Well, not with your mind, but with nothing but an oven and some time. No marshmallows or brown sugar needed. Butter is always welcome.
Buy Your Sweet Potatoes
Choose the smallest ones you can find. I get mine from my local organic farmer, so they are much smaller than you might be used to, but that makes them better. I’m usually not all food-privilegy, but those organic sweet potatoes are a way better starting base for this kind of recipe than the over-sized, starchy ones from the big-box grocery store. Buying the smallest you can find helps mitigate this.
Put Your Oven on Low
This is about 300 degrees Farenheit.
Poke Holes in Your Sweet Potatoes
Take a fork and just stab the potatoes 3-4 times. Put them in a pan. I use my cast-iron skillet mostly because I use my cast-iron skillet for everything.
Put Everything in the Oven for a Very Long Time
I’ve never timed this because this is something I do on a wintery Sunday morning when I’m hanging around, doing laundry, and cleaning my bathroom. I probably have left them in for up to 3 or 4 hours, though they’re usually ready after 2 or so hours.
Why all the time? When you cook sweet potatoes very slowly on a low oven, all those sugars get extra sweet. This is the same slow-cooking idea that makes caramelized onions so good and braised Brussels sprouts extra sweet.
You’ll know it’s time to check on your potatoes when you start to hear them exuding sugary goodness. Trust me when I say you will hear this, and smell it (it smells delicious!). Poke the potatoes with a fork at this point. If the flesh yields easily, they are done. If you get some resistance, let them cook a while longer.
Eat
Cut a slit down the middle and drop a pat of butter on your potato. Eat. It’ll taste like candy. I promise.
7 replies on “How to Cook Sweet Potatoes With Only Your Mind”
This has been kicking around in my mind since this posted. I bought sweet potatoes today. Totally making this tomorrow.
I made these last night…they were YUM. They ooze this natural sugary syrup that gets all gooey and caramelly too, for extra deliciousness.
I don’t like sweet potatoes but I wonder if the slow cooking wold work as well on regular potatoes. Hmmm, must try!
Mmmmmm sweet potatoes. That’s all I can add.
I usually chop ’em into wedges, sprinkle with some chilli flakes and salt, and leave them – OMNOMNOM. But that’s the thing about sweet potatoes, they’re very versatile and very hard to get wrong :)
I have also made these in the crock pot while I’m at work. Because crock-pots = food magic.
I have never tried it without peeling them. Sounds yummy. I have sliced them in half, laid them in a pan with a bit of water and baked until the skins pucker.