This recipe makes me want to travel back in time 20 years and yell at my 12-year-old self. Like seriously yell. I don’t believe in spanking children and a 12-year-old is probably too old to spank anyway, but I’m pretty sure my 12-year-old self deserved it. Because I did not eat sweet potatoes when I was 12. I don’t think I ate them until I was 18 or so. Which means I wasted a whole lot of years not eating sweet potatoes. And that is not OK.
My excuse? “Potatoes should not taste like dessert.” Um, but why not?? Why did nobody think to ask me why not?? If a potato tastes like dessert, but you’re allowed, in fact encouraged, to eat it for dinner, isn’t that basically the best thing in the world for a 12-year-old? Apparently not for me.
Now, when I eat a sweet potato dish like this one, I seriously feel like sitting down and shedding a few tears. Tears for my former non-sweet potato eating life. Tears for the hundreds of sweet potatoes I could have consumed in those years. And tears for the fact that I didn’t take advantage of eating a potato that tastes like dessert for dinner. I guess I just wasn’t the brightest kid. And that’s sad.
Luckily, I smartened up and now I’m constantly making up for lost time. This is the best sweet potato dish I’ve made to date. The thing is, I also have a serious ginger obsession. An eat all the pickled ginger of the sushi platter every single time obsession. And once I started thinking about ginger and sweet potatoes together, I could not stop thinking about it. Coconut is a natural partner for ginger and milk is pretty boring and since these potatoes are anything but boring, I figured coconut milk was the way to go.
Ginger isn’t the prettiest when you finely grate it. But to me, this is beautiful. And it smelled like a dream. But seriously, is it bad that I’d literally eat this with a spoon? I should feel shame, shouldn’t I? I don’t.
Mashed sweet potatoes are crazy easy to make, especially when you whip them. The worst part is that you have to bake the sweet potatoes for about an hour. And that waiting is tough. But if you spend that hour sniffing the ginger you just grated, you’ll be OK. Just kidding. Kind of.
To start, you’ll want to bake 3 large fork-pricked sweet potatoes at 375 degrees for about an hour, until they’re very soft.
You’ll have to let them cool until you can handle them. More waiting. More trying not to eat spoonfuls of ginger.
Then scoop out the flesh and put it in the bowl of a food processor.
Add 2 T butter, ½ C full-fat coconut milk, 1 T minced ginger, 1 t brown sugar, and salt and pepper.
And puree away. Until the potatoes are very very smooth.
In the meantime, in a small skillet over medium heat, melt the coconut oil.
Add the panko to the pan and toast the panko until it’s just browned.
Ahhhh finally time to serve these babies.
Serve the whipped sweet potatoes in a bowl with the toasted panko sprinkled on top.
This makes about 8 servings. So probably you should try not to eat the entire bowl yourself.
But my whole thing is, would it be better to eat 8 servings of whipped sweet potatoes or 8 servings of ice cream? Exactly. I rest my case.
These are exactly what I was dreaming in my head. So gingery, a tad coconutty, and amazingly smooth and creamy. If it wasn’t the cheesiest thing ever to say, I would tell you they were like eating clouds. Orange clouds with tons of flavor. But that’s weird. So I’ll just tell you they were fluffy and smooth and melt-in-your-mouth. Oh, plus the panko gave them a little unexpected crunch.
Now can you see why I am so pissed at my 12-year-old self? What a dummy. Of course, I probably wasn’t a huge fan of ginger either, so I would have doubly hated this dish.
These delicious potatoes make a dreamy side dish for basically anything, but especially a chicken or turkey. But I would definitely not judge you if you ate a bowl as a meal. Or a snack.
Yes, 12-year-old self, it’s like dessert for dinner. And why on Earth you had a problem with that, I will never understand. Sigh. I’ll just have to continue making up for lost time.
What foods have you taken a while to come around to?
📖 Recipe
Ginger Coconut Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- 2 T butter room temperature
- ½ C full-fat coconut milk
- 1 T minced ginger
- 1 t brown sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 T coconut oil
- ⅓ C panko
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Prick sweet potatoes with a fork or knife and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Bake sweet potatoes for about an hour, until they're very soft.
- Let potatoes cool until you can handle them. Scoop flesh out and place in the bowl of a food processor.
- Add butter, coconut milk, ginger, brown sugar, and salt and pepper to the food processor.
- Puree until potatoes are very smooth.
- In a small skillet over medium heat, melt coconut oil.
- Add panko and toast until panko is just browned.
- Serve sweet potatoes in a bowl with toasted panko sprinkled on top.
Stephanie Miskew says
What's important is that you like them now and this recipe looks DELICIOUS!!! Can't wait to try it - I'm all for sweet potatoes as dessert. Thanks for sharing!
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says
These potatoes look amazing! I just started liking sweet potatoes within the past few years, and I'm loving every variety that I see. Such a great idea to make them whipped!
annie@ciaochowbambina says
I LOVE the combination of flavors in these sweet potatoes! Very clever and so delicious!!
Pam says
I love sweet potatoes - adding coconut & ginger makes these tasty spuds even more amazing!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
What a great idea to add ginger and coconut to sweet potatoes. I can't wait to try that!
Thanks for commenting on my blog 🙂
Ashley (QLCC) says
I get SO disenchanted with sweet potatoes SO quickly... I am always on the lookout for new ones 🙂 This looks like a great and tasty one to try!
Ami@NaiveCookCooks says
I am loving everything about this dish - creamy sweet potatoes, coconut milk, ginger!! Ahh I can smell them!!
Ashley | Spoonful of Flavor says
I love whipping sweet potatoes with coconut milk! Love the addition of the ginger too. I would take a big bowl of this right now!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
What a delicious idea to add coconut milk.. I just love these creamy sweet potatoes. Definitely a dish I will be re-creating in my kitchen.
Meghan says
This looks SO yummy, but I would have to have it as dessert! I am still in the plain sweet tater camp for dinner (my family thinks I'm weird as they all eat candied ones).
Deanna Segrave-Daly says
Oh my heavens - this is like dessert! I like sweet potatoes but I rarely make them - why the heck is that? Pinning this baby 🙂
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog says
Lol, going back to give your 12 year old self a spanking..what would your mother say? lol. These potatoes sound delish!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
haha, my 12 year old self didn't eat sweet potatoes either, but mostly because I didn't even know what they were!!! Not kidding. I had my first sweet potato around 19, and have been packing my face with them ever since!
Rachel says
Oh my gosh, this looks AMAZING! I love when sweet potatoes taste like dessert. And honestly, I don't understand when people are all like 'ugh I hate sweet potato casseroles at Thanksgiving...isn't that dessert?' In my head, I'm all 'yes it IS like dessert and what is the problem?!' I can't wait to try this!
Leah | So, How's It Taste? says
Oh I am all over this one! I love sweet potatoes, but sometimes I get stuck in a rut with the same ol' cinnamon/marshmallow topping. I'd love the fresh ginger and coconut in this one!
Nicole @ Young, Broke and Hungry says
I don't think I ate sweet pototoes either when I was younger but I love them now! This recipe looks amazing.
Alyssa @ My Sequined Life says
I remember being anti-sweet potato when I was younger, too. SO not sure what I was thinking, but one taste of sweet potato fries and I was hooked. I bet I could eat a huuuuge bowl of these. So good!!
Kitchen Belleicious says
what could be better than this! I mean ginger and sweet potatoes. what a great flavor and texture combo with the added coconut. I mean WOW! just wow
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
I was a sweet potato hater too! Thankfully I've reevaluated my tastes and welcomed sweet potatoes back into my life. Seriously, when these mashed potatoes and things like sweet potato cinnamon sugar fries exist, what was I thinking? I'm so impressed by the ginger + coconut flavors... so creative 🙂
Culinary Flavors says
I love making bold combinations of flavors and these treats are exactly that! Love them!
Joanne says
If it makes you feel any better, I didn't like sweet potatoes as a kid either! I have no idea WHAT I was thinking. Crazy girl. So...I should make up for lost time by eating the whole bowl of these? I vote yes.
Lynn @ The Actor’s Diet says
I’ve never thought to combine coconut milk to make whipped sweet potatoes! YUM.