With their deliciously smooth taste and nutrient content, sweet potatoes are perfect as both a staple food and as a “sometimes” snack. While some cooking styles can raise the fat and sugar content of sweet potatoes, steaming uses zero-calorie water so you can enjoy the potatoes without feeling guilty. Best of all, it’s easy — all you need is heat, water, and a few pieces of cookware.
Step One
Peel the sweet potatoes. This is generally easiest to do with a conventional potato peeler. You can also use a sharp knife.Throw the peelings into a compost bin to avoid waste. Better yet, cut the peels into long strips, leave a little flesh on them, and make sweet potato skins
Step Two
Cut the potatoes into chunks. The exact size isn’t important — cutting each potato into three or four slices is usually fine. What matters is that all the chunks are about the same size so that they cook evenly.
Step Three
Boil the water. Put the pot + steam tray on the stove over high heat. Cover the pot. When the water reaches a strong boil, reduce the heat to medium. Let the potatoes cook this way until soft all the way through.Depending on how big the sweet potato pieces are, cooking times will vary from about 15-20 minutes. A good policy is to check the potatoes for done-ness after about 12 minutes. You can do this by prodding them with a fork. If the fork slides in easily, the potato is cooked. If they still feel hard, cook for another 5 minutes.Remove the pot lid carefully — the escaping steam can burn you.
Step Four
Serve and enjoy. When the sweet potatoes are soft, they’re ready to eat. Turn off the heat and transfer them to a serving plate. Serve immediately. Season as desired.Sweet potatoes are (obviously) naturally sweet, so you can enjoy them as-is if you wish. In the next section, however, we’ve provided a few easy serving suggestions if you don’t want to eat them plain.