I've had good luck parboiling the sweet potatoes and then grilling them. I don't worry about the mess because my hubby cleans the grill, but if you oiled the grill (or the potatoes, I suppose), it could work. You could also try covering the grill with foil. I'm with you that that kind of defeats the purpose of grilling, but maybe you could cut slits in the foil to let the flavor get to the potatoes.

Next time I try sweet potatoes on the grill, I think I'll precook them in orange juice with garlic, etc. to help infuse the flavors through the veggies. Maybe won't work, but it will be fun to try :)

Let us know what you decide on and how it turns out!

Hey lpink

Yeah yesterday I checked the weather for the area not far from you and nearly choked. Yikes!

I use my grill for outdoors cooking a lot when it gets hot. My go-to equipment is a quarter or half sheet cake pan and a roll of Reynolds Wrap non-stick Aluminum foil. I put the pans, which by now are pretty beat up and blackened, right on the grill. I don't get the grill marks or taste but it sure as heck doesn't heat up my kitchen either.

For sweet potatoes I either do them whole or you could slice, oil, and season them. The non-stick really does a good job in making it easy to turn them without sticking.

The problem I have when making fried potatoes from raw potatoes inside, on the stove, is they stick to the pan, and burn on the outside before cooking through, which I have always atributed to the sugar/starch content of the potato. I don't want potatoes swimming in oil so I usually fry up already baked or boiled potatoes from last night's dinner when I make homefries. I'm thinking I need to parboil at least, since if I slice the sweet potatoes really thin, which is what you need to do with homefries, they won't be easy to do on the grill. Actually, I'm thinking of microwaving them, even less heat in the kitchen from that!

Slowlane, I wouldn't use OJ to cook them in, although I could be completely wrong. All I know is with beans, acid solutions render their skins impervious and they never cook. I made black bean soup once by dumping all the ingredients in a pot to cook, including the vinegar, and I cooked it for maybe six hours or more adding tons of water, and the beans were still hard. I'm not sure the effects of acid on cooking potatoes. You might try adding grated orange rind though. Oddly enough, I have a ton of that!

For baking/grilling I steam them first, not parboil.

For frying, I dehydrate them a little after steaming, then quick fry.

dcarch

I just peel and wedge the potatoes....sweet or otherwise, toss in olive oil and grill at a medium low heat....they get done...they are not greasy and taste delicious...sometimes I sprinkle with powdered cinnamon and ginger as they are on the grill.
The secret is don't have the grill too hot.....and that is true of anything you want to be cooked through...not a blazing hot grill....or the outside will begin to char before the inside is done.Or for potatoes cooked on the grill with something else like chicken or beef, put them on a pan or wrapw ith foil
And acid or fruit has nothing to do with how sweet potatoes cook...but if you get too much on the potatoes while grilling the outsides will burn quicker.
For "grilled" potatoes, do as I suggested
Just cut up the potatoes and grill, raw...on a slow grill fire., for potatoes cooked on the grill with something else like chicken or beef, put them on a pan or wrap with foil

I was making pasta for dinner and my pasta pot has a steamer that goes on top of it so I just steamed them a little bit over the pasta cooking before grilling. Coated with olive oil and lightly salted. They turned out good. I may try another method another time, but this one worked with what was going on in my kitchen. I also grilled eggplant, yellow peppers and onions. YUM!

I don't know why this wouldn't work with sweets. They take some time but they're really good...

Grilled Potatoes

Halve potatoes lengthwise. Cut crosshatches 1/4" deep and 1/4" apart. Sprinkle with S&P. Press on potatoes to spread and brush with melted butter. Grill slowly on both sides until tender.

I saw someone cooking sweet potatoes yesterday on TV - she sliced them, brushed them with oil and cooked them on the BBQ alongside slices of plantain and jerk chicken. As Lindac says, no need to fuss.

Sweet Potato cooks differently than regular potatos. I think starches are so different. I don't need much oil on a sweet potato when roasting into fries type strips and they don't stick the same as potatos, also cooks faster than potatos as well by ~10-15 min for the same temperature.