12 Common Mistakes People Make When Cooking With Sweet Potatoes, According To Experts

The colors of fall's turning leaves are reflected in kitchen aesthetics and a lot of the vegetable produce that hits stores. Pumpkins and squashes hog much of the foodie limelight but August to November is also sweet potato season. Some might consider this superfood the knobbly ugly sister to the pumpkin, and while you certainly can't carve a lantern from them, sweet potatoes still bring a lot to the table.

They're an easy way to boost our vitamin A intake, great for our gut, vision, and brain health, and they're easily digestible for people with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Sweet potatoes originally came from warm, wet locations in Central and South America, and were known as potatoes until the 18th century, when American colonists dubbed them "sweet" to distinguish them from "white" potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are roots from the morning glory family, and while it's easy for home cooks to confuse them with yams or taro, there are significant differences. Yams are tubers from the Dioscorea family, with a bark-like skin and drier, starchier flesh. Taro is a corm from the Araceae family, with a delicate, nutty flavor and is softer and stickier when cooked. We turned to experts Grace Vallo of Tastefully Grace, Maricel Gentile of Maricel's Kitchen, and Melba Wilson of Melba's Restaurant for their thoughts on common mistakes people make when cooking with sweet potatoes.

There are — according to our experts — hundreds of types of sweet potato grown around the world. When you come across any at your local grocer or supermarket, then chances are they will be one of a handful of popular varieties. The Jewel, Beauregard, and Garnet sweet potato types all look fairly similar, with orange flesh and skins. These soft, creamy veggies are most often found on Thanksgiving tables.

Ube can be mistaken for purple Okinawan sweet potatoes, but they're quite different. Okinawans are also more vibrantly colored, denser, and drier than their orange cousins, with a mildly sweet yet very earthy flavor. "These potatoes may take a little longer to cook when baking or roasting," said Melba Wilson, but the nutritional punch they pack is worth the extra time. She also recommends the Japanese sweet potato, which is reddish-purple on the outside with a yellow or white interior. They're very sweet and have a flavor like chestnuts.

Slow roasted, they're also a particular favorite of Maricel Gentile. She said that, irrespective of their color, none of the most common varieties of sweet potato needed any particularly special treatment. However, Gentile did warn that their starch and moisture levels would change both the cooking time and texture, so it's worth doing some research.

It's easy to spot a ripe banana, with its plastic-wrapped stem, from one that's past its prime. It's not quite as simple with sweet potatoes. They're strange-looking products that come in a range of shapes and sizes. For home cooks who have never bought them before, it can be tempting to leave them on the display rather than risk buying something that's inedible. Our experts have got you covered.

"Sweet potatoes often have quirky shapes, but that's normal," said Grace Vallo. Just like white potatoes, sweet potatoes can also develop sprouts, and should be avoided if they're bigger than small eyes in the skin. "A little sprout can be trimmed, but if the potato feels mushy or has large dark patches, it's past its prime," she said.

All of our experts said the same thing about the smell of a sweet potato. If it smells sour, do not put it in your cart. "A healthy sweet potato should feel heavy and firm, with smooth skin, said Maricel Gentile. The Maricel's Kitchen creator also warned home cooks to steer clear of any sweet potatoes looking shriveled or that leaked. Chef Melba Wilson urged shoppers to use their senses when looking for sweet potatoes, and should choose ones with "the same firm consistency all around."

Some home cooks cook their produce on the same day they bought it, but that's not the case for everyone. When it comes to keeping your sweet potatoes in tip-top condition, there are a few rules to follow. First, just like the eggs in Ina Garten's kitchen, you can leave them on your countertop for up to two weeks. Any longer than that, and you need to find an alternative location. Don't be tempted to pop them in the fridge, warned Grace Vallo. "Cold temperatures alter their texture and flavor, sometimes making them hard in the center after you cook them," she said.

Melba Wilson issued a plea to home cooks. "Until you're ready to eat these babies, please... Let them be!" she said. "Let them stay wrapped in the earthy embrace of the soil they came from. Think of the dirt as nature's protective quilt." She, like all our experts, recommended storing sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place.

As for washing them before they're cooked? For Wilson and Maricel Gentile, it's a big no-no. Wilson likened it to "sending them to a spa they never asked for, and would make them "grumpy." The chef added that cleaning the veggies with water would turn a "sweet potato stash into a not-so good science experiment."

There never seems to be a day go by without learning that we've probably been washing apples wrong or discovering that our store-bought eggs don't need cleaning at all. Another mistake people make is not washing their sweet potatoes before they're cooked. Considering the havoc water can wreak on these vegetables while they are in storage, it's understandable why some might want to skip this step — but our experts disagree.

Sweet potatoes are grown underground and many producers cure them in the soil, too, as it minimizes chemical use and can reduce waste. What that means for home cooks buying them is: They're often covered in varying amounts of dirt. Cleaning it off isn't a difficult job, but it does require a little care and attention. Grace Vallo recommended giving them a thorough wash as dirt often clings to the skin.

Both she and Maricel Gentile recommended waiting until right before cooking sweet potatoes before cleaning them. Gentile urged home cooks to scrub the skin "gently since it is edible and full of nutrients." A soft brush or a firm rub with a clean cloth will both do a good job of eliminating the dirt from the knobbles and crannies without damaging the sweet potato's skin. A mud-free veggie means you're also more likely to be able to use the cooking water for future stocks or soups.

There's no denying the joy of plunging a fork into a super-soft, baked sweet potato or biting into perfect roasties, thanks to this trick. But there's a lot more flexibility to sweet potatoes than many of us realize. "Some people use sweet potatoes as a sweetener and for dishes like hummus, breakfast hash, layering in lasagna, grain bowls, cheesecake, and even sweet potato ice cream," said Melba Wilson.

Grace Vallo admired their flavor flexibility. She loves roasting wedges that have been rubbed with olive oil, smoked paprika, and garlic, or giving gnocchi a fall twist by using sweet potatoes instead of white ones. As for desserts? Vallo understands the love for pie but added, "Muffins are an underrated way to show off their natural sweetness."

Sweet potatoes also make beautiful breads, custards, and ice creams, according to Maricel Gentile, who is also a big fan of Filipino ginataang kamote: sweet potato simmered in coconut milk. She also highlighted a Japanese treat, "Daigaku imo" or "university potatoes." These are fried sweet potato chunks, glazed in a caramel-like sugar syrup with sesame seeds. "In the Philippines, kamote halaya (sweet potato jam) is just as comforting as the famous ube halaya, but less well known," Gentile said.

There are lots of vegetables we can eat every part of, and sweet potatoes are firmly among that low-waste group. Like white potatoes, they can be cooked in a variety of ways — with the skin on or off. It's a mistake to automatically get rid of it: There are plenty of good reasons to keep the peel on, not least because it tastes amazing. Sweet potato skin — no matter the variety — is a good source of fiber and vitamins C and E. Cooking them with the peel also boosts their beta-carotene and potassium content.

Baking sweet potatoes is a relatively simple way to cook them, but some people struggle to chew the skins, especially if their veggies are a little older and woodier. An easy fix is to slather them in fat and salt before cooking. A good rub with avocado or olive oil, or flavor-boosting bacon grease, followed by plenty of salt, will result in a crispy, sweet-savory dish that is filling and delicious.

Of course, not every recipe calls for sweet potato skin. If you have a hard time peeling them without losing too much of the interior flesh, there are simple solutions to that too. Throw away your peeler and try this boiling water hack, or steam your sweet potatoes the day before, let them go completely cold, and peel off the skin in seconds.

"My mom would put a little oil on the skin of the sweet potato, wrap them in foil and bake them in the oven," said Melba Wilson. That's certainly a delicious way to cook sweet potatoes, though some would skip the aluminum foil, but one mistake many people make is using too much oil. Instead of a light, crispy dish, they end up soggy, greasy, and unappealing. There are a few ways to avoid this. First, choose the right kind of oil for your cooking method.

Deep-fried sweet potatoes can be a slightly healthier alternative to those made with traditional white potatoes especially if cooked in vegetable oil, rather than tallow. Some home cooks use seed oils like canola, safflower or sunflower to fry their sweet potatoes, but the boom in air fryers has also helped cut the amount of fat needed to get crispy results.

Different oils will enhance either the sweet or savory flavors of sweet potatoes, adding to their versatility. Coconut oil and caramelized sweet potatoes  – with the skin on for maximum nutrients — makes for a mouthwatering side, while a splash of garlic oil over oven-baked veggies adds a dash of Mediterranean flavor to your sweet potato dish, no matter which color you choose.

A crispy-skinned sweet potato has a place in many people's hearts, but lots of home cooks choose to bake or steam their veggies. While it can be a healthier option compared to frying, the belief that it retains more of the sweet potato's nutrients is a mistaken one. To get the most health benefits, boiling is the best cooking method of all.

Sweet potatoes are among a number of foods that contain a lot of oxalic acid, which can reduce our ability to absorb calcium. Boiling your sweet potatoes will eliminate more oxalic acid than steaming. Even better, it ensures more of the resistant starch in sweet potatoes stays in the vegetable, giving a fiber boost to the good bacteria in our gut.

Of course some nutrients are lost in the cooking process, no matter which one is used. However, it's also worth bearing in mind that, compared to baking, boiling sweet potatoes eliminates much less of their vitamin A. It's a cooking method Maricel Gentile is familiar with, thanks to her Philippines roots. She explained boiled sweet potatoes, known as kamote, were an "affordable, filling, and nourishing" snack or meal for families, especially those living in the provinces.

Microwaves have gone from being luxury items to an essential part of our kitchen kit in just a few decades. Although many simply reheat cold foods or defrost something fast, microwaves are great for a vast range of recipes, including cooking sweet potatoes. It won't give you the caramelized skin a long bake in the oven serves up, but it will dramatically cut the amount of time you have to wait for your veggie dish.

There are several key things to remember when microwaving sweet potatoes. Most importantly, don't forget to prick the skins before cooking. An exploded sweet potato is a good excuse to use this cleaning hack, but you'll still have no dinner. Just as crucial is how long you cook it in the microwave. Instead of one long blast, slow the process down a little by using short blasts of around five minutes — depending on the size of your sweet potato — turning and checking it at the end of each run to ensure the interior cooks evenly.

Many people set their microwaves to full power and use it for everything — but sweet potatoes need more than just "nuking." Grab a food thermometer to verify that the inside is at 200 F. When it hits that magic number, transfer your sweet potato to the oven, pre-heated to 425 F, and it will finish the job in around an hour, complete with crispy skin.

Cooking can be a series of (mis)adventures and a process that works for one dish or ingredient doesn't always apply to another. Take aluminum foil, for example. It's great for preventing meat from burning but it can be a bit of a false friend when baking sweet potatoes.

When Melba Wilson's mom wrapped her baked veggies in foil, many home cooks will assume she was looking for a melt-in-the-mouth, creamy, and smooth interior. This cooking method is ideal for recipes that call for just the flesh of the sweet potato — think pie fillings or boosting store-bought muffin mix. But foil is an absolute no-no if you're looking for crispy skin. Wrapping your sweet potatoes in the metal prevents steam from escaping, so while the flesh is moist and succulent, the exterior of the sweet potato suffers.

Instead of crisp, baked goodness, the skin can be soggy, potentially making it less appetizing, so we miss out on all the nutritional goodies. Ditch the foil and, for absolute peak sweet potato deliciousness, cook them in the oven from cold. It extends the cooking time, giving the sugars more time to caramelize. To get an even bake and prevent them wobbling around, don't bother with a baking sheet, either; place them straight on the rack.

It's well known that raw potatoes start to turn brown after they're cut, a process known as oxidation. They are still edible but don't look very appetizing, so putting them in cold water prevents that from happening. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, don't oxidize after they are cut, though they will dry out if left for too long. They can be steeped in cold water for up to 24 hours before being cooked, though Japanese mashed potato dish kinton calls for sweet potatoes to be immersed in water for around five minutes.

If you're planning to serve sweet potato fries, keeping them moist is not the only advantage it brings. Often seen as a better-for-you alternative to traditional fries, the sweet potato version benefits from a roughly 30-minute cold bath ahead of being deep or air fried. This simple step helps reduce the amount of starch in the vegetable and adding a pinch of salt will remove even more.

As well as giving them a firmer texture, less starch in sweet potato fries means a crispier end result — though there are some who don't soak their fries at all. They achieve crispiness by rolling the cut veggies in corn starch before drizzling them with oil and cooking.

Our experts were unanimous when it came to storing uncooked, unpeeled sweet potatoes: They need a cool, dry place away from moisture lest they rot before you want to eat them. Once the vegetable has been cut or cooked, it's a different story altogether.

It's easy to underestimate how much sweet potato you're going to use for a recipe, and buy veggies that are on the bigger side. Once they have been cut, any halves or larger slices with skin on that isn't being used straight away can be popped in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap or foil. It will keep for up to five days. If you have leftover sliced or cubed sweet potato, you can find the right place for it in your fridge, too.

Put it in a lidded container and cover it completely with water to stop it drying out. Remember to change the water every two days to prevent bacterial growth, and check for signs it has spoiled, either a color change or if it starts to smell. You can also freeze cut sweet potato for up to a year by blanching it to preserve the color then popping into labelled, dated bags.