Spicy Sweet Potatoes

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This savoury, spicy sweet potato mash will bring excitement to any meal. Whether you serve it with pork, chicken, on tacos or rice bowls, or just as a snack, you’ll be thrilled!

I’m so pleased to bring this versatile, crowd pleaser of an easy side dish. Mashed spicy roasted sweet potatoes get a little burst of life from fresh lime juice and cilantro or parsley.

Of all the delicious ways to make sweet potatoes, this might just be my favourite way to prepare them. It’s easy, to be sure, but the payoff is huge.

I sometimes make a double batch of our spicy sweet potatoes. Served alongside roasted or grilled chicken or pork chops one night, on a rice bowl with black beans and carnitas another night, and on tacos a third night, you get serious bang for your buck with just a little work.

How to Choose Sweet Potatoes at the Grocery Store

Shopping Tips: Look for clean, firm sweet potatoes with a smooth skin and no cuts, bruises, or discolouration. Some sweet potatoes may have one end that is a little tough. That can be cut away after roasting.

Storage: Contrary to popular practice, storing potatoes under the sink is a bad idea. This is because you want to avoid frequent changes in temperature, and the pipes that carry hot water change temperature frequently.

The best bet is a cool (about 43°F to 50°F), well-ventilated, dark place (a basement or root cellar) in a perforated plastic bag or in a paper bag.
Do not be tempted to refrigerate uncooked sweet potatoes, as refrigeration converts the starch in potatoes to sugar, which causes an odd, sweet taste and discolouration.

Ingredients:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Neutral Oil
• Kosher Salt
• Canned Chipotles in Adobo
• Fresh Lime
• Fresh Cilantro or Parsley

Equipment:

• Oven or Toaster Oven
• Rimmed Half Sheet Pan
• Fork
• Potato Masher

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle

Pro tip: There is no better way to cook sweet potatoes than to roast them. No need to wrestle with a large pot of boiling water or cutting your sweet potato into wedges or cubes.

Simply keep the sweet potato skins intact, jab them all over with a fork to allow moisture to escape, rub with vegetable, sunflower, or refined coconut oil, then rub with kosher salt, and roast until beyond fork tender. I do not recommend using avocado oil, extra virgin coconut oil, or extra virgin olive oil because the smoke point is too low.

Many sweet potato recipes call for cubing the potatoes and boiling them, but you lose a lot of flavour and nutrients doing that. The cooking time is almost identical whether you roast or boil them, and the high temp roasting concentrates the intense sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

In fact, there’s no need for maple syrup or brown sugar in these spicy sweet potatoes; they have plenty of natural sweetness all on their own.

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Don’t run away screaming if you’re afraid of heat, you have options! These chipotle sweet potatoes can be as subtle or bold as your personal preferences allow by the simple expedient of adjusting the quantity of chipotles in adobo that you use.

If you’re a tender tongued heat novice, stick with one chili and consider removing the seeds before you mash it. If you’re a fire-breathing madman or madwoman, please feel free to add as many chipotles in adobo as you like! You could even go a step further and add red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper if you’re a professional chili head.

If you have leftover chipotles in adobo, you can separate the peppers and sauce into ice cube tray sections, freeze ’til solid, then transfer to airtight containers or zipper top freezer bags for future use. You’ll want them for your next batch of spicy sweet potatoes.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. 

Wash and dry your sweet potatoes, jab each potato all over with a fork, then rub with them with the oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Roast for 30 minutes in the hot oven, or until they are very soft and there are caramelized juices escaping from the potatoes.

Let them cool for a few minutes until they are just comfortable to handle. Smash the desired number of chipotles in adobo with the adobo sauce in a large bowl.

Scoop the sweet potatoes into the bowl over the chipotles, add the reserved ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, the juice of the half lime, and mash to your desired consistency. Taste the spicy sweet potatoes and adjust the salt and spice level if desired.

Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro or parsley. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.

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Mashed Spicy Sweet Potatoes

This savoury, spicy sweet potato mash will bring excitement to any meal. Whether you serve it with roast pork, chicken, on tacos or rice bowls, or just as a snack, you’ll be thrilled!

Course Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword mashed spicy sweet potatoes, roasted mashed sweet potatoes, spicy mashed sweet potatoes, spicy sweet potatoes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 104kcal

Author Rebecca Lindamood

Equipment

• sheet pan
• fork
• Potato Masher
• oven

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 teaspoon canola sunflower, grapeseed, vegetable or coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-3 chipotles in adobo depending on heat preference, plus 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
• ½ of a lime juiced
• 1 tablespoon Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Wash and dry your sweet potatoes, jab each potato all over with a fork, then rub with them with the oil and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Roast for 30 minutes, or until they are very soft and there are caramelized juices escaping from the potatoes.
• Let them cool just until they are comfortable to handle. Smash the desired number of chipotles in adobo with the adobo sauce in a heat-safe mixing bowl.
• Scoop the sweet potatoes into the bowl over the chipotles, add the reserved ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, the juice of the half lime, and mash to your desired consistency. Taste the spicy sweet potatoes and adjust the salt and spice level if desired.
• Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro or parsley. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 104kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Sodium: 492mg | Potassium: 387mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 16130IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg

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These are some terms that you might see when looking for organic products

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Organic foods continue rising in popularity because they are healthier. Organic products are healthier for us and the environment.

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Statistics

• Once certified by the USDA, it can fall into one of four categories: "100 percent organic", "organic," "made with organic ingredients," or "made with less than 70 percent organic ingredients. (en.wikipedia.org)
• To provide the highest quality products and services to every customer, with a dedicated workforce that puts the customer first and takes the extra step to achieve 100% customer satisfaction and loyalty. (hollinsorganic.com)
• Popular clothing brands, like Patagonia, are labelled as organic by using 100 percent organic cotton for many of their styles. (en.wikipedia.org)
• Cosmetic brands such as Laurel and Rose Mira are 100 percent organic and have a wide array of skincare products. (en.wikipedia.org)

External Links

ams.usda.gov

• Home


• Agricultural Marketing Service

ota.com

• Organic Industry Survey


• U.S. organic revenues soared to nearly $62 Billion in 2020

ewg.org

• EWG's 2022 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce


• Clean Fifteen(tm). Conventional Produce with the Least Pesticides

sciencedirect.com

• The health effects of organic foods and their impact on the human body: A review of the status quo and future prospects of research – ScienceDirect


• Technical note: Simultaneous carotenoid and vitamin analysis of milk from total mixed ration-fed cows optimized for xanthophyll detection - ScienceDirect

How To

Organic foods: Are they safer and more nutritious?

Organic foods can be grown without the use synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. They are grown under natural conditions, without artificial inputs like pesticides, herbicides hormones, antibiotics, genetic engineering, and fungicides. Cover crops, crop rotation, crop rotation, composting animal manure as well as recycling wastewater are all organic farming practices.

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