Sweet Potatos - how to cook?

[frugalmama]

What is the best way to cook sweet potatos? I have never eaten them before, but they are .19/lb this week and we are really tight on funds.

I don't want anything pureed - bad experience while pg and the site still makes me sick years later.

[JTA Mom]

My fave way to eat them is to make thick julienne cuts of sweet potato (so they look like fries), coat in olive oil, salt, pepper, and bake at 435* for 30 min until crispy. Mmmm, sweet potato fries.

Cutting them up into cubes and roasting them, with regular potatoes or other veggies, is yummy too.

My fave 'pie' like treat is to take a sweet potato, microwave it till really soft (about 3 min). You can also bake it if you don't like the microwave. Then cut in half & scratch up the surface a bit. Put a couple teaspoons of butter on (or a whole tablespoon--yum!), sprinkle with cinnamon and like 1 tsp of sugar. Sooooo yummy, sooooo sweet.

Ami

[MyLilPwny]

I recall seeing this recipe for baked sweet potato chips http://www.mothering.com/recipes/bak...t-potato-chips
It looks really good, but I haven't tried it yet.

[katelove]

Another vote for chips here. I like to cook them enough that they are sort of crunchy/caramelised around the edges. Yum!

[Sk8ermaiden]

Soooo good.

I do them the easy way (this is basically the ONLY way I get lunch every day).

Wrap in cellophane and poke with a fork. Microwave for 5-6 minutes. Cut open, mash the insides up a bit, and add butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Inhale. Oh, so yummy. I would kill for sweet potatoes for .19 a lb. Jealous!!

[sunnysandiegan]

Our DD *loves* sweet potatoes! She likes them baked with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon with a bit of butter. She likes them cut up and steamed. She likes them in soups. She likes them as sweet potato fries and chips. The child eats them any way we fix them. DH & I, however, do not care for them. Although, we all eat them in soups even if DH doesn't know it cuz I use chunks when making my bone broths.

[Drummer's Wife]

I LOVE sweet potatoes, and they are very nutritious. My fav way right now to make them is cubed (I peel the skin, usually - which is easier if you pop them in the microwave for a few min. first) and sauteed with butter and olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt.

I also bake them, either whole, like fries, or chip size - with olive oil as well.

When I just want one quick (like today for snack), I microwave it using the baked potato button, open it like a baked potato, add butter and brown sugar. My kids love them, too, so we have sweet potatoes a lot. You can add them to pancakes, or make sweet potatoe pie. Or soup! I added small chunks to split pea soup the other day and it added the right amount of yummy sweetness.

Dang, now I'm hungry!

[Magelet]

I love love love sweet potatos. My absolute favorite way to eat them is baked. (Just like a baked potato. Poke the skin a bunch (or else you have an exploding sweet potato. did that once. it was interesting....), and cook until nice and soft in the microwave or oven. cut open, eat with LOTS of butter and salt. The skin is great and nutritious with butter to. (or fryed, but I can't wait that long, I love the skin lol)

[mamakah]

We mostly bake sweet potatoes and serve with a bit of butter. My son would eat a sweet potato for every meal if he could. Sometimes for dinner I make a "thanksgiving shepards pie" and use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes for the mashed on the top.

[sewchris2642]

Baked and stuffed with black bean chili and topped with sour cream; sweet potatoes and apples; mashed with apple juice.

[Drummer's Wife]

and .19 cents a pound is really cheap! I would buy a bunch and make stuff to freeze. I just checked my weekly flier and they are on sale for $1 a pound.

[ollyoxenfree]

Cut into 1 inch cubes. Toss with olive oil and seasoning. Seasoning can be pretty basic or as complex as you like:
- salt and pepper
- dried herbs (thyme or basil or oregano or sage - or all!)
- ground cumin and coriander and/or cinnamon
- a pinch of dried hot pepper flakes or chili

Roast in a 400 degree F oven for about 20 minutes (possibly a little less or more). The cubes should be fork tender, but not mushy.

You can serve it as a side dish, but I like to use it in other dishes:

I like to toss them into pasta or salad. One favourite pasta dish is to cook up some penne. In a saute pan, heat up a little olive oil. Saute some diced onion and a minced garlic clove. Add some coarsely chopped fresh sage. Add baby spinach leaves and heat just until wilted a little. Toss over the penne, mix in the roasted sweet potato. Add in extras like dried cranberries, toasted pine nuts or pepitas, crumbled goat cheese.

Instead of pasta, try it with couscous.

The same ingredients make a nice salad instead of a pasta dish. Use a mixture of romaine and arugula and spinach leaves. Toss with the roasted sweet potato, dried cranberries, cherry tomatoes, toasted pine nuts or pepitas or pecans (or all of them!), crumbled goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette.

[Llyra]

DH makes sweet potato quesadillas. He bakes the sweets ahead of time, like a potato. Then he sautees onions and peppers in some oil, and puts those and the mashed sweets into a flour tortilla with a sprinkling of cheese. He folds them in half, and then puts them in the oven for a few minutes to heat them through and melt the cheese.

I don't know how he seasons them, though. I gotta ask him. My DS (he's 2) eats these by the pound!

Sweet potatoes will keep for AGES if you keep them at the right temperature. We keep them for months in the cellar.

[philomom]

I cube them... roll them around in a bowl with olive oil and a favorite spice or two, I use rosemary, salt and a little onion flake... put them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 20 minutes or so. My kids like them a little crisp, so I cook mine a little longer. Use your own judgment there.

[Llyra]

You can also puree them (yeah, I know no purees, but bear with me) and use them to add to a soup, a stew, a pasta sauce, or even to stretch a meatloaf.

[BetsyS]

My favorite ways...

baked. I like them baked in the oven much better than the microwave. But, just plain, with butter. So good.

Roasted. Peel, cube, toss with olive oil, salt, and rosemary. Very yummy.

Roasted (like above, with no rosemary), then mixed with black beans and seasoned with cumin, salt, garlic, for burritos.

Scalloped sweet potatoes. Puree chipotle, mix with heavy cream. Slice sw. potatoes, then layer the slices in a big baking dish. Pour the cream/chipotle over the top. Bake until all the cream is absorbed into the potatoes, the potatoes are soft, and the whole thing is a big decadent craziness.

[JessicaS]

I love sweet potatoes!

I liked them baked with a bit of butter and salt, or most other ways.


My mom always put mashmallows and walnuts on them. Yuck! I always thought I hated sweet potatoes growing up.

[JoyMC]

my faves are fries, too. i julienne them, put them in the pan w/loads of minced garlic, olive oil and dried thyme. 425 for about 30 minutes.

i also just found a recipe for an Apple Sweet Potato Gratin that looks GREAT. if that interests you, i'll type it out, but it looks more dessert-y than side or main dish-like.

[EnviroBecca]

Mmmm, sweet potatoes! You can bake them and eat as a side dish one day, then use the leftovers to make sweet potato burritos: Cook diced onions in olive oil until brown. Add chili powder. Add sweet potato pulp (take off the skin, at least most of it). Mix in the skillet until hot. Wrap in tortillas with cheese...or if tortillas are too expensive right now, put it into bowls topped with cheese and scoop it up with chips!

[Ola_]

I do it a little differently and make potato wedges. Cut them (I usually do 6 wedges out of each potato) and roast. I like to steam them a bit in a veggie steamer before roasting to make it faster. Then just coat with a bit of olive oil and some spices (I prefer savoury spice mixes to contrast with the sweetness of the potatoes). They are yummy!

I put them on the baking sheet skin side down as that sticks less and then I don't end up mushing the potatoes when I'm trying to scrape them off.