Everyone’s better after a spa day—including Sweet Potatoes! What’s more, letting them take a dip in hot water benefits both them AND you!
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We all know and love sweet potatoes for their delicious, nutritious, and oh-so delicate flesh! It’s one of the few times a vegan can say they shamelessly enjoy the “meat” and potatoes at the table, what with sweet potatoes being so flavorful yet so rich in B6 and pro-vitamin A compounds. But did you know that a portion of their nutritional value gets lost during certain cooking processes? Though the nutrients lost when microwaving your food is negligible, vitamin K is shown to slowly leach from food when cooked for long periods of time. Boiling vegetables runs the risk of losing essential vitamin C as it dissolves into water.
That’s why it’s really important to carefully consider the method you use to cook your nutritious vegetables and meats! Overcooking anything will sap it of its good stuff, but even cooking it the wrong way can drain your food of flavor, benefits, or both!
That’s why we’re boiling our sweet potatoes today! Because sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotene (the pro-vitamin A compound that turns into retinol in your body), we don’t want to lose any of it! Boiling your sweet potatoes helps preserve the beta-carotene content in those rich, orange spuds. If you want that puree-able, fluffy flesh to be nutrient dense and full of flavor, you can’t go wrong giving your sweet potatoes a hot bath!
You’ll love your boiled sweet potatoes—and here’s why!!
Sweet potato puree is so easy to make—just boil and mash them with a fork! Perfect for pies and other desserts but also for mashed sweet potatoes!
Some recipes call for your sweet potatoes to be thoroughly incorporated, so why not boil them to a fluffy, light consistency before baking something like a delicious sweet potato bread?
No better way to make sweet potato soup than to boil your sweet potatoes and use the remaining water for chicken bouillon! Then you’ve got a dish with consistent flavor throughout!
And if you’re not looking to put your boiled sweet potatoes in anything, might as well use it as a sweet and creamy smear for the bun of a delicious veggie burger!
Are boiled Sweet Potatoes Healthy?
Sweet potatoes are often used in place of your standard spuds for their naturally occurring sweetness and health benefits. The thing that makes sweet potatoes really stand out from your ordinary Idahos is the color! That color is caused by beta-carotene, a compound present in vibrant vegetables like carrots and peppers that converts to retinol (a vitamin A compound responsible for cell and tissue renewal) in your body! That, combined with two grams of protein for every cup of sweet potato, antioxidants, and minerals like magnesium and iron, makes sweet potatoes pretty darn good for you!
There is, however, the “sweet” aspect of sweet potatoes that has cause for slight concern. While sweet potatoes are totally vegan and boiling them is 100% paleo friendly, the carb content in sweet potatoes may concern keto-conscious eaters. That said, there is reason to believe that boiling your potatoes helps take those carbohydrates and reduce their overall impact on your glycemic index, meaning your blood sugars are better regulated eating boiled sweet potatoes than any other kind!
So just how long do I boil a sweet potato for?
Everyone loves a good spa day – even an hour in a steam room can do wonders for your skin and your mood – but everyone has a limit where sitting in hot water becomes too much! Sweet potatoes are no different when it comes to boiling them! Depending on the size of your sweet potatoes and whether or not they’re cut, you’ll want to boil them for different lengths of time to get that creamy texture!
Cubed sweet potatoes typically take anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes to get nice and tender. If you’re cubing your potatoes before you boil them, make sure the pot is circulating so no one spud gets more heat than the rest, and always test with a fork to ensure you don’t overcook!
If you’re looking to boil the potatoes in their skins, though, you’ll want to keep them in the water longer. Denser, larger sweet potatoes will require a longer steep to ensure the insides are thoroughly cooked and, if your pot isn’t big enough for all of your spuds at once, either cook in batches or frequently rotate which potatoes are fully submerged. Either way, the cooking time can take you as long as 50 minutes.
The general rule of thumb is, the larger your potatoes, the longer they’ll need to boil. Cubing your sweet potatoes (as we’ve recommended) is a great way to speed up the process without sacrificing flavor!
INGREDIENTS
- 2-4 lbs sweet potatoes
- Salt (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Prep
Peel and cut sweet potatoes, or leave them whole.
Boil
Bring water to a boil, add sweet potatoes.
Cook
Boil until tender, adjust the time based on size.
Drain
Drain and use in your favorite sweet potato dishes.
Devour!
FAQs & Tips
Boiling sweet potatoes can take a long time if you’re doing them whole, so it’s beneficial to make them ahead of time! If you need to store your freshly boiled sweet potatoes, do so in a heat-safe bowl covered with plastic wrap. Reheat in the microwave with the plastic wrap on to create a sort of steamer effect, keeping your potatoes from drying out!
We recommend cubed sweet potatoes for a 12-15 min. cook time, but if you’re in a rush, you can dice them (that is, cut them up to half the size) and reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes or so. If it’s all getting pureed anyway, who will know the difference?
Yes, so be careful not to boil your sweet potatoes for so long that they turn to mush before you get them out of the pot!
Serving Suggestions
Fluffy, nutritious sweet potatoes are the perfect side for any savory dinner, just give it a tasty place right next to some delicious salt and vinegar–style chicken wings for the perfect combination of sweet, savory, and acidic to cut right through it all! Sweet potatoes always pair nicely with any whole30 or paleo dinner you can think of, but my favorite use for them is as a substitute for Yukon Golds in a scrumptious potato salad!
How to Boil Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2-4 lbs sweet potatoes
- Salt optional
Instructions
-
Peel the sweet potatoes using a vegetable peeler and cut them into 1-inch or 2-inch chunks, or leave them whole with the skin on as per your preference.
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Fill a large pot with water, add a pinch of salt if desired, and bring it to a rolling boil, ensuring the water level is sufficient to cover the sweet potatoes by at least 1 inch.
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Gently add the sweet potatoes to the boiling water, reduce the heat to maintain a steady boil, and cook until tender. The cooking times are approximately 12-15 minutes for 1-inch cubes, 20-25 minutes for 2-inch cubes, 30-40 minutes for small– to–medium whole potatoes, and 40-50 minutes for large whole potatoes.
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Once the sweet potatoes are fully cooked, drain them in a colander or remove them with a slotted spoon and proceed to use them in your preferred recipes such as mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato pie, or sweet potato casserole.
Nutrition
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