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[Guest]

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Edited June 20, 2016 by Guest

[kiana]

Of course it is, and you don't have to have cute little perfect cubes if you're going to mash them up anyway. I just chop mine into chunks. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

You can bake them too.  If you are struggling to cut them, your knife is probably not very good or needs to be sharpened.

 

 

 

[Pippen]

You can bake them instead of boiling and skip cutting altogether:

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/oven-dried-mashed-sweet-potatoes-recipe.html

[Halftime Hope]

Big cutting board, big butcher knife, and keep your fingers on the top side of the knife.  The only cut that I find a bit more challenging is the first one, to cut it in half lengthwise, and that's only challenging because the sweet potato could roll out from under the knife.  I hold the knife with one hand then put the palm of my other hand on the back of the knife edge, toward the pointy end, keeping my fingers out straight. It only that one cut that is at all scary, and I minimize that by keeping my palm flat, and my fingers above the level of the blade.  (I suppose if I wanted to, I could put something like a thin silicone hot pad between my hand and the blade for even more safety.)

 

I would not cook it first.  You could bake them and then scoop out the insides, but I'm not sure if it is worth the hassle.

[zoobie]

Baked sweet potatoes are great for mashing! You can boil them whole too, but it will take forever. If you're losing fingers with sweet potatoes, I think your knife really needs sharpening. I'd get them sharpened before Thanksgiving prep time. Alton Brown has a Good Eats show all on knife skills that's very helpful. If you're really nervous around them, you can buy a protective glove until you're more proficient.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Years ago I had a very cheap chef type knife.  I mean mega cheap.  I couldn't cut something like rutabaga without mangling my fingers and slamming the knife into it.  So I bought a clever.  It was cheap and that was only slightly better.  I figured those rutabaga were just so hard.  But then I got a really good high quality knife and it cuts through those things like butter.  I kid you not.  All those years with a stupid cheap knife.

 

You need a better knife!

 

 

[Ravin]

Bake or nuke in the skins, then mash. No dicing needed.

[unsinkable]

You can bake them instead of boiling and skip cutting altogether:

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/oven-dried-mashed-sweet-potatoes-recipe.html

I can't vouch for this recipe but I can vouch for baking/roasting first.

 

It is so easy to just wash them quickly and toss them in the oven. I use a hot oven 425F and I put them on foil lined cookie sheet bc they ooze such sticky liquid.

 

The skins slip right off and you're not losing flavor into the boiling/cooking water.

[xixstar]

Sharpen your knife. :)

 

I roast ours and them make a casserole from them.

[LaxMom]

Another vote for baking. Boiled sweets are bland and watery, and nuked ones are pasty IMO.

 

And then, yes, take your knives for sharpening. I take mine to a tool sharpening place about once a year (should be twice, but I forget until they're unbearably dull) and spend about $2 per knife.

[redsquirrel]

I have always baked my sweet potatoes for mashing. It never occurred to me to boil them. I leave them in the skins and peel them when they cool down. I certainly wouldn't dice anything that was going to be mashed, just chunk them into roughly the same size.

 

But maybe you need a better knife? We go through 5lbs pounds of sweet potato in this house per week, it is one of the few vegetables ds2 will eat, and I haven't found it any more difficult to chop than anything else.

[cjzimmer1]

I use sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin in all my recipes.  We get about 80 pounds a year.  I just boil them whole, peel and mash.  Very easy to process that way.  We do roast them too but for those I use the long skinny ones since I don't have to cut them up as much (because I have the same problem as you even with my Cutco knifes).

[JuanitaL]

Lots of "likes" because I just really love baked/roasted sweet potatoes.

[LaxMom]

I have always baked my sweet potatoes for mashing. It never occurred to me to boil them. I leave them in the skins and peel them when they cool down. I certainly wouldn't dice anything that was going to be mashed, just chunk them into roughly the same size.

 

But maybe you need a better knife? We go through 5lbs pounds of sweet potato in this house per week, it is one of the few vegetables ds2 will eat, and I haven't found it any more difficult to chop than anything else.

I cut mine in half lengthwise, then roast them cut side down. That steams the skins off and the meat slips out cleanly. No need to peel or spoon/scrape hot sweet potatoes. (That's also how I roast them for eating out of the skins because it caramelizes the cut face in a delicious way).

 

#toolazytopeel

[YaelAldrich]

Crockpot roast/steam them.  Line your crock with parchment paper, then put in as may whole (poked with a fork) sweet potatoes as you want.  Bake them on high until soft (usually about 2-4 hours depending on how big they are).  Yummy and the skins pop right off.

[trulycrabby]

Well, I was just wondering how to cube butternut squash for a casserole, and now you kind folks have answered my question. :hurray:

[Wheres Toto]

I've also seen a suggestion to use an apple corer - the  double handle with the blades radiating from a central hole - to cut up potatoes when boiling for mashed potatoes.  It works great.

[cjzimmer1]

I've also seen a suggestion to use an apple corer - the  double handle with the blades radiating from a central hole - to cut up potatoes when boiling for mashed potatoes.  It works great.

 

Oh, i bet that would make great wedges for roasting too.  Thanks for the great idea, I never would have thought of that one.

 

[diplomum]

For cubed sweet potatoes, instead of attempting to cut the potato in half lengthwise, cut it into several discs, a half inch to an inch wide, then cut the discs into cubes. Much easier. Much less likely to lose a finger.

[Katy]

If you have a Harbor Freight tool store nearby, try their cheap ceramic knives.  They're so much sharper than the expensive knives I had before that they practically cut through a hard sweet potato like butter.   Or at least like an apple or regular potato.

[Guest]

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Edited June 20, 2016 by Guest