Rotisserie Pan Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are my favorite starchy vegetable. I love their sweet, earthy flavor. I'm surprised it took me this long to put two and two together, try cooking them in my rotisserie pan.

The trick to the recipe is giving the sweet potatoes a head start in the microwave. That head start softens the sweet potatoes, and by the time they are done browning in the grill, they will be perfectly cooked through.

Sweet potatoes match well with the mild flavor of rotisserie chicken, turkey or pork. The sweet potatoes come out of the pan browned and sweet, crispy and bathed in the fat of whatever you're cooking.

So, if you are looking for an easy rotisserie side dish for your meal, one that isn't the same old potatoes, give these a try.

Recipe: Rotisserie Pan Sweet Potatoes

Equipment:

• Grill with Rotisserie attachment (I used a Weber Summit with an infrared rotisserie burner. Here is the current version of my grill.)
• Aluminum foil drip pan (9"x12", or whatever fits your grill)

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Prep the sweet potatoes: Peel the sweet potatoes, slice them in half lengthwise, then cut into ½ inch thick slices. Put the slices in a microwave safe bowl and toss with the salt, pepper, and vegetable oil until evenly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
*I like to use my 2 quart Pyrex measuring cup as the bowl, because the handle makes pouring the potatoes into the pan easier in the next step.

2. Pan roast the sweet potatoes: On a grill set up for rotisserie cooking at medium to high heat, carefully pour the sweet potatoes into the drip pan, and spread into an even layer. Cook for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are browned and crispy on the top. Stir the sweet potatoes halfway through the cooking time if some sections are browning quicker than others.

3. Serve the potatoes: Remove the sweet potatoes from the drip pan with a slotted spoon, leaving as much of the cooking fat behind as possible. Serve.

Variations:
*No rotisserie? No problem. If you are grill-roasting using a drip pan, you can use this recipe. The only difference is figuring out how to get the potatoes in and out of the pan, because the grate will probably be over the pan on the grill.  There isn't enough clearance for me to do this on my gas grill, but on my charcoal grill, I ask someone to help.  They carefully lift the grill grate (using oven mitts!) so I can pour the potatoes under the roast.

*Southwestern potatoes: With the salt and black pepper, add ½ teaspoon of ground chipotle powder. (I love the combination of chipotle's smoky heat and sweet potatoes.)

*Brown sugar glazed sweet potatoes: After removing the potatoes from the drip pan with the slotted spoon, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the potatoes.

Notes:
*On my Weber Summit, the rotisserie infrared burner is in the back of the grill, so the sweet potatoes tend to brown quicker on that side of the pan. After I stir the potatoes, I rotate the pan to get the other side closer to the heat of the rotisserie burner.

*While sweet potatoes are good for you, these potatoes are going to be coated in the fat dripping from whatever you are cooking. This fat gives them their delicious flavor, but can overwhelm them if they sit in it for too long. As soon as they are done cooking, get them out of the fat in the drip pan and onto a serving platter.

*I've noticed, in doing different recipes in my drip pan, that drip pan recipes work better on my gas grill than they do in my Weber kettle. The drip pan recipes work on the charcoal grill, but they don't get quite as browned and crispy as they do on the gas grill. This surprised me, because the charcoal grill rotisserie browns the meat on the spit better than my gas grill. I think it's the combination of the infrared burner and the positioning of the burners on the gas grill - the pan is getting heat from all sides. On the charcoal grill, it is directly between two piles of coals, so it gets heat at the edges, but nothing from underneath. Score one for the gas grill!

What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Related Posts:
Rotisserie Chicken Dry Brined with Rosemary and Lemon
Rotisserie Pan Potatoes
Instant Pot Collard Greens
Click here for my other rotisserie recipes.

Check out my cookbook, Rotisserie Grilling. Everything you could ask about the rotisserie, plus 50 (mostly) new recipes to get you cooking. It's a Kindle e-book, so you can download it and start reading immediately!

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