Cooking With Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes are a root vegetable that have a natural earthy-sweet flavor, a nice, starchy texture and are an extremely versatile cooking ingredient.

Maybe you already know your way around these tasty root vegetables. If not, here is some tips and recipes for cooking with sweet potatoes.

Buying and Storing Sweet Potatoes

When shopping for sweet potatoes, choose the medium-sized tubers with unmottled, unbroken skin. If it’s soft or rubbery, or if the skin is wrinkled, then it’s no longer fresh and not worth buying.

Store your raw sweet potatoes in a room temperature location, between 50 and 60 degrees. They need to be kept away from moisture, heat, and light.

If they are exposed to moisture and light, they’ll think they’ve been planted outside and will start to sprout.

Do not refrigerate raw uncooked sweet potatoes or they will dry out.

Washing Your Sweet Potatoes

Here are a few steps you will want to take in order to ensure that your sweet potatoes are clean and free of any bacteria.

Before cooking the potato, you will first want to wash them. Doing so ensures that you remove any dirt or debris that may be on the surface of the potato.

Use a small hand brush to scrub the potatoes. The scrubbing action will help to remove any dirt or grime.

Cooking With Sweet Potatoes

Get the most flavor from your sweet potatoes and use them when in season. They are harvested in the Autumn, September thru December.

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

There are a variety of ways to prepare sweet potatoes, including baked, boiled, grilled, and roasted.

Enjoy sweet potatoes for a snack or appetizer. Peel and slice the potato into even 1/2 yo 1-inch rounds. Bake them into sweet potato chips or baked rounds topped with honey and goat cheese.

Steaming them is a quick and easy method that preserves the natural sweet flavor and moisture of the root vegetable.

Steaming Sweet Potatoes With An Instant Pot

You can bake and stuff sweet potatoes with other ingredients. Or chop and roast them for a side dish or use them in a rice pilaf.

So many options to plating a baked or roasted sweet potato.

**Instant Pot Bacon & Egg Stuffed Sweet Potato**

Stuffed Sweet Potato with Chipotle Black Bean and Corn Salad -close up — **Instant Pot Bacon & Egg Stuffed Sweet Potato**

Hashing sweet potatoes either chopped or shredded, is a hearty and savory way to use them for breakfast with eggs and mixed with bacon and onions. There’s so many options.