Sweet Potato Puree for Cooking and Baking
Servings: 4 cups (1 kilogram)
Calories: 317kcal
Sweet Potato Puree is made with fresh, roasted sweet potatoes and is a kitchen staple that is easy to make, economical and tastes exceptionally better than the canned stuff. The holidays taste so much better when you add this recipe to your baking schedule.
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Equipment
- sheetpan
- kitchen towel
- potato masher, fork, or food processor
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 pounds (1 1/2 kilograms) sweet potatoes
- cooking oil for greasing the sheet pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C).Lightly grease a sheet pan with cooking spray or a light coating of vegetable or olive oil.
Wash and Dry the Sweet Potatoes
- Use a clean, damp kitchen towel to scrub loose dirt from the sweet potato skins and dry them with a clean kitchen towel. If your sweet potato has dry vines protruding, tear them off and discard them. Use the tip of a paring knife to remove any eyes from the potatoes.
Roast the Sweet Potatoes Until Fork-Tender
- Arrange the sweet potatoes on a sheetpan. Poke venting holes in the potatoes with the tines of a fork to allow steam to escape from the roasting sweet potatoes, which will keep them from exploding while they roast.
- Roast the sweet potatoes for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This roasting time varies depending on the size of the potatoes. To test if the sweet potatoes are tender, poke a paring knife into the thickest part of the potato. It's soft enough to remove from the oven if the knife slides in and out without resistance. Continue roasting the sweet potatoes for another 10-15 minutes if the knife meets any resistance when you poke the sweet potatoes.
Steam the Sweet Potatoes For Easy Peeling
- Remove the tender sweet potatoes from the oven and cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel to steam the sweet potatoes and loosen the skins, which makes them easier to peel. Allow the potatoes to steam under the towel for 10-15 minutes or until they are cool enough to handle.
- Use your fingers to remove the sweet potato peels and compost or discard them.
Mash or Puree the Sweet Potatoes
- Puree sweet potatoes by mashing them with a fork, pressing them through a potato ricer or a potato masher, or pulsing them in a blender or food processor.
- Recipes where you desire texture– like casseroles or simple mashed sweet potatoes– benefit from a rough mash, which you can accomplish with a sturdy fork or a potato masher.
- Use a blender or food processor to puree sweet potatoes you plan to use in cheesecakes, muffins, or pies. Since these recipes rely on smooth batters, you want to make your puree chunk-free.Add the peeled, cool sweet potatoes into the food processor and puree them for thirty seconds, scrape down the bowl, and puree for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until really smooth.
Use as Your Recipe Instructs
- Sweet potato puree is best used in soups, bisques, breads, pies, and even as baby food.
Notes
Swaps and Substitutions:
- Boniato, Okinawa, and Satsuma-imo are suitable substitutes for Beauregard sweet potatoes. These varieties are ideal when preparing puree for savory or less sweet recipes.
- Purchase sweet potatoes that are heavy for their size and have peels without too many blemishes or dry dark spots. Avoid sweet potatoes that are wrinkled, shriveled, and soft.
- Avoid pureeing hot sweet potatoes because it develops more starch and makes your puree gummy.
- Blenders aren't as efficient because of their narrow carafes, so I recommend dicing or roughly mashing the sweet potatoes before adding them to the machine. With their wider bowls, food processors are more efficient in pureeing sweet potatoes.
- Always bring your sweet potato puree to room temperature before using it in recipes to prevent batters or doughs from curdling.
- Strain excess liquid from the sweet potato puree before using it in recipes to avoid creating an imbalance in your dough or batters.
- Store sweet potato puree in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- If you don't think you'll be able to use all of the puree you've made within 7 days, it's best to freeze it.
- Store sweet potato puree in a freezer food storage bag in 15-ounce (425 grams) or 1-cup (225 grams) quantities, since most recipes call for these amounts.
- Label and date the bags of sweet potato puree, then press out as much of the air from the bag as possible before sealing them. Freeze sweet potato puree for 2-4 months.
- If you freeze the bags of sweet potato puree lying flat, when they're frozen solid, you can stand them up in the freezer, which takes up less space.
- Thaw the puree in the refrigerator overnight before bringing it to room temperature and using it as instructed in your recipe.
- Strain off excess liquid, which develops when the water in the potatoes freezes and thaws by pressing the sweet potato puree into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and allowing the excess liquid drip into a bowl beneath.
Nutrition
Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.003g | Sodium: 203mg | Potassium: 1242mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 52285IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 111mg | Iron: 2mg