Secret Ingredient Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why put egg in sweet potato casserole? ›

The egg is the all-important binder in a sweet potato casserole: it enriches and stiffens the mixture without making it heavy. Make sure to cool the mash slightly before adding the egg so it doesn't scramble, and to stir well so there are no streaks of cooked egg white in the finished dish.

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Baking can also cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels, twice as much as boiling. Therefore, from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking should be recommended for cooking sweet potato.

Boiling sweet potatoes retains more beta-carotene and makes the nutrient more absorbable than other cooking methods such as baking or frying. Up to 92% of the nutrient can be retained by limiting the cook time, such as boiling in a pot with a tightly covered lid for 20 minutes.

Eggs and cream help stabilize the dish and prevent it from becoming too runny (a common complaint with many sweet potato casserole recipes). Make it as smooth or chunky as you like!

Eggs (or not!)

– I've made this sweet potato casserole with and without eggs, both ways are delicious. The eggs act as a binder and gives the casserole a light and fluffy texture. Without eggs, the casserole doesn't have as much structure but it still silky smooth and tastes delicious.

(Another hot tip if you're boiling your sweet potatoes: Don't overcook them! They tend to absorb water, which could make the filling watery.) So, say you do have some undercooked bits of sweet potato. You have two choices: Pick them out or bake your sweet potato casserole long enough to soften the underdone pieces.

The most versatile and sweetest variation of sweet potatoes is the Beauregard. Throughout the United States, you will see this species stacked high in the grocery stores during the holiday season. Beauregard's have a bit of a stringy texture, but they stay soft: this is what makes them so popular.

It's absolutely delicious to mash sweet potato with honey, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. rosemary! I make sweet potato fries in the oven with just a pinch of salt and pepper, oil, and a ton of rosemary... absolutely delish!

Why are my sweet potatoes tasteless? ›

So if you want a sweet, sweet potato, you have to cook it until it reaches 135–170°F (57–77°C). And you want to keep sweet potatoes in that range for as long as possible. That will maximize how sweet the potatoes taste.

1) Always poke a few holes.

Before baking, use a fork to prick each sweet potato several times. You don't need to jab the fork in deep. We're creating steam vents. Otherwise the pressure in the sweet potato could build up so high in the oven that it explodes—an unlikely possibility but one best avoided!

There is not much difference between boiling sweet potatoes with the skins on versus peeling them, but you will get a boost of fiber and potassium if you keep the skin on. The skin also adds a subtle texture to each bite. If you're looking for a smoother mash, peel the potatoes first before boiling.

Skipping the Scrub-and-Wash Step

Sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and skipping the cleaning step means dirt or grit can end up in your sweet potato casserole. Before cooking or cutting sweet potatoes, wash the skins and give them a scrub with a clean vegetable brush.

Sweet potatoes are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. Sweet potatoes are great sources of vitamin A, vitamin C, beta carotene, fiber and potassium. Sweet potatoes can be white, yellow, red, purple or orange. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are sweeter than the other varieties.

So, to make cutting easy, you want to go ahead and soften them first using one of the methods below. Parboiling – Cut off both ends of the sweet potato, and place it in a large pot of water. Bring the liquid to a boil. Then, reduce the heat slightly, and let the potato simmer for about eight minutes.

Despite their sweet taste, these potatoes have an intermediate glycemic index (GI) level, meaning they are digested and absorbed fairly slowly, leading to a more gradual increase in blood sugar levels. But, a lot of these benefits, including nutrients and taste, can be lost by boiling sweet potatoes.