Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes | Best Thanksgiving Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my twice baked potatoes falling apart? ›

Cook's Note. I learned the hard way not to wrap the potatoes in foil before baking. It softens the shells and they will fall apart not good!

The cold water bath helps rinse the starch off the sweet potatoes so they're a bit more crispy. That said, if you do not have the time, you can still get crispy baked sweet potato fries by using high heat and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Tip: Don't over mix the potato filling. Over-mixing causes mashed potatoes to become gluey instead of light and fluffy. To Make Ahead: Prepare potatoes completely, without baking them the second time. Place them on a large sheet pan, lightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to one day, until ready to bake.

The skins of twice-baked potatoes can absolutely be eaten. They are salted and crispy and are absolutely excellent to eat. In addition, there is quite a bit of nutrient in the potato skins.

Reheating them in the oven at 400° will re-crisp the potato skin while keeping the filling inside nice and creamy still. The potatoes will take about 15 to 20 minutes to reheat again. If you're in a rush, microwaving them is fine too, though parts of the potato might turn a little tough due to uneven heating.

Double cooking potatoes can improve the absorption of starch-based carbohydrates, encourage SCFA production, and promote gut health and weight loss. So next time you're cooking up a batch of potatoes, consider giving them a double cook for maximum nutritional benefit.

Boiling sweet potatoes retains more beta-carotene and makes the nutrient more absorbable than other cooking methods such as baking or frying. Up to 92% of the nutrient can be retained by limiting the cook time, such as boiling in a pot with a tightly covered lid for 20 minutes.

1) Always poke a few holes.

Before baking, use a fork to prick each sweet potato several times. You don't need to jab the fork in deep. We're creating steam vents. Otherwise the pressure in the sweet potato could build up so high in the oven that it explodes—an unlikely possibility but one best avoided!

Sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and skipping the cleaning step means dirt or grit can end up in your sweet potato casserole. Before cooking or cutting sweet potatoes, wash the skins and give them a scrub with a clean vegetable brush.

How long can twice-baked potatoes sit out? ›

You want to be able to eat your potato without worrying if you are going to get food poisoning or botulism. Here's how you can ensure that your baked potatoes are safe to eat. DON'T let your potato sit out in the open at room temperature for over four hours regardless of whether or not it is wrapped in aluminum foil.

The best side dishes to serve with twice-baked potatoes are Mississippi pot roast, chicken drumsticks, roasted duck, braised beef, vegetarian chili, kalua pork, lamb chops, grilled salmon, roasted vegetables, shrimp scampi, steak, chicken Caesar salad, BBQ ribs, mushroom gravy, and green beans almondine.

Chefs put salt on the outside of their baked potatoes

The reason for doing this is pretty scientific. When you put salt on the outside of a potato, it helps moisture come to its surface and evaporate, which makes the inside of the potato even fluffier. It also helps to crisp up the skin, giving it extra crunch.

If potatoes are produced during a very dry growing season, they will tend to have a higher than normal solid content and less moisture. When these are cooked, they absorb more water than usual and, as a result, fall apart at the end of cooking.

Baking at a low temperature or not giving it enough time -

The latest recommendations we have are to bake at 425 degrees F for one hour if using a conventional oven. You can lower the temp to 400 degrees F for 50-60 minutes in a convection oven, which cooks a little more evenly and consistently.

The biggest culprit that's making your hash browns come apart is moisture. You need to make sure the potatoes are dry before adding them to the flour and egg mixture. Whether you squeeze them out in a dish towel or use a salad spinner, get the potatoes as dry as they can be.

For this season, if you've been struggling with potatoes that turn to mush, we'd recommend you steam them whole instead of boiling them. We've actually done a bit of testing on this and they definitely hold together far better if steamed whole (with skins on).