Begin By Prepping

• Boiling and steaming are convenient cooking methods that require little preparation. Thoroughly scrub the jacket of the sweet potato to remove dirt. Whether you peel the potato is personal preference, but it’s worth noting that a sweet potato’s skin helps retain nutrients during the cooking process. Whether boiled or steamed, the skin of the sweet potato can easily be peeled off once it’s cooked. Don’t be afraid to scrub it clean and toss it straight into a boiling pot of water or into a piping hot steamer.

Basic Boiling Method

• Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt, then add the clean sweet potato. Cooking times will vary -- poke a fork through it to determine when it’s cooked to your liking. As is true of most vegetables, boiling sweet potatoes in water can diminish its water-soluble nutrient content. The Vegetarian Times "Healing Foods Cookbook" also cites sweet potatoes' high moisture content as making the vegetable difficult to fry.

Healthy Steaming Method

• Sweet potatoes can be steamed in a steamer pot, a bamboo or metal steamer tray or in an electric food steamer. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes prior to steaming, or simply toss the vegetables whole into the steamer and peel upon completion of the cooking process. The result is a simple, steamed sweet potato free of additives.

Tips and Techniques

• To peel a cooked sweet potato, remove it from the hot water and immediately submerge it in cold water. Use a paring knife to peel the sweet potato and cut it into square cubes if you’re using it for soup, stew or mashed. Before adding butter, brown sugar or olive oil to your recipe, test the sweetness of the potato by taking a bite, and add other ingredients accordingly. CookingLight.com’s Guide to Sweet Potatoes cites the vegetable as an adequate substitute for regular white potatoes in nearly any recipe.