How to Bake a Potato

Sweet potatoes were first introduced to the rest of the world when Columbus brought them over from the island of Saint Thomas. You can bake ‘em, boil ‘em, microwave ‘em…. Just about anything you can do with a potato, you can do with a sweet potato. Below are four ways to go.

Step 1: Bake sweet potatoes in their jackets. Wash, cut off the ends and bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 40 to 60 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes and how firm you want them to be). Bake the potatoes on a baking sheet; the sugars in the potatoes can drip out and burn on the floor of your oven.

Step 2: Roast peeled chunks of sweet potatoes with onions in a 400 degree F oven for 40 to 60 minutes. Drizzle a little olive oil on the potatoes first.

Step 3: Boil or steam peeled or unpeeled sweet potatoes, either cut into chunks or not, until tender. The time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes or chunks – from 5 minutes for small chunks to 30 minutes for whole potatoes.

Step 4: Wrap peeled or unpeeled sweet potatoes loosely in plastic wrap (prick with a fork in a few places first) and microwave 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. (Use the Potato setting if your microwave has one.)

Step 5: Mash cooked sweet potato and blend with butter and a little milk for a smooth puree. Add brown sugar plus cinnamon, cloves or ginger if you wish. A well-cooked sweet potato will mash almost instantly with just a fork.

There are several kinds of sweet potato. You’re most likely to see the light yellow, drier variety, and a darker, moister, sweeter variety, often mislabeled as a yam. You can use either variety of sweet potato, moist or dry, in recipes, but not both together, as they have different cooking times. The dry variety cooks more quickly than the moist variety.

See the Related eHows for more sweet potato recipes.