# Grilling Sweet Potatoes



## yourstrulyewalani (Jun 26, 2010)

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?


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## Andy M. (Aug 5, 2010)

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).


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## yourstrulyewalani (Aug 9, 2010)

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.


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## purple.alien.giraffe (Jun 7, 2011)

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.


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## pacanis (Jun 7, 2011)

I don't like baked sweet potatoes, or even SP fries, but I can see my liking grilled sweet potatoes. Good suggestion, Purple.


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## MostlyWater (Jun 7, 2011)

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.


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## purple.alien.giraffe (Jun 7, 2011)

MostlyWater said:


> 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.



About half an hour with the lid on, vents mostly open.


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## bakechef (Jun 8, 2011)

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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