Grilling Sweet Potatoes

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yourstrulyewalani

Senior Cook
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
128
Location
Washington State
I am trying to expand my grilling experience so I grilled tofu and some veggies. I learned some new things today but one thing I need some advice on is this: is it better to boil sweet potatoes before grilling them? Or roast them in the oven?

After peeling and cutting some sweet potatoes, I grilled them with green beans, wax beans, red peppers and onions in foil. I took the same mixture and grilled it in one of those metal grilling wok's just to see the difference in the two methods. I used raw ones in the foil and boiled the ones in the grilling wok (with three pieces of raw just to test it).

I was grilling tofu at the same time and I opened and closed the lid a few times, but ordinarily the steam would cook the sweet potatoes nice and tender, right?

My findings:

  • Raw sweet potatoes cook in foil but take awhile (45 minutes) and end up sticking to the foil even with olive oil.
  • Raw sweet potatoes did not cook well in the grilling wok and were too hard after forty minutes.
  • Pre-boiled sweet potatoes turned out soggy in the end, although just undercooked when boiled.
  • That would figure since I also had raw ones I was trying to grill with the cooked ones.
So I learned a few things which is helpful but I am wondering what you do when grilling potatoes or sweet potatoes? :cool:
 
I microwave a sweet potato for about 3 minutes on high then pop it into the toaster oven (or regular oven) to finish the process. You could do the same on the grill. I see no need for foil. Microwave the potatoes whole then put them on the grill. All the grill is doing is providing heat. I doubt much, if any smoke flavor penetrates the skin (or foil for that matter).
 
You're right about that Andy the flavor didn't really do a whole lot when I tried it, but it just put all the food prep on the grill which helped. Thank you for your advice.
 
It looks like this post hasn't been touched in a while but I wanted to chime in because I love sweet potatoes on a grill. The way I cook them is I wash the skins really well, then cut the sweet potatoes into 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick medallions. I toss them with a little olive oil and then place them directly on the grill. They come out soft in the middle, crisp on the outside and the skins are actually really tasty, a little chewy with a bit of crispiness. These go really well with grilled mahi mahi and fresh pineapple.
 
I don't like baked sweet potatoes, or even SP fries, but I can see my liking grilled sweet potatoes. Good suggestion, Purple.
 
YOU MUST HAVE COOKED THEM FOR A LONG TIMe to get them soft. i parboiled ours and then grilled and they still were too hard.
 
My favorite way to cook sweet potatoes is roasting in the oven, never tried grilling them. I cut them into smallish cubes (for faster cooking) toss with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh pepper, roast at 400 until brown and tender. Usually takes around 20 minutes.
 
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