Baked sweet potatoes

[ny biker]

Are the instructions for baking sweet potatoes the same as for white potatoes?

I often have a baked (white) potato for dinner. I make it in the microwave using instructions I got from Nancy Clark's book --

- wash and prick with a fork, then wrap in paper towel
- cook for 7-8 minutes, turning over (top to bottom) once halfway through
- remove from microwave, wrap in dishtowel, let sit for ~ 5 minutes to finish cooking.

I'd like to switch things up and have sweet potatoes instead, so I was wondering if they cook the same or if there is something about them that requires less/more baking time.

Thanks!

[indysteel]

That's how I cook them. I give them a squeeze at about 6 minutes to see how close they are to being done. They're delish!

[Sky King]

Sweet Potatoes don't need as many minutes. We actually roast sweet potatoes and white potatoes and then carry them on rides. Wonderful snack and a high glycemic index so good fuel for the muscles without worrying about what other ingredients may be hidden in some of the "energy" foods we are always being pushed to buy

[GLC1968]

I've never cooked a baked potato in the microwave, but I do cook sweet potatoes and white potatoes side by side all the time in the regular oven. My H only likes sweet potatoes so it's a common thing in our house. He likes them really, really mushy, so they take the same amount of time to cook. If you don't like them so soft, I'd agree that they cook slightly faster than the same sized white potato.

[Crankin]

I haven't cooked a potato in the oven since 1980...
I exclusively eat sweet potatoes and they are quicker to cook. Sometimes I pre-cook about 3/4 way in the microwave and then cut up and stir fry in olive oil. Delicious.

[Pedal Wench]

Sweet Potatoes don't need as many minutes. We actually roast sweet potatoes and white potatoes and then carry them on rides. Wonderful snack and a high glycemic index so good fuel for the muscles without worrying about what other ingredients may be hidden in some of the "energy" foods we are always being pushed to buy

How do you keep them safe? I've heard that potatoes become dangerous to eat very quickly at room temperature.

And, I really prefer my sweet potatoes cooked in an oven, unwrapped. They get kinda carmelized and super yummy - less mushy and more intense flavor.

[azfiddle]

Our new way to eat them is to heat up pineapple in orange juice and spoon it over the top...

[bmccasland]

How do you keep them safe? I've heard that potatoes become dangerous to eat very quickly at room temperature.

And, I really prefer my sweet potatoes cooked in an oven, unwrapped. They get kinda carmelized and super yummy - less mushy and more intense flavor.

:confused: I've eaten cold roasted sweet potatoes and lived. Of course they are better warm, with butter. ;)

That's the way I roast my sweet potatoes, just the potato on the oven rack.

I miss good southern sweet potatoes. Mississippi mud is good for something.

[indysteel]

Potatoes baked in aluminum foil that are left to cool to room temperature while still wrapped in the foil apparently pose a risk of botulism, but potatoes in general do not. You shoulf either eat them immediately or refrigerate them. I don't care for baked potatoes, so that's not an issue for me.

[Sky King]

No issues with getting sick. We roast the night before, refrigerate overnight. Then put in ziploc baggies for the ride. So perhaps they are 3 hours on the ride before consumption and we toss anything that doesn't get eaten. My digestive system can't handle power bars, luna bars et al. I can eat about 1/4 of a cliff bar at best so am always open to ideas on easy to pack, high energy food for long rides.

[Melalvai]

Sweet potatoes are a really good choice. They have a lower GI than white potatoes.

[ny biker]

So, I just got back from the grocery store, and have another question.

The russet potatoes I buy generally weigh about 1 pound, and I get two meals out of each potato. I slice it lengthwise after cooking, put one half on the plate and the other half in the fridge. Topped with shredded cheddar, each half is a main course for me.

Anyway, I cook the ~1 pound potato for 7.5 minutes.

Tonight most of the sweet potatoes in the store were smaller. I found one that weighed just under a pound, and bought two others that weighed about .5 pounds each.

So, for cooking time, 6 minutes for the larger one and 3-4 for each smaller one? There would only be one in the microwave at a time.

(I will not be topping them with cheddar -- I'm going to try both vanilla yogurt and cream cheese, to see which I prefer, plus I have some cinnamon, walnuts and raisins to sprinkle on top. I want to go with something on the sweet side, but not too sweet.)

[PamNY]

Aren't microwaves different in power? I'd just experiment -- keep squeezing till it feels right. I agree sweet potatoes take a little less time than white potatoes.

[ny biker]

But how much time for a 1/2 pound potato vs a 1 pound potato? Half the time?

[angelaslc]

I'm new here and new to cycling but one thing I know is nutrition and cooking healthy foods.

I got rid of my microwave because it makes everything taste....blah...plus I notice my digestion is better with non-microwave foods and they say it zaps the nutrients from food. I don't miss having one.

The BEST way to cook sweet potatoes is in the oven. I usually get 2 large potatoes and 1 onion. It feeds 2 of us for the week.

1. Heat it up to 425
2. Rinse and scrub skins (do not peel)
3. Slice the sweet potatoes about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
4. Slice up an onion.
5. Mix together with olive oil in a casserole dish - I like the stone cookware.
6. Cook in the oven for about 35 min. Stir - add more olive oil if needed.
7. Cook an additional 10-25 mins.
8. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Yum! They are so full of flavor - nice and caramelized. I put the leftovers in the fridge and I usually eat it cold as a snack.

Adjust cooking times, potato thickness to your preference.
My crossfit friends buy sweet potato baby food by the case. They open the jar and drink it as a snack. I tried that once....but...blah.....
It's a lot cheaper and it tastes so much better to cook up a batch of roasted sweet potatoes for the week.

I will try it out as a snack for long rides. I’ve only had my bike for a week and I’ve only gone on 6, 16, 17, and 18 mile rides so far. But I have a 36 mile ride planned for the weekend. I will try it for a snack on my rides - thanks for the tip!

[snapdragen]

This sounds yummy angelaslc, I'll have to try it.

I know a number of people that carry potatoes as their snack of choice when riding. A sweet potato would be good!

[malkin]

Welcome angelaslc! (We're neighbors!)
That sounds yummy!

Re: cooking time
Isn't it ok to eat potatoes raw? Okay, not exactly a tasty treat, but not toxic, so cooking time is a matter of preference.

[marni]

I routinely slice yams or sweet potatos very thin and dry roast them for a treat for the dogs. Of course by the time they are cooled and ready to store, I've eaten half of them, but since I have a mandoline for slicing, it is easy enough to throw in another cookie sheet full of slices. The way I do it is to bake them at 125 for 6 hours. I could get a dehydrator which would be faster but.... this is doable as well.

good and crunchy like chips- you could even throw salt on them.

marni

[Susan]

Malkin, as far as I know it really isn't healthy to eat raw potatoes. I'm not so sure if it is severely poisonous, but you shouldn't use uncooked potatoes because they contain a substance that you get rid of by cooking them. I don't know if this is true for sweet potatoes as well.

Hmmm you make me crave sweet potatoes. They are not very common here, so I don't get to eat them very often, but I like that sweet flavor very much.

[angelaslc]

I found this about raw sweet potato:

Sweet potato shows trypsin inhibitor activity. That means it contains an enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of trypsin, an enzyme that digests proteins. The trypsin inhibitor prevents the digestion of protein. Sweet potatoes with higher protein levels have more of the trypsin inhibitor. This makes raw sweet potato difficult to digest. The trypsin inhibitor is deactivated by cooking.

One way the raw food diet helps people is by supplying food enzymes. Food enzymes do part of the work of digesting the raw food. Enzyme inhibitors increase the amount of work that your body needs to do to digest foods. Enzyme inhibitors force your body to produce more digestive enzymes. This uses up resources that could be used to produce detoxifying enzymes. When animals are regularly fed enzyme inhibitors in research, they become sick. Sweet potato should not be eaten raw.
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I have an awesome receipe for Cilantro pesto.....it's awesome on roasted sweet potatoes. I'll see if I can dig it up. Other than cilantro it has: garlic, olive oil, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, sea salt, ground pepper, and lemon.....it's so yummy on veggies, chicken and fish too.
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I'll have to try the chips.....6 hours of cooking but sounds good and probably better than the sweet potato ships in stores.

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I don't buy white potatoes anymore...the sweet ones are so much better.

[Jiffer]

Ditto what angelisic said. I was going to say the same thing about avoiding the microwave whenever possible. Eating food cooked in a microwave threatens your health by violently ripping the molecules in your food apart, rendering some nutrients inert, at best, and carcinogenic at its worst. Theoretically, there are small amounts of radiation leaking out through the glass, and possibly around the door if it is not properly sealed. The FDA thinks it is "insignificant" amounts of radiation, but with the rise of cancer in our day and age, I don't trust that it's not giving me cancer. There are many studies that claim there are numerous other health concerns related to running the microwave, including problems with the heart. The Russians, who invented the first microwave, banned microwaves in 1974.

Now that I'm off that soap box ... ;) ... let me say that I'm so excited that you posted about sweet potatoes. It just so happens I'm making sweet potatoes tonight! I haven't in a long time and I know they are chalked full of nutrients. So far, I've never made a baked sweet potato. I've made sweet potato casserole (like for Thanksgiving) and mashed sweet potatoes, which I'm doing tonight. I think I made baked sweet potato wedges once, which I will try again soon. I learned that when it comes to mashing sweet potatoes, it's better to bake them than boil them, because you lose a lot of nutrients when boiling (as with microwaving, but not as bad). Plus, they come out so much sweeter and tastier in the oven AND they're much easier to peel and cut. It's really hard to cut a raw sweet potato, but when I bake them first, the skins come off very easily and I can squish them into a bowl. I put them on a cookie sheet in the oven for like an hour or so on around 350. They leak a little sometimes, so I put foil on the cookie sheet. I don't seem to need to worry about how long I do them when it's for this purpose. An hour ... an hour and a half. If I were baking to eat as a baked sweet potato and didn't want them leaking out and being overly soft, I'd certainly follow the other instructions you've gotten.

If you want to try sweet potato wedges, cut them into wedges, drizzle some olive oil over them with salt and pepper and bake them. Can't remember how long, but probably a half an hour-ish? I learned it from Rachael Ray, so you can check her site if you want more specifics. Do you know they have sweet potato fries at El Pollo Loco now? (Assuming you live where they have El Pollo Loco ... I'm in Ca.) I seem to be finding sweet potato fries at more and more places, actually. I think it's a new trend. I'm trying to avoid fried foods as much as possible these days, but if I'm going to have fries, might as well be sweet potato fries. Then I can pretend they're "good" for me. ;) But baking your own sweet potato wedges IS good for you. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll do that tonight instead of mashing them. Hmmmmm.

[Jiffer]

Funny thing happened. I ended up making baked sweet potato wedges instead of mashed sweet potatoes. My daughter always complains when I make sweet potatoes, but when the plate of sweet potato wedges was going around the table, she started getting nervous that everyone was going to take them all and there wouldn't be enough for her! I was cracking up. While she'd much rather have regular potato wedges, or better yet full on french fries, I guess sweet potato wedges aren't completely yucky! :D