This is the trick for the sweetest, fluffiest baked sweet potatoes ever
The baked sweet potato: we previously wrote a rather lyrical article about how damn delicious it is, especially when you make a ‘loaded’ version covered in sour cream, spring onions and minced meat with chili spices, or go completely plant-based with, for example, tahini-cashew butter and fresh herbs. But if you use this trick, that potato will be so delicious on its own that it will need very little in the way of extras. This makes it so incredibly flavorful and sweet!
And it only takes a little more time, but it’s not as though you actually have to do anything during that time. The freezer does the work for you…
Ice Ice Potato
A sweet potato that has spent two hours in the freezer first becomes even sweeter inside after baking, and fluffier too! Chinese-American chef Lucas Sin, who now mainly cooks at home and shares it with his many Instagram followers, paints a beautiful winter picture of the coldest regions of China, where street vendors bake sweet potatoes in gigantic woks filled with coals or stones. The freezing cold in which the potatoes have been sitting outside creates a process in the potato’s cell walls that only improves the flavor and texture after baking.
Sin explains that the inside of the sweet potato freezes, and that the formation of ice crystals causes the cell walls to break down without damaging the skin. This results in an airy texture as it heats up, while the sugars can caramelize like crazy. So don’t pierce them before roasting!
How to make the sweetest, fluffiest baked sweet potatoes
It’s very simple: gently scrub them clean and place them in the freezer for an hour or two. Then bake them in an oven preheated to 220° C, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil, for one hour. The caramelized sugars will ooze out, and the inside will be completely soft and steamed through. Split them open and top with honey and granola, or almond butter, or simply a smear of delicious butter and a pinch of salt. And once again, you can see that in these (and all) times, something this simple can bring exactly the comfort we could all use…
Also read:
- Sweet potato versus regular potato: which is healthier?
- We love it: loaded fries are the trend of 2021
- Recipe: Loaded veggie nachos with homemade tortilla chips
Source: Eater
