Perfect Cooking Tips: How long to boil purple sweet potatoes

Yesterday, a friend asked me how long purple sweet potato should be cooked. Every time she cooks purple sweet potato, they are either undercooked or overcooked. In fact, cooking purple sweet potato is very simple. Today, I will share with you the time needed to cook purple sweet potato.

How long to boil purple sweet potato?

purple sweet potato can generally be cooked for about 15-20 minutes. The specific time required depends on the size of the purple sweet potato and the tool used for cooking purple sweet potato.

Pressure cooker

The time required to cook purple sweet potato in a pressure cooker is relatively short. Just wash the purple sweet potato, put them in the pressure cooker, add an appropriate amount of water. The amount of water should cover the purple sweet potato. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. purple sweet potato cooked in a pressure cooker are soft, glutinous and sweet.

Rice cooker

You can also cook purple sweet potato with a rice cooker. After washing the purple sweet potato, put them in the rice cooker. Add an appropriate amount of water to the pot. Press the cooking button and cook for about 15-20 minutes. During this period, you can observe the purple sweet potato. If there is not enough water, add some.

Iron pot

You can also cook purple sweet potato with an ordinary iron pot. After washing the purple sweet potato, add an appropriate amount of clear water. Cover and turn on the fire to cook for about 20 minutes. Open the lid and poke it with chopsticks. If the purple sweet potato become soft, it means they are cooked.

How do you know when purple sweet potato are ready?

You can judge whether purple sweet potato are cooked by the following methods:

Observe the color of purple sweet potato skin: The skin color of ripe purple sweet potato will be relatively bright, showing a deep purple or reddish-brown color. While the skin color of unripe purple sweet potato is usually lighter and not so bright.

Observe the hardness of purple sweet potato: Ripe purple sweet potato have a higher hardness and a relatively smooth surface. While unripe purple sweet potato have a lower hardness and a relatively rough surface.

Observe the touch of purple sweet potato: Ripe purple sweet potato will have a certain elasticity when pressed by hand. While unripe purple sweet potato are not so elastic. When pressed by hand, they will feel relatively soft.

Do purple sweet potato cook differently?

There are mainly the following cooking methods for purple sweet potato:

Steaming: Steaming is the best way to retain anthocyanins in purple sweet potato because the loss of anthocyanins is the least during steaming. Generally speaking, medium-sized purple sweet potato can be cooked thoroughly after steaming for about 15 minutes.

Boiling: The time for boiling purple sweet potato is generally 15-20 minutes. The specific time depends on the size of purple sweet potato. During boiling, you can insert chopsticks into purple sweet potato. If chopsticks can be easily inserted and do not bring out a large amount of purple sweet potato flesh, it means purple sweet potato are already cooked.

Baking: The time for baking purple sweet potato is usually 20-30 minutes. The specific time depends on the size of purple sweet potato and the temperature of the oven. Bake until the surface of purple sweet potato has a slight burnt color and the inside is soft and glutinous.

Frying: Cut purple sweet potato into slices and fry them. You can add a little oil and fry until both sides are golden brown, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Stir-frying: purple sweet potato can be sliced and stir-fried with other ingredients, such as fried rice and fried noodles, to increase the color and nutritional value of dishes.

Making desserts: purple sweet potato can be used to make various desserts, such as purple sweet potato glutinous rice balls, purple sweet potato glutinous rice cakes, purple sweet potato dumplings without sweetened fillings, etc., which are both delicious and nutritious.

Making staple foods: purple sweet potato can be used to make staple foods such as purple sweet potato rice, purple sweet potato porridge, purple sweet potato steamed buns, etc., which not only increases the diversity of food but also enriches nutrition.

Each cooking method can taste different textures of purple sweet potato. You can choose the cooking method according to your own preferences. It is especially delicious.

Are purple sweet potato healthier than regular potatoes?

Both have their own advantages and can be chosen according to one's own needs.

purple sweet potato contain rich anthocyanins, which can help remove free radicals and have certain potential benefits for delaying aging and preventing cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, purple sweet potato also contain more dietary fiber, which helps promote intestinal peristalsis and makes our digestion smoother.

Ordinary potatoes are also very good. They are a good source of carbohydrates and can provide energy for the human body. Potatoes also contain nutritional components such as vitamin C and potassium. Vitamin C has an antioxidant effect and can also help enhance immunity. Potassium is very important for maintaining normal heart function and stabilizing blood pressure.

However, from the perspective of antioxidant, purple sweet potato are indeed more advantageous than ordinary potatoes because of anthocyanins. But in terms of energy supplement and some basic nutritional components, ordinary potatoes also have their value.

So we cannot simply say that purple sweet potato are healthier than ordinary potatoes. It mainly depends on our dietary needs. If you want ingredients with better antioxidant effects, purple sweet potato are a good choice. If you need to supplement energy or vitamin C, potassium, etc., ordinary potatoes can also fully meet the requirements.

How to cook purple sweet potato on Stove?

There are two common ways to cook purple sweet potato on the stove, namely boiling purple sweet potato and baking purple sweet potato.

Boiling purple sweet potato

Wash the purple sweet potato well. Find a pot of appropriate size. Put the purple sweet potato in and add enough water. The water should cover the purple sweet potato. Turn on high heat to boil the water. Then turn to medium-low heat and slowly boil. Generally, for medium-sized purple sweet potato, boiling for about 15 - 20 minutes is almost enough.

Baking purple sweet potato

First, wash the purple sweet potato. Dry the surface moisture of purple sweet potato with kitchen paper towels. If there is water on the surface of purple sweet potato, it will affect the taste when baking.

Then, put a baking net on the stove. Put the purple sweet potato on the baking net and bake slowly over low heat. Pay attention to turning the purple sweet potato from time to time to make them heated evenly. The baking time will be a little longer, about 30 - 40 minutes.

When the skin of purple sweet potato is slightly scorched and feels soft when pinched by hand, it means purple sweet potato are baked. Baked purple sweet potato will have a burnt aroma and are really super delicious.

How to cook purple sweet potato in microwave? 

Cooking purple sweet potato with a microwave oven is very simple. The method is as follows:

First of all, choose purple sweet potato of moderate size to ensure even heating.

Then wash the purple sweet potato. It doesn't matter if there is a little moisture on the surface without drying.

Then, prick some small holes on the surface of purple sweet potato with a toothpick. This step is very crucial. When purple sweet potato are heated in the microwave oven, water vapor will be generated. If there are no holes, the water vapor cannot escape and purple sweet potato may explode. Prick as many holes as possible to let the water vapor have enough outlets.

Next, put the purple sweet potato on a special plate for microwave oven. If your microwave oven has a relatively high power, such as 800 - 1000 watts, heating on high heat for 3 - 5 minutes is fine. However, if the purple sweet potato are relatively large or the microwave oven power is lower, the time may need to be appropriately extended, about 6 - 8 minutes.

During the heating process, you can turn the purple sweet potato over to make them heated more evenly. When purple sweet potato feel soft when pinched by hand, it means they are almost cooked.

Be careful when taking out purple sweet potato. Just cooked purple sweet potato are very hot to avoid scalding yourself.