Sweet potatoes: How to cook them the healthy way
If you are looking to load up on vitamin A and other healthy nutrients, sweet potatoes are a great choice.
Just one cup of mashed sweet potatoes contains an astounding 1,033% of your daily recommended vitamin A, plus an ample helping of vitamin E, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and more.
But what is the best way to prepare potatoes to maximize their health benefits?
The answer is to boil them. Let’s briefly discuss why boiling is superior to other preparation methods, and then we will share an easy recipe for sweet potatoes with you.
Here is Why You Should Boil Your Sweet Potatoes
- Keeps the glycemic index low. Baking sweet potatoes or roasting them results in a higher glycemic index than boiling them. So, if you are concerned about your blood glucose, boiling is best.
- The nutrients are preserved better with boiling than other methods. Yes, there is around a 40% decrease in vitamin A when you boil potatoes, but that is a lot better than the 80% decrease that results from baking them.
- The nutrition becomes more bioavailable. Michael Greger, MD, Physician and New York Times bestseller, explains that “boiling sweet potatoes help to thin out the cell walls and gelatinize the starch, which may enhance the bioavailability of nutrients.”
Simple Boiled Sweet Potatoes Recipe
If you're new to boiling your potatoes, we've got a simple reciple for you.
You will only need a knife, a saucepan, and a colander.
Ingredients:
- Sweet potatoes
- Water
- Salt
- Any spices or seasonings you like
- Butter, ghee, or a healthy oil of your choice
Steps:
1. Add a dash of salt to a saucepan full of water and bring it to a boil. How much water you need depends on how many sweet potatoes you want to cook, but you want them to have at least an inch of water above them.
2. Slice up your potatoes to make them fit more easily into the saucepan. Leave the skin intact. If you do not, you will miss out on the vast majority of the antioxidants.
3. Lower the temperature to medium-high.
4. Cook for around 12-15 minutes if you sliced up the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. If they are twice that size, they need 20-25 minutes. Didn’t cut them up at all? Give them 30-50 minutes based on their size.
5. Remove the potatoes from the water.
6. Chop or mash them up as you like.
7. Add butter, ghee, or oil if you want.
8. Add any herbs or spices you want. You can also add whatever healthy toppings you want to enhance this simple recipe.
Now you know a simple way to prepare your sweet potatoes that will preserve most of their nutrition. Enjoy nourishing your body with vitamin A and other vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
