Melting Sweet Potatoes with Maple Pecan Drizzle Side Dish Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to sweet potato to make it taste good? ›

Salt, Pepper, and Butter – the OG classic way of serving your sweet potatoes. Greek Yogurt and Green Onion – one of my personal favorites! you can do sour cream instead of Greek Yogurt if you prefer. Maple Syrup, Cinnamon, and Butter – ok, I'm a big fan of savory but this combo is also a favorite!

If you enjoy sweet potatoes, you can absolutely enjoy them daily. However, eating multiple sweet potatoes every day could cause a harmless condition called carotenodermia, where your skin turns yellow-orange. You may also want to be cautious about your sweet potato intake if you have a history of kidney stones.

Chopped herbs, chutneys, veggies, nut creams, yogurt . . . all are great variations (see below). Many people gravitate toward a sweet potato when they feel like eating but aren't over-the-top hungry. I like the simplicity with which they can be prepared.

Boiling sweet potatoes retains more beta-carotene and makes the nutrient more absorbable than other cooking methods such as baking or frying. Up to 92% of the nutrient can be retained by limiting the cook time, such as boiling in a pot with a tightly covered lid for 20 minutes.

Cut into evenly sized pieces: Cutting the sweet potatoes into evenly sized pieces will help them cook more evenly and prevent soggy centers. Boil or steam: Boiling or steaming the sweet potatoes until they are tender, but not too soft, will help prevent them from becoming soggy.

Along with anti-inflammatory properties, sweet potatoes have plenty of gut-friendly fiber, especially if you eat the skin. They are a mixture of soluble fiber, which can lower cholesterol and balance glucose, and insoluble fiber, which helps keep your bowels healthy and regular.

How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.

Eating potassium-rich sweet potatoes helps promote a healthy heart. Higher potassium intake allows you to excrete more sodium lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk for heart disease according to the American Heart Association.

You can still eat sweet potatoes if you have diabetes, assures Huff. The fiber content in sweet potatoes, especially if you consume them with the skin on, can help reduce spikes in your blood sugar. Plus, how you cook your sweet potatoes can also help reduce the extent to which your blood sugar rises.

The most common varieties in the U.S. are the Beauregard (the most widely grown cultivar), the jewel, and the garnet (also sometimes known as red yams).

What are the tips and tricks of sweet potatoes? ›

Selection and storage tips: Choose firm, small- to medium-sized potatoes with smooth skin. Avoid cracks, soft spots and blemishes. Choose sweet potatoes with a bright, uniform color. Store them in a cool, dark, dry place for use within two to three weeks or at room temperature for up to a week.

Good news: vets give the OK when it comes to dogs and sweet potatoes! In fact, sweet potatoes are considered a healthy treat for dogs and offer lots of nutritional value for your pooch.

Just one sweet potato gives you 102% of the vitamin A you need each day. This helps keep your eyes healthy as well as your immune system, your body's defense against germs. It's also good for your reproductive system and organs like your heart and kidneys.

Baking can also cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels, twice as much as boiling. Therefore, from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking should be recommended for cooking sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes are generally considered a better source of carbohydrates compared to bread because they are less processed and contain more fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

A bit of vinegar can give your sweet potatoes a zesty tang that offers a more complex dish. You can choose how much vinegar you'd like to add based on how much of the sweetness you want to reign in. If you're looking to remove just a tiny amount of sweetness, a splash of vinegar will do.

TIPS & TRICKS to Make this Recipe: The main secrets to achieving that incredible crispy texture, is to soak the cut sweet potatoes in cold water for at least 30 minutes. This helps remove the starch from the sweet potatoes so they´re not limp & soggy.

Though they can both be part of a healthy diet, sweet potatoes are generally healthier than regular potatoes, partly because of their incredibly high vitamin A content. Sweet potatoes are also lower on the glycemic index, meaning that they are less likely than regular potatoes to make your blood sugar spike.