Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato ♥

A sweet potato cooked in the microwave is so easy, so good!BIG NEWS TODAY! HealthCentral's MyDietExercise.com picked A Veggie Venture as one of its best sites dedicated to diet and exercise! I'm so pleased that my collection of vegetable recipes shares the list with personal idol Hungry Girl, the Diet Blog and others. Many thanks to MyDietExercise.com and especially, a big big big 'thank you' to all of you who visit here so faithfully; it truly inspires me to seek out new ways of cooking, eating and completely enjoying vegetables.

HealthCentral Top Site Award

You know, like .... sweet potatoes!

I didn't mean to mislead. So many readers have clicked on 'microwave sweet potato' -- but wait! don't waste a click, that link leads only to a review of a convenience product. It doesn't actually tell how to cook a sweet potato in the microwave.

Consider that fixed! And I am sooo pleased, just me myself, that it's so easy to cook a sweet potato in the microwave. It's my new go-to lunch!

(And just so you know, ever since realizing that readers were clicking on a link likely to disappoint, I adjusted my collection of microwave vegetable recipes to separate recipes for fresh vegetables from occasional reviews of convenience products.)

The source of this microwave technique for sweet potatoes is the always reliable Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka. This book is just so completely thorough! Barbara writes that microwaving a whole sweet potato is suitable for purees and pie, which intimates, doesn't it, that the texture is unpalatable for eating straight from the jacket? Not true! Just slice open a sweet potato cooked in the microwave, add a bit of butter and seasoning and voila, call it lunch! The texture is lovely, the taste is great!

Since so many offices have microwaves, this could be a great lunch for work, too - though it does take some time so perhaps cooking it during prime 'reheat' times would be bad office etiquette.

COST And the other bad thing about the convenience products? Price! When I checked recently, a plastic-wrapped sweet potato costs $1.39 for a 2/3 pound sweet potato. A regular sweet potato about the same weight would sell for only $.66. That's a bargain!

Excuse me, please, it's almost noon. Guess what I'm making for lunch ...



FROM THE ARCHIVES See the Recipe Box for all the sweet potato recipes, including the a fall favorite, chicken cider stew, and an easy side dish, maple ginger sweet potatoes.

DELICIOUS MICROWAVE SWEET POTATO

Hands-on time: 1 minute
Time to table: 10 minutes for an 850 watt microwave
Makes 1 sweet potato

1 sweet potato

Wash well but don't peel. Prick skin with tip of knife two or three places. Place on a paper towel in microwave. (I also put a paper towel loosely over top, just in case, but no explosions so far!) Cook on high for 5 minutes. Turn, placing what HAD been on the bottom on top. Cook another 5 minutes. (Microwave strengths vary, experiment with yours til you know.)

Vegetable Love says 13 - 15 minutes for 2 one-pound sweet potatoes.



HOW MANY CALORIES, CARBS & WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS IN SWEET POTATOES
Nutrition Information Per 1/4 pound of raw sweet potatoes, flesh, no skins: Per Serving: 86 Cal (1% from Fat, 8% from Protein, 91% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 20 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; 4 g Sugar; 34 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 15 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

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How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the best source of free vegetable recipes with 700+ quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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Your Comments:

Congrats on that mention, Alanna! And a sweet potato sounds good. We only use the microwave to warm up milk for K's hot chocolate in our house, and I'm happy with that. But you have just reminded me that I should pick up a sweet potato every now and then. Any tips for steaming/baking it??
Congratulations, Alanna! Yours is one of my go-to sites for ideas for what to do with my garden and farmers' market veggies. And I do love sweet potatoes!
The sweet potato would be a perfect lunch for me, sounds delicious. Congratulations on being chosen one of the best diet sites, great job!
Congratulations, Alanna! What great news. Way to go!

I adore sweet potatoes and a couple of times a year (usually in autumn when they're abundant and on sale) I go on binges and devour pounds and pounds of them. They're so tasty just sprinkled with salt that I can never figure out why so many people drown them under oodles of sugar and (gasp) marshmallows! Of course I've never had one of those marshmallow casseroles, so I probably shouldn't say anything. : )

Again, congratulations!

P.S. Your personalized message under "Leave your comment" is great. I need to figure out how to do that.
I think the award is well-suited for this site as my family now eats many more veggies because I know I can always find a tasty recipe for whatever I find at the grocery store. My five year old now loves roasted cauliflower and my soon to be two year old adores the stir-fried broccoli. Carrots are the favorite of my four year old. Why? All because I found the recipes here. Thank you.
i love this site - and will be checking in on it regularly - i also loved the links provided. thanks
sheila
I love sweet potatoes! They're such an awesome diet cheat food because they're sweet and starchy, so you feel like you're eating something really decadent.
I love sweet potatoes. Try a microwaved sweet potato with houmous (whatever flavour) and some balsamic vinegar dressed leaves or even with a tart, Puy lentil dressing. The possibilities are endless. BTW, one great way to eat sweet potatoes is to steam or boil till just done then stir in a hot pan with olive oil, minced ginger (1/2" per potato), black pepper and a pinch of salt. When hot through, mash to a puree and use as an accompaniment to griddled salmon rubbed with coriander, cumin and a little paprika. A great combination. Serve garlicky mange-tout or french beans on the side for a very satisfying but healthy meal.
You've hit on one of my favorite healthy no-brainers. Try it with pasta sauce, melted cheese, tahini sauce...so many flavors match up. Great for breakfast. Years ago Bob Rodale published a target with healthy foods spread around according to food value, and sweet potatoes was the bullseye. Good for something so tasty and cheap!
Well deserved honor -- you give us so much!
Congratulations, Alanna! You totally deserve it. Veggies are so important to a healthy diet, and most people just don't know how to prepare them. I'm guilty of that, too, so when I need info about an unfamiliar vegetable, I always look through your archives for help.

I went through a phase when I was microwaving a sweet potato for lunch almost every day. They really are an inexpensive and filling meal.
Congrats Alanna! This is very deserving.
Alanna,
I'm finally back from vacation and I've been catching up on my blogging. I just wanted to say that it was great meeting you last week. You are such a warm and friendly person! Thank you again for getting things set up and making sure everyone was taken care of. I had a great time getting to know some other bloggers.
yay, congratulations! :)

The sweet potato is my most favorite vegetable and I have it very often. While I do prepare it mostly like you do, I have never cooked it in the microwave but I can see how that would save so much time and energy. I love mine with a bit of butter and a sprinkling of sugar, or maybe just butter alone, or as a stew. There's so much you can do with it. :)
Pille ~ Thank you! You can always check the sweet potato recipes for basic techniques. But here's the technique for steaming sweet potatoes and roasting/baking sweet potatoes.

Lydia ~ Thanks! It pleases me much that this is a go-to for you, another food writer.

Kalyn ~ Thanks! Yes, what an easy lunch.

Farmgirl ~ Thanks! I've never 'gotten' that sugary business either. PS The message is a new setting on Blogger.

Sarabeth ~ THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Shelia ~ Thanks!

Kelly ~ Then you'll love this new technique, too.

Evaga ~ That's a great way to do mashed sweet potatoes, sounds delicious.

Susan ~ Thanks! Psst. Maybe we shouldn't tell people that sweet potatoes are good for them, just that they taste good! :-)

Susan V ~ Thanks! Food stages, yes. I'm that way too.

Cynthia ~ Thanks~

Katie ~ Agreed!! Our food blogger supper was just amazing, it was so terrific to meet you too. I thank you for coming all the way into the city to meet all these 'strangers' (for about 10 seconds, right?!)

Christine ~ Thanks! Your favorite? Good choice! A bit of butter and a sprinkle of sugar, decadent!!
CONGRATS on also being named to HealthCentral.com's awards list. I was quite surprised when they chose my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog and it was an honor to be listed among blogs I respect like Hungry Girl and Diet Blog.

I'm LOVIN' yours, too, so KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! :D

Jimmy Moore
LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com
livinlowcarbman@charter.net
this tastes great with salsa, sour cream and a garnish of fresh cilantro leaves
I just now cooked a sweet potato in the microwave at work. I put it in for ten minutes, got involved with a task...and the whole place filled with smoke!!!!!!! How embarrassing.

Could be this particular tater was too small for the whole 10 minute duration...I think 3-4 minutes might have been better for this one.

Perhaps the instructions should read, "put sweet potato in, and check it after each minute or so"
Can I substitute the sweet potato for a yam & put some butter on top.
In most cases in the US, Victoria, yams = sweet potatoes. Real African yams are rare (check my post about real yams and they wouldn't cook well, I suspect, in a microwave. As for butter, well, do as you like, for sure.
Congratulations Alanna! And I was just wondering about microwaving sweet potatoes this week! You are definitely a great source for useful veggie info.
I just found your blog & I love it! One of my favorite quick & filling lunches/dinners is half of a baked sweet potato with just a touch of butter alongside mixed baby greens, grape tomatoes & 1/4 or 1/2 of an avocado--I squeeze lime juice & sprinkle some sea salt over everything & it's so delicious!
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