Microwave Hassleback Sweet Potatoes

One Friday before Shabbat I was running crazy late since we came back from visiting our grandkids later than usual. I suddenly realized to my horror that I had forgotten to make a starchy side dish and racked my brains as to what I could whip up fast without ovens and stovetops. I remembered I had some nice sweet potatoes lurking next to my potatoes in a corner and said to myself, what the heck, if it comes out awful I just won’t make it again.

People, lemme tell you this wound up being so delish and so fast that I now make my sweet potatoes this way to begin with. Not always, sometimes I’ll roast ’em but remember that they don’t cook the same way regular potatoes do and they cook at different times. I found that amazingly, the sweet potatoes actually caramelized in the microwave and were so yum that DH gobbled one huge one down and asked for more. A win and so simple it’s a little embarrassing. But I’ll tell you anyway 🙂 .

Just get some nice firm sweet potatoes with good colored peels (it indicates the good colored flesh within) and preferably get longer and thinner since they cook faster.

Scrub well with a veggie scrubber and pat dry.

This is the tricky part. Cut evenly spaced cuts into the potatoes three quarters of the way down, be careful not to cut all the way through, some people use chopsticks on either side of the potato to prevent slicing all the way through or a spoon handle or just steady hands, so they look like so:

Take olive or canola oil and brush all over and grind some salt (or sprinkle) over them. Put in a microwavable dish and cover.

Cook at full power for about 12 minutes for two large or three medium sweet potatoes and check all over with a toothpick to see if uniformly cooked through. For a dairy meal I simply skipped the oil and rubbed the sweet potatoes with a stick of butter to lightly coat them and sprinkled with salt. Swooningly delicious! Sometimes, necessity really is the mother of invention 🙂 .

Microwave Hassleback Sweet Potatoes

2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes
vegetable oil
salt

Directions:

Scrub sweet potatoes in their skins well and pat dry. Cut carefully three quarter of the way down (see pic above) but not through. Place on microwaveable dish and rub all over with oil. Sprinkle with salt. Microwave for 12 minutes at full power, no need to turn over. Check with toothpick to make sure it’s fully done. It will have a wonderful caramelized taste with the salt for a lovely contrast. Fast, easy and delish.