If you're like me, you're always looking for a quick but filling and nutritious meal on a busy day. One thing I've learned to do is to tuck a few sweet potatoes into the oven whenever I'm baking something. That way, I have a head start on a delicious, nutritious meal, ready to go whenever I'm hungry but pressed for time. Read on for several suggestions for how to use a baked sweet potato.
Whenever your oven is already in use and at about 350 degrees, tuck a few foil-wrapped sweet potatoes in here and there between pans or on another rack, wherever they'll fit. (I wrap them in foil because sometimes they ooze a little when baked whole.) Once the sweet potatoes are soft and can be easily pierced with a knife, remove them from the oven and let cool. Then pop them into a resealable plastic bag, or into a glass storage container (leave them whole; they will be a little fragile) and store them in the refrigerator.
If you have a microwave (I don't), you can quickly reheat your sweet potato. You can also cut it in half and put it into a toaster oven to reheat if a microwave isn't an option. From there the sky's the limit! Sweet potatoes are excellent for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and as a snack. Here are some excellent uses for sweet potatoes from our archives (be sure to check the comments for more great ideas):
• How to Turn a Baked Sweet Potato Into a Complete Meal
• Replace the pumpkin with Sweet Potatoes in Faith's Baked Pumpkin Steel Cut Oatmeal
• More than a Side Dish: 4 Meals Featuring Sweet Potatoes
• Recipe: Sweet Morning Potato
• Interesting Recipe Twists on the Common Sweet Potato
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This is a great tip!
I do this all the time, mostly with Japanese sweet potatoes but also with regular sweet potatoes and baking potatoes like russets. The potatoes are handy for quickly adding to dishes like a hash or soups or mashed for a bread dough. The Japanese sweet potatoes are great just hot and split with some butter. We never seem to have any of those left around to make a hash but I bet it would be good.
I've been eating boiled japanese sweet potatoes for breakfast for the past 3 months. i think they're superior to yams or orange counterparts.
Who needs to do something special with em.. just a little butter and some fresh cracked pepper and off ya go :)
I recently discovered -- when I was desperate for protein in the middle of my Hunger Challenge -- that a spoonful of peanut butter is truly amazing on top of a hot baked sweet potato.
Slow Lorus, how long do russets keep in the fridge when you do this?
Awesome tip!
I love making sweet potatoes ahead of time and having them for lunch. One of my fav ways is cold, cubed, and with Teaism's (of D.C.) miso sauce on top (I lessen the sugar in the recipe):
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/restaurants/bestbites/13722.html
@alicelost - A week or two! We wrap each one tightly in foil after they're baked and throw them in the fridge. Don't know if the foil helps with the storage or not but it's what we do.
I second the baked sweet potato with peanut butter (or other nut/seed butter). I've been eating these for breakfast regularly.
A Korean friend of mine owned a retail store while a friend of hers owned the produce store next door. Many days, the former would microwave up some sweet potatoes supplied by the latter and then they'd share them as a warm and hearty lunch--salt and pepper the only additions.
You could also freeze the baked sweet potatoes if you didn't want/need to use them right away.
@leapkate: Wow! Thanks for the PB tip. Just tried it and it's really good - and probably not something I'd have thought of on my own. Yum.
Like mine with peanut butter + soy sauce, kind of mushed up! So good and instant!!
My brother made a breakfast hash once that involved bacon, brown rice (fried to chewy-crisp in the bacon fat) and sweet potatoes, among other things. I still dream about it sometimes. I need to remember this tip, because the long bake time keeps me from making sweet potatoes very often.
Shorten the cooking process by giving them a 4 min. Blast in the microwave before putting them in the oven. I don't wrap tightly just place them on a piece of foil in the oven.
I freeze mashed, baked sweet potato in ice cube trays and add a bit to soup, curry or pancakes.
I always keep baked sweet potatoes on hand. For some reason I always end up mixing them with frozen peas and salt and pepper. I keep peas on hand too.
I love asian sweet potato on asian pastry.
I recently found a bread recipe that calls for sweet potato and plan on making it soon in my bread machine.
I simply wash potatoes. Toss on a baking sheet without using any foil. I bake at 400 and they come out perfect every time. I like to find ways to NOT use items like foil, etc. if I don't have to.
My favorite ways to eat them are:
1. Smoothie! 6 oz plain roasted sweet potato, 9-10 oz Kitchen basics chicken stock and seasoned with Lawry's Lemon Pepper seasoning. Delicious!
2. Mashed sweet potatoes topped with cinnamon, s & p, maple syrup and fage greek yogurt. SUPER good!