Buy sweet potatoes with blemishes and bruises
Some flaws are more than just cosmetic. Sweet potatoes with cuts, gouges, and bruises are starting to go bad, so look for smooth-skinned ones with no cracks. If the sweet potato has one or two small bruised parts, you can cut them off and cut the rest into cubes.
Storing sweet potatoes in the refrigerator
The worst thing to do with sweet potatoes is to put them in the refrigerator. It's too cold in there, which changes the sweet potatoes' cell structure and makes their centers tough (even after they're cooked). This would be disastrous for a recipe where you bake whole sweet potatoes. Store them in a cool, dark place and the sweet potatoes will cook soft and juicy every time.
Skip the scrubbing step
Sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and skipping the cleaning step means dirt or grit may end up in your sweet potato casserole. Before cooking or cutting sweet potatoes, wash the skins and scrub them with a clean vegetable brush.
Don’t eat sweet potato skins?
Can you eat sweet potato skins? You should definitely eat them. Peeling the sweet potatoes removes some of their nutrients, so if you are making a healthy sweet potato recipe, do not peel them. The outer skin also helps keep the inside moist as the sweet potato cooks.
Storing raw cut sweet potatoes without adding water
Cutting the sweet potatoes ahead of time is a great way to meal prep for an easy weeknight dinner, but raw sweet potatoes can dry out quickly once cut. When cutting sweet potatoes in advance, be sure to store them in the refrigerator with cold water.
That said, if you cook the sweet potatoes ahead of time, you don’t have to worry about water. Cooked sweet potatoes store well in an airtight container.
Boil sweet potatoes to make sweet potato cakes
Many sweet potato recipes call for boiling the sweet potatoes to cook the filling. It is recommended to steam or bake the sweet potatoes in the oven instead. The water will take away some of the flavor and nutrients from the sweet potatoes, and the pie may become watery. Roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven concentrates their sweetness, resulting in a better pie.
Do not poke holes in the skin when roasting sweet potatoes
No one wants to experience sweet potatoes exploding in the oven. Pressure inside the sweet potatoes will build up in the hot oven. Pricking small holes in the skin with a fork is an easy way to let steam escape and avoid a sweet potato disaster.
Not checking if the sweet potatoes are actually cooked
There's nothing worse than undercooked sweet potatoes. Instead of being tender and moist, it will be hard and crispy. This will definitely ruin the dinner! Since each sweet potato varies in size and thickness, you can't simply trust it to cook in 45 minutes. Check the sweet potatoes by piercing them with a fork. If it goes in easily, it's ready to eat.
Cooking sweet potatoes in the microwave
This is a difficult task because the microwave is a useful tool that can cut the cooking time of sweet potatoes in half. The only problem is that the microwave cooks the sweet potatoes unevenly, so the sweet potatoes remain hard and lumpy in some places and too soft in others.
Instead, place the sweet potatoes in the microwave to soften for 5 to 6 minutes, turning them over halfway through. Then, transfer them to a 425°F oven and cook until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
