Since my grilled potatoes were such a hit I decided I would try grilled sweet potatoes. While these were good, they weren’t great. Any advice or tips are welcome.
Grilled Sweet Potatoes: Help Wanted
Ingredients
- 3 Sweet Potatoes
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
Instructions
- Cook sweet potatoes in a microwave for 5 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from the microwave and let cool.
- Slice into wedges. Place on grill and cook onn a medium heat until tender.
- Remove from the grill and brush with melted butter.
- Sprinkle with brown sugar and serve.
These grilled potatoes would have been better had I used fresher potatoes. The sweet potatoes I used had been in the pantry for a while and weren’t the best. According to What’s Cooking America:
Sweet potatoes should be uniformly light-tan-colored. Look for firm sweet potatoes with smooth, bright, uniformly colored skins, free from signs of decay. Because they are more perishable than white potatoes, extra care should be used in selecting sweet potatoes.
Any ideas how to make this recipe better? Sweet potatoes are so good for you and cheap! I would love to find more ways to incorporate them into our diet outside of Thanksgiving dinner. Suggestions welcome. 🙂
Diane {createdbydiane.blogspot.com} says
adding cinnamon and or nutmeg would give them a great flavor with the brown sugar as well as some crushed red pepper flakes to spice them up a bit too 🙂
Susie says
I bake sweet potato fries – we love ’em. But yes, they go bad fast! I lost a few the other week – ewww.
Aunt LoLo says
Add a little lime, zest or juice. The citrus/bitter against the sweet of the yam…with a little salt and pepper…AWESOME.
Stefanie says
We like to grill them in the skin, then cut the skin like a brown potato, butter and brown sugar them. Or I microwave them, cut out the flesh, mash them with a little molasses,butter, and cinnamon.
SnoWhite says
We eat sweet potatoes a lot; in fact, you can use SP in place of pumpkin in almost any recipe you wish. Sweet potato pancakes/waffles/muffins/bread are some of our favorites.
As for grilling them; I’ve heard that slicing them in round medallions about 3/4 of an inch thick is better. Boil or microwave them until soft, then cool and slice. Season them with a little olive oil and salt/pepper and then spread them out on the grill. Cook about 5 minutes on each side over medium heat, or until lightly browned.
Hope that helps!
Melissa says
Sweet potato fries are the best! Just slice into strips, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, bake on a baking sheet, @425 about 20-30 minutes.
Becky says
We dice raw sweet potatos and make foil packets that we grill. Throw them on a bit before you cook the meat and they should be done. Just a little EVOO and salt/pepper in the packets – very scrumptious!
Nina T. says
I just tried a great recipe in the Parade magazine of my sunday paper last week….. here’s the link: http://www.parade.com/food/recipes/parade/grilled-sweet-potato-salad-with-bacon-herb-vinaigrette.html it was sooooooooooo yummy!!! I don’t do red wine vinegar so I used balsamic…..really yummy! Oh and I added green onions at the end…..Very good way to grill sweet potatoes!
Heather@ThriftyStories says
I enjoyed reading all the other comments. We don’t eat much SP at our house either….not even at Thanksgiving! I’ll have to try grilling them and also baking them like fries. Thanks. 🙂
Michelle says
Ditto pp try slicing them in rounds instead of wedges and I usually add a bit of cayenne pepper to spice them up. I put olive oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, minced garlic, and either nutmeg or cinnamon in a bowl, toss the potatoes then sear them on a super hot grill to make grill marks and get a bit of crunch. I make them about as often as regular homefries.
Leigh says
I’ve had them before where they were cut into ‘planks’ and brushed with a balsamic vinegar reduction……yummy. Good luck!
Michelle says
Hmm… why not try brushing them with butter (or oil) before you place them on the grill? Also, sprinkle with a combination of brown sugar + salt + cinnamon before you place them on the grill. The salt will help bring out the natural sweetness of the sweet potato while the cinnamon enhances it and the sugar carmelizes on the potato itself. NUMMY! I also like a combination of salt + granulated garlic on baked sweet potato fries. It is a wonderful savory combo!
Clarissa at MMT says
I would just add a little salt to what you have already done. It sounds yummy.
Jamie Coburn says
When I make sweet potato fries, I toss them in canola oil, cinnamon and chili powder! That kick from the chili powder gives it so much flavor! Maybe incorporate that in it somehow?
Mrs. Pear says
Try tossing them with olive oil and italian seasoning before you start?
I often take an old pan cover it in foil and use that on the upper rack of the BBQ to do “fries” on the BBQ – a bit more forgiving…..
Heather says
wow they look great! What was lacking–flavor, texture?
dgsandbjsmom says
In the South we would poke a few holes in the sweet potatoe with a fork and then wrap in a layer of alluminum foil. Now use charcoal grills and once the coals are ready we would place the potatoes down on the edge of the coals and allow to cook approximately 1 hour. We would then split the sweet potatoe open and fill with real butter, cinnamon and or nutmeg, you can also add a little condensed milk and if making a sweet potatoe casserole you would take chopped pecans and little brown sugar and butter and carmelize this in a pan and top the sweet potatoe mixture. Sweet potatoes can be very bitter so it may take a great deal of brown sugar to taste good. We also sometimes add a little bit of vanilly extract.
Carrie says
i’ve done grilled sweet potatoes before. i sliced them into rounds about 3/4inch thick and brushed them with olive oil before putting them on the grill.
Sherry says
Oh, my! These sound delish! I love sweet potatoes, but I’ve never tried them on the grill.
alecat says
They look very yummy!! I’m looking forward to summer so we can cook on the barbecue, and we’ll try your recipe then.
Michele says
When I grill sweet potatoes I cut them into cubes and make an “envelope” out of foil. I lightly grease the foil and put the potatoes in. Then I put in some pats of butter and sprinkle on brown sugar. Close the envelope and make sure there are no openings. Put on grill until tender. The sugar will carmelize over the potatoes and it’s delicious!
Rhonda D. says
I love sweet potatoes. This recipe got me thinking.
I normally make The Biggest Loser version of sweet potatoe fries, which consists of slicing the sweet potatoes into 1/4″ strips and tossing with parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper and a touch of salt.
But these would be a whole lot more waist-line friendly if you grilled them as you instruct, spritz them with olive oil and toss with cayenne pepper and a touch of salt. YUMMM!!!!
Kara White says
I use the evelope method too. I find that it makes wonderfully tender potatoes. One thing I never do (even for the holidays) is add sugar to my sweet potatoes. They call them SWEET potatoes for a reason. I like salt and garlic too. Pepper is really good, and cayanne is wonderful! The method sounded like it was good, but I would use some more savory seasonings.
Cara says
I love grilled sweet potatoes! We just add sea salt and eat ’em.
I’ve also brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with italian seasonings.
Belinda says
Try adding a bit of rosemary to them, even with the brown sugar. I’ve minced garlic, then added some olive oil, rosemary and some fresh cracked black pepper and brushed that on while grilling. A friend of mine does the same but adds lemon or orange zest.
Sharon @ UnfinishedMom says
I make up a big batch of mashed sweet potatoes whenever I can find them on sale. I freeze them in meal-size portions and then thaw the container overnight or on the counter during the day. Heat them up thoroughly on the stove and you’re good to go. Here’s my recipe: http://unfinishedmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-to-do-with-10-pounds-of-sweet.html
It also includes a recipe for sweet potato biscuits which we think are really yummy.
caren coon says
One thing I didnt see mentioned that my family LOVES is butter and garlic powder. Its the only way I make sweet potatoes since my husband is diabetic. Another thing I love to do is make them mashed with LOts of butter and garlic . YUMMMY : )
Jessica says
I LOVE to put olive oil and rosemary on my sweet potatoes. Most of the time I dice them saute them in a pan, but rounds on a grill are great too!
Traci says
We eat sweet potatoes as a part of what I call Root Vegetable casserole. I dice them into chunks with butternut squash, rutabaga, carrots and onions. Sometimes I include new potatoes. It makes a ton of veggies. Cover well in olive oil. Place on a cookie sheet (usually takes two.) Sprinkle with italian seasoning. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes. Veggies should be soft but not mushy. My family LOVES it!