Sweet Potato Recipes Your Family (and Guests) Will Love (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between yams and sweet potatoes Yahoo Answers? ›

While both yams and sweet potatoes are root vegetables, the taste of each is entirely unique. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes tend to be much sweeter and creamier in texture compared to yams which have a white flesh that's starchier and more similar to a white potato.

Fun Facts About Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are high in beta carotene, vitamins E and C, iron, potassium and vitamin B6. Sweet potato roots are harvested 90 to 120 days after transplanting. North Carolina's official vegetable is the sweet potato. February is National Sweet Potato Month.

Peel and season with butter and salt to taste. Use 1 medium sweet potato per person.

While both yams and sweet potatoes are root vegetables, the taste of each is entirely unique. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes tend to be much sweeter and creamier in texture compared to yams which have a white flesh that's starchier and more similar to a white potato.

The reason for the name mix-up, she explains, is because Louisiana sweet potato growers in the 1930s marketed a new breed of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as “yams” to distinguish their crop from other states' produce—and it stuck.

Despite their name, sweet potatoes are not related to Irish potatoes. In fact, they are members of the morning glory family! One of the most nutritious vegetables around, sweet potatoes are high in Vitamin A and C, potassium, antioxidants, fiber and complex carbohydrates.

Sweet Potatoes and Health

Sweet potatoes with orange flesh are richest in beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes with purple flesh are richer in anthocyanins. Beta-carotene and anthocyanins are naturally occurring plant “phyto” chemicals that give vegetables their bright colors.

Sweet potatoes are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. Sweet potatoes are great sources of vitamin A, vitamin C, beta carotene, fiber and potassium. Sweet potatoes can be white, yellow, red, purple or orange. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are sweeter than the other varieties.

If you're serving your oven baked sweet potatoes as a side dish, pair them with your favorite protein or vegetarian chili. For a topping, stick to butter, Greek yogurt, or sour cream, or try adding a dollop of cilantro lime dressing, tzatziki, chipotle sauce, pesto, guacamole, or a drizzle of tahini sauce.

What do you eat on top of sweet potatoes? ›

A good yogurt sauce can make a sweet potato complete, but of course you can always pile on other toppings, too. Drizzle your potato with yogurt sauce, then top with crumbled cooked sausage, especially spicy merguez or chorizo. Or, if you have any leftover roasted or braised meat, shred or chop it and crisp in a pan.

Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family, while yams belong to the lily family. Yams aren't as sweet as sweet potatoes, and they are starchier and drier.

“A general guideline to estimating how many sweet potatoes you need when hosting friends or family for a meal is one medium sweet potato per person,” Burgess says, as if she's done this many times before.

Potatoes or sweet potatoes: 5 to 6 ounces per person, which equals about 1 large Yukon Gold or white potato, or half of a large sweet potato. Pie: 1 pie will feed 8 people if you've got other desserts as well. If there are no other desserts, it will feed 6 people per pie.

Cutting sweet potatoes in advance is a great way to meal-prep your way to an easier weeknight dinner, but raw sweet potatoes dry out pretty quickly after they're cut. When chopping sweet potatoes in advance, make sure to store them in cold water in the refrigerator.

A sweet potato is a root. Yams tend to be more cylindrical and have scaly, bark-like skin. Sweet potatoes tend to have a more tapered shape and may be firm or soft with thinner skin. Generally, sweet potatoes taste sweeter than yams.

No, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same. Yams have rough, dark brown skin that is often compared to tree bark, and their flesh is dry and starchy like a regular potato. Sweet potatoes have smooth reddish skin, softer flesh (when cooked), and a sweet flavor.

Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family, while yams belong to the lily family. Yams aren't as sweet as sweet potatoes, and they are starchier and drier. Their texture and flavor are more similar to potatoes or yuca.

Yams are starchy and have a rough, brown exterior. They can grow up to 45 feet long and are eaten in parts of Latin America, West Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. Sweet potatoes are a New World root vegetable and have a softer, reddish skin and a creamier, often darker interior.