. Try these ways and share your experience with us. Happy cooking!