Best Way to Cook a Sweet Potato

I love sweet potatoes in all forms, thus I have tried LOTS of ways to cook them. For some recipes, you need diced sweet potatoes that you sauté with things or bake in the dish. If, however, you just want the delicious innards cooked so you can eat them mashed, baked, in sweet potato casserole, in a baked good etc. etc., I think I have tried just about every method out there. Should you wish to just see my preferred method and bypass my musings on previous methods I have tried, click that “Jump to Recipe” button. Want to hear my thoughts on other methods? Keep reading.

I have tried:

• Boiling them in their skins
• Wrapping them in foil and baking them in the oven on a baking sheet
• Wrapping them in foil and baking them in a slow cooker
• Covering them in oil and salt and baking them in the oven on a baking sheet
• Peeling them and cutting them in large chunks OR small chunks (tried both) and boiling them

They all have their drawbacks. Let me elaborate:

Boiling them in their skins: It is supposed to be easy to peel the skin off afterwards, but I found the skin to be slimy and it peels off in small chunks that made it time consuming. It also wasn’t fun to test their doneness as you had to maneuver them around in boiling hot water.

Wrapping them in foil and baking in the oven OR a slow cooker: Both cooking instruments yield similar results – the skin isn’t as slimy as the boiled method, but it is very soft and can be tedious to peel. Also, all the sugars and liquids that come out during baking puddles at the bottom underneath the potato and in the bottom of the dish (the foil does not keep it contained as you would hope). This puddle gets gross as it cools, and I inevitably got it all over myself as I was cleaning up.

Covering them in oil and salt and baking them in the oven on a baking sheet: The extra effort (and mess) of covering them in oil and salt did not help the skin crisp at all or add any noticeable flavor. And isn’t it annoying when you have to wash the oil off of your hands? My preferred method has none of that. And I found you still get the soggy puddle of liquid underneath.

Peeling them and cutting them in large chunks OR small chunks (tried both) and boiling them: Getting rid of the skin of the sweet potato in the quickest, least messy way is the goal, in my opinion. Raise your hand if your PREFERRED method is using a peeler? Yeah, my hand isn’t raised either. Also, have you ever cut a raw sweet potato? They are deceptively difficult to chop. Finally, boiling the chunks makes you lose some of the potential creaminess you can get with other methods. So much of the structure (and nutrients) boils away.

So why do I like my preferred method?

• The mess from the liquid and sugars is easy to clean up. Also, it makes the most fascinating sugar structures sometimes as it drips. They are three-dimensional and smell like toasted marshmallow.
• The skin is crisp on all sides of the sweet potato, making it incredibly easy to move around without getting anything on you
• The crisp skin also makes it a breeze to peel, especially if you let the potato cool first. Seriously, so so simple.
• The texture of the potato is sooooo creamy and dreamy

I learned this method from America’s Test Kitchen, which is WELL worth the subscription if you can afford that luxury. My husband and I have been shocked at how often they prove we have been doing something wrong our whole lives when we learn their way. This method of cooking a sweet potato is one of those times. 

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