CAVA White Sweet Potatoes
I love CAVA Everyone loves CAVA, The bowls, The sauce, Whatever,
But me?https://www.instagram.com/p/DTIvYLDEb2x/
The white sweet potatoes.
You know which ones I’m talking about;
Little cubes
Crispy outside
Soft inside
That salty sweet thing where you just stop chewing for a second.
Then I moved.
Nearest CAVA is forty minutes, Forty minutes one way, for potatoes.
I said no, I said I’ll make them at home.
How hard can it be?
Batch one
Burnt I mean burnt, Black, Smoke everywhere, My neighbor knocked. Asked if I was okay, I said yes while fanning the smoke alarm with a towel, Embarrassing
Batch two
Mush, Wet sad pale mush, stuck to the pan like glue, I scraped for ten minutes, Gave up. Threw the pan in the sink. Ate cereal.
Batch three.
I remembered to watch the heat
Remembered to flip halfway
Remembered everything except salt
One bite Tasted like sweet nothing Just air with a little sugar, Threw it out the back door. Even the birds wouldn’t eat it.
Batch four five six.
Edible but not right
Not crispy enough
Not salty enough
Not worth it honestly
Batch seven.
I sat on my kitchen floor No plate No fork Just the tray in my lap. I almost cried Not joking, I finally got it right
Let me tell you what I figured out
First The potato
You cannot use the orange ones, I don’t care what anyone says, Orange sweet potatoes have too much water, They steam instead of roast You end up with sticky pale cubes that taste like sad candy.
CAVA uses Japanese white sweet potatoes, Light brown skin, White flesh
If you can’t find those get:
Murasaki
Drier
Crunchier outside
Or O’Henry
Softer inside
Sweeter.
Those three work because they’re low water high starch. That’s literally the whole secret. Everything else is just extra.
Pick medium ones. Same size. I don’t care if they’re ugly or bent or have weird bumps. I care that they finish cooking at the same time. Nothing worse than half raw half burnt.
Now cutting.
One inch cubes Not bigger not smaller.
Sharp edges are good Flat surfaces get brown and crunchy. Round edges don’t. That’s just how heat works.
Biggest mistake I see? Uneven pieces. Small cubes burn while big cubes stay raw inside. Then you keep cooking and the small ones turn to charcoal, Then you get mad, Then you order takeout and feel like you failed.
If you can’t cut even slow down Or buy precut I won’t tell anyone, I’ve done it on lazy days when I just couldn’t be bothered.
What you need. Nothing fancy.
Two large Japanese sweet potatoes Like 700 grams total
Two to three tablespoons olive oil Or avocado if that’s what you have
One tablespoon paprika
One teaspoon salt Maybe more, CAVA under-salts and I will complain about this until I die.
One and a half teaspoons black pepper.
Half teaspoon ground coriander, if you have it, If not skip it No big deal
Baking tray Parchment paper Knife, Bowl, Spatula
That’s it.
Now cook, And please listen because I burned too many batches to be quiet about this.
Oven to 425. Not 400 not 375.
I tried lower, you get pale potatoes that look like you boiled them, No crunch, No color, just sad beige cubes.
Wash the potatoes, Scrub if they’re dirty
Then dry them And I mean dry, Take a towel and get every drop of water off.
Water makes steam, Steam makes soft potatoes.
Cut into one inch cubes
Put cubes in a bowl
Add oil
Add all the spices.
Use your hands to toss
Line the tray with parchment paper
Spread potatoes in one layer
Do not pile them, If they touch too much they trap steam, We don’t want steam, We want crunch, Give them space
Into the oven, Set a timer for fifteen minutes
Pull them out, Flip with a spatula, Back in for another fifteen minutes
Now look at them, Golden brown edges, Crispy on the outside, Poke one with a fork, Soft inside like butter
Here’s the part everybody messes up
Let them rest on the tray for three minutes
Do nothing
Walk away
Scroll your phone
Stare at the wall
Count to one hundred and eighty
They release steam
They stop sticking to the paper
The crust gets crunchier
Don’t skip this, I’ve seen people ruin perfect potatoes because they couldn’t wait three minutes, Just wait.
Things that go wrong because they will
If they are not crispy after thirty minutes your oven is not good enough, Next time set to 450, now spread the cubes on a second tray and broil for two or three minutes on the top rack but watch close, they go from perfect to black in seconds, I’ve watched them burn while I stood there helpless.
If they’re burned outside but raw inside your cubes were too big or your heat was too high. No fixing that batch, Throw it away, Start over,
You’ll just get frustrated and eat toast and feel sad.
If they’re stuck to the paper like glue you didn’t let them rest. Next time wait three or four minutes. Or use a metal spatula and scrape hard. Don’t be gentle. Gentle is for salads not burnt potatoes.
Cooking for more people? I do this for parties.
Double the recipe use two trays. Halfway through swap the top tray and bottom tray.
Do not double the oil by two times. Use one and a half times. Too much oil makes greasy potatoes not crunchy ones. Learned that cooking for a wedding. One hundred fifty people. Everyone was nice but I knew they weren’t right.
Weird trick I learned from catering.
Toss raw cubes with half a teaspoon of baking soda. Let them sit for five minutes. Then rinse. Then dry again. Then add oil and spices.
Baking soda breaks down the surface starch. Gives you darker crunchier crust.
But you have to rinse it off. Otherwise you taste soap.
I forgot to rinse one time cooking for two hundred people at a church event. Nobody said anything but I knew, i still think about it when I can’t sleep at three in the morning.
Air fryer at 400 degrees for twenty to twenty five minutes. Shake the basket halfway. Faster than oven. Sometimes even crispier honestly.
Microwave shortcut for busy nights when you’re tired and hungry and don’t care about perfection.
Cut the potatoes. Put them in a bowl with two tablespoons of water. Cover. Microwave eight to ten minutes until soft. Then toss with oil and spices. Then finish in the air fryer or under the broiler for five minutes.
Works, Not as good as the oven but good enough for a Tuesday when you just want to eat and go to bed.
Stovetop if you have no other option.
Heat three tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high. Cook the cubes for twenty to twenty five minutes stirring often.
Works but you have to watch it the whole time. No walking away. No checking your phone. I looked up once and everything was black. Learned that lesson hard.
Bored with paprika and pepper? Switch it up.
Mediterranean add oregano and garlic powder before roasting. After cooking squeeze lemon and throw fresh parsley on top.
Smoky use smoked paprika instead of regular
Add cumin garlic powder
chili powder
Tastes like a campfire.
Middle Eastern add cumin coriander cinnamon turmeric
Serve with yogurt or tahini you will love it
Some people use to add garlic powder onion powder cayenne thyme
While others after roasting toss with soy sauce sesame oil ginger honey, sprinkle sesame seeds.
What to eat with these potatoes
Tzatziki cold and creamy cuts through the crispy makes sense
Hummus spread on the bottom of a bowl add potatoes and greens done
Rice or quinoa when you need a full meal
Salads warm potatoes into cold greens, the contrast works better than you think.
Wraps stuff into pita with lettuce and sauce, Eat with your hands no shame.
Storing and reheating because you’ll make extra.
Fridge cool completely first then airtight container, Lasts three or four days.
Freezer spread cooled cubes on a tray freeze for one hour then put them in a bag. Keeps for three months.
Do not throw hot potatoes into a bag. They’ll freeze into one solid block of sadness. I’ve done it, I’ve thrown away frozen potato blocks and felt stupid.
Reheat oven at 400 for eight to ten minutes or air fryer at 375 for five to six minutes. Both bring back the crunch.
Do not microwave, Ever
Microwave makes them soft and sad and wet like you boiled it. You’ll hate yourself and blame me, don’t do it.
