A tutorial on how to “bake” a sweet potato in the microwave in under seven minutes.
If you have not already figured it out, I am a big-time sweet potato lover. I love sweet potato fries. I love sweet potato in soups. I love baked stuffed sweet potatoes for dinner and baked sweet potatoes topped with almond butter for dessert. Clearly, I do not have a problem reaching my necessary vitamin A intake.
With this sweet potato obsession, you can only imagine how frequently I am needing to bake up batches of sweet potatoes. Who am I kidding? I never bake up batches of sweet potatoes. In fact, I do not bake my sweet potatoes at all. I am far too impatient to wait 45 minutes to an hour when a sweet potato craving hits. Instead, I “bake” my sweet potatoes in the microwave.
I have had quite a few people ask me over the past year how to turn this:
into a baked sweet potato in under seven minutes.
Lucky for you, I have decided to feature the sweet potato in my next “How To” post. Following is a step-by-step pictorial on how to “bake” a sweet potato in the microwave when you just do not feel like actually baking it.
How to “Bake” a Sweet Potato in the Microwave
Step 1
Begin by cleaning the sweet potato under running water using a produce scrubbing brush. This is especially important if you also eat the skin of the potato like I do.
Your potato will look like this post-washing.
Step 2
Pierce the potato with a fork about six to eight times. This will prevent the potato from exploding in the microwave. Trust me, you do not want to skip this step!
Step 3
Wet a full-sized sheet of a paper towel with cold water. Gently ring out any excess water. Carefully unfold the paper towel and place it onto a microwave-safe plate. Place the sweet potato onto the paper towel.
Step 4
Loosely fold over both sides of the paper towel to cover the sweet potato. Covering the sweet potato with the damp paper towel will provide a “steaming” effect when microwaving the potato.
Step 5
Microwave the potato on high for approximately six minutes, flipping once halfway through. For a medium potato, I normally microwave it for three minutes, flip, and microwave an additional two and a half to three minutes. Smaller potatoes will take less time. Larger potatoes will take more time. Once you experiment a bit, you will find the “right” amount of time for your potatoes.
Step 6
After cooking, unwrap the potato and let it cool for several minutes.
Step 7
Use a knife to cut the potato in half.
Step 8
Admire how pretty your potato looks and then top it with desired toppings. Some of my favorites include: maple or vanilla almond butter, Melt butter, yellow mustard, salsa, avocado, and dippy eggs- don’t worry, not all at once. The topping choices are pretty much endless.
Easy peasy, right?
Whether you are making dinner with sweet potatoes, baking with sweet potatoes, eating sweet potatoes as a side, or eating sweet potatoes for dessert, save yourself a whole ‘lotta time and nuke them in the microwave. This is the lazy girl’s way of cooking!
Side note: This same method works just as well with regular russet potatoes, too!
Other Food How To’s:
What is your favorite way to eat sweet potatoes?
