Cooking tips
From baking and boiling through to air frying and mashing, there are many ways to cook up a storm in the kitchen with the humble yet nutritious sweetpotato.
Discover top tips for selecting, preparing, and cooking sweetpotatoes in our definitive guide on getting the most out of your sweetpotato.
What to look for in the perfect sweetpotato
North Carolina produces the best sweetpotatoes in the world, with bright orange flesh and a naturally sweet taste, it’s worth checking that your sweetpotatoes come from our state!
The combination of our unique humid climate, fertile soil and advanced farming methods produce quality sweetpotatoes with strong genetics and a consistent flavour yield after yield.
For the best results in the kitchen, look for firm sweetpotatoes that are small to medium in size with smooth, unblemished skins and no dark spots.
If you don’t plan on cooking straight away, make sure to store sweetpotatoes in a cool, dry, and dark place – much like they are hidden beneath the fertile soil of North Carolina.
It’s important to not refrigerate sweetpotatoes as they will dry out, and you’ll never get that buttery, sweet flesh we all know and love.
Cooking methods
Baking is one of the most popular methods of cooking sweetpotatoes and can result in a soft, buttery, and tender sweetpotato that’s perfect as either a side dish or a nutritious main when topped with anything from chilli to chickpeas.
The simplest way to bake a sweetpotato is to:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes to an hour depending on their size, until they’re easy to pierce with a knife.
Top tip: Lightly brush the sweetpotatoes with your favourite oil and season with sea salt for extra crispy skin!
Interested in elevating your baked sweetpotato? Check out this sweetpotato dauphinoise recipe for a twist on a classic French side that’s creamy and comforting, or if you’re looking for a light dinner, try our salsa and guacamole stuffed sweetpotatoes.
Microwaving sweetpotatoes is an ideal cooking method if you’re short on time and want to create a quick, delicious and nutritious meal. You’ll get a similar result to baked sweetpotatoes in a fraction of the time!
Here’s the easiest way:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Microwave on the highest setting for 8-10 minutes, turning once, until tender and piping hot.
Boiling sweetpotatoes is the go-to method for many delicious recipes that call for tender and sweet flesh that can be transformed into mash for topping pies through to purees to knead into homemade gnocchi. This is how to do it:
- Peel away the skin and cut into evenly sized cubes.
- Place them into a pan and cover with water by a few inches with a pinch of salt.
- Boil the water, reduce to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Carefully drain the sweetpotatoes and you’re good to go.
For many people, there’s nothing better than creamy, silky, warming mash that works as a versatile side dish or can be used as the basis for exciting recipes like this sweetpotato au gratin.
By reaching for sweetpotatoes instead of white or Irish potatoes, you’ll have a vitamin packed alternative that will keep you fuller for longer and add a vibrant pop of colour to your plate.
After baking or boiling, here’s what to do:
- Scoop the flesh out of the baked tatties and add to a pan or leave the drained cubes in the pan if boiled.
- Add your favourite dairy or substitute like butter, milk or soya milk, and season well.
- Mash away with a potato masher and serve.
If you’re looking for more inspiration on making the most of mashed sweetpotatoes, why not try our German cottage sweetpotato pie with bacon? It’s a crowd pleasing that’s inexpensive and delivers lots of flavour.
Air fryers are becoming a kitchen essential, praised for yielding similar results to an oven but saving on energy and time. The air fryer is great for producing sweetpotatoes with crispy skins and velvet like flesh, without having to turn the oven on and with minimal oil.
Great as a side, here is how to cook our air fryer Hasselback sweetpotatoes:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Leaving the skin on, cut them into evenly sized cubes.
- Preheat the air fryer to 180c and toss the cubes in your favourite seasonings while you wait.
- Place them into the air fryer basket and bake for 15 minutes until crispy and tender
Top tip: You can peel sweetpotatoes, but leaving the skin on ensures more nutritional value – add fibre as well as a crispy texture to your favourite recipes.
Baking
Baking is one of the most popular methods of cooking sweetpotatoes and can result in a soft, buttery, and tender sweetpotato that’s perfect as either a side dish or a nutritious main when topped with anything from chilli to chickpeas.
The simplest way to bake a sweetpotato is to:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes to an hour depending on their size, until they’re easy to pierce with a knife.
Top tip: Lightly brush the sweetpotatoes with your favourite oil and season with sea salt for extra crispy skin!
Interested in elevating your baked sweetpotato? Check out this sweetpotato dauphinoise recipe for a twist on a classic French side that’s creamy and comforting, or if you’re looking for a light dinner, try our salsa and guacamole stuffed sweetpotatoes.
Microwave
Microwaving sweetpotatoes is an ideal cooking method if you’re short on time and want to create a quick, delicious and nutritious meal. You’ll get a similar result to baked sweetpotatoes in a fraction of the time!
Here’s the easiest way:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Microwave on the highest setting for 8-10 minutes, turning once, until tender and piping hot.
Boiling
Boiling sweetpotatoes is the go-to method for many delicious recipes that call for tender and sweet flesh that can be transformed into mash for topping pies through to purees to knead into homemade gnocchi. This is how to do it:
- Peel away the skin and cut into evenly sized cubes.
- Place them into a pan and cover with water by a few inches with a pinch of salt.
- Boil the water, reduce to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Carefully drain the sweetpotatoes and you’re good to go.
Mashing
For many people, there’s nothing better than creamy, silky, warming mash that works as a versatile side dish or can be used as the basis for exciting recipes like this sweetpotato au gratin.
By reaching for sweetpotatoes instead of white or Irish potatoes, you’ll have a vitamin packed alternative that will keep you fuller for longer and add a vibrant pop of colour to your plate.
After baking or boiling, here’s what to do:
- Scoop the flesh out of the baked tatties and add to a pan or leave the drained cubes in the pan if boiled.
- Add your favourite dairy or substitute like butter, milk or soya milk, and season well.
- Mash away with a potato masher and serve.
If you’re looking for more inspiration on making the most of mashed sweetpotatoes, why not try our German cottage sweetpotato pie with bacon? It’s a crowd pleasing that’s inexpensive and delivers lots of flavour.
Air Fryer
Air fryers are becoming a kitchen essential, praised for yielding similar results to an oven but saving on energy and time. The air fryer is great for producing sweetpotatoes with crispy skins and velvet like flesh, without having to turn the oven on and with minimal oil.
Great as a side, here is how to cook our air fryer Hasselback sweetpotatoes:
- Wash and scrub off any dirt, pat them dry and prick all over with a fork.
- Leaving the skin on, cut them into evenly sized cubes.
- Preheat the air fryer to 180c and toss the cubes in your favourite seasonings while you wait.
- Place them into the air fryer basket and bake for 15 minutes until crispy and tender
Top tip: You can peel sweetpotatoes, but leaving the skin on ensures more nutritional value – add fibre as well as a crispy texture to your favourite recipes.
The versatility of sweetpotatoes
The sweetpotato is a member of the morning glory family and is botanically classified in the genus Ipomoea batata. Unlike other vegetables, sweetpotatoes are grown from ‘slips’ or shoots of mature sweetpotatoes and don’t start from seeds.
Sweetpotatoes are vibrant, versatile, and delicious root vegetables that are highly nutritious and packed with health benefits. Sweetpotato are a rich source of Vitamin A, and feature a variety of other nutritional benefits that can help your body fight off illness and infection.
Sweetpotatoes are harvested in the autumn or ‘fall’ in North Carolina but can be purchased throughout the year thanks to an innovative curing process that puts the sweetpotatoes into a state of hibernation to extend their shelf life for a full year so they can be exported across the world.
Ready to start cooking?
Now you know the basics of cooking sweetpotatoes, head to our recipe page for inspiration on how to use these methods in our quick, easy and delicious recipes.
