Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes – Perfect Every Time!
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Instant Pot sweet potatoes come out silky smooth every time. Pressure cooking sweet potatoes may be the best way yet!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Pressure cooking is a very easy way to cook sweet potatoes and there’s no need to turn on your oven. They turn out great!
How long it takes: 40 minutes total
Equipment you’ll need: Instant Pot/pressure cooker, wire trivet
Servings: make as many as you like (within reason!)
- 1 Recipe Overview
- 2 About Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
- 3 What You’ll Need
- 4 A Sweet Little Scrub Brush
- 5 How To Make Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
- 6 How To Use Cooked Sweet Potatoes
- 7 FAQs
- 8 Storage & Reheating Tips
- 9 More Instant Pot Basics
- 10 Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes – Perfect Every Time!
I eat a lot of sweet potatoes. I mean, A LOT. Roasted, in a hash, sweet potato toast, mashed, pureed, noodled, baked, turned into chips, basically any way I can. On special occasions, I love to make scalloped sweet potatoes with bacon and Gruyère. If you don’t believe me, take a look at my list of 25 easy sweet potato recipes!
When I have done a Whole30 diet in the past, sweet potatoes satisfied my carb cravings but I had to get creative to keep from getting bored. I also had to find quick and easy ways to prepare them so I didn’t have a reason to fall off the Whole30 wagon.
Enter the Instant Pot, one of my favorite Whole30 tools. It makes the most perfect sweet potatoes.
I’ll admit, I sometimes resort to the microwave to cook sweet potatoes. Stab them with a fork, wrap them in paper towel, and they’re ready in about 5 minutes. However, that method does tend to dry them out, whereas the Instant Pot will not.
This is definitely my new go-to method, and I think it’s going to be yours, too.
About Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Instant Pot sweet potatoes are steamed. The flesh becomes velvety smooth and creamy; the skin is very soft. They differ somewhat from baked sweet potatoes which are a bit drier with a tougher skin.
This post is more of a how-to than an actual recipe. Once you’ve learned how to use your Instant Pot to cook sweet potatoes, it will be a cooking method you turn to over and over again.
Instant Pots can be a food prepper’s dream. Just get that Instant Pot working on food for the whole week. You can stock your fridge with boiled eggs, cooked shredded chicken, and now creamy cooked sweet potatoes. Dinner will be a snap! Prep Instant Pot white rice and freeze it in serving size bags. It’s so handy. Works for brown rice, too, or quinoa!
I’ll get you started here and give you helpful tips and information. As always, look for the recipe card near the end of the post for complete instructions and nutrition information.
What You’ll Need
- Sweet Potatoes: Look for medium-sized sweet potatoes that are about two inches in diameter. After testing this recipe several times, we came to the conclusion that larger potatoes just don’t cook as evenly. They tend to stay hard in the middle even if you increase the cooking time. The recipe is written for four sweet potatoes; you can cook fewer or more potatoes as you wish.
- Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker/Multicooker: I use a 6-quart Instant Pot.
- Water: Don’t forget to add the water! Water is necessary to create steam; the steam builds up, and pressurizes the cooker.
How To Make Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Scrub the sweet potatoes well and trim if necessary. I usually trim the wrinkly ends off.
Pour one cup of water into the bottom of the pot. Put the wire trivet into the pot and arrange the sweet potatoes on the trivet.
Lock the lid in place and set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook (or Manual – High Pressure, depending on your model). Set the cook time for 15 minutes. It will take approximately 10 minutes to pressurize.
After the 15 minute timer goes off, allow the pressure to release naturally. That means you don’t do anything for fifteen minutes. When fifteen minutes have passed, release any remaining pressure; carefully remove the lid.
The sweet potatoes should be perfectly well-done, silky smooth and delicious! The skin will be very soft and is totally edible.
Now that you know how to make perfect sweet potatoes, eat them just the way they are or top them with a nice-sized chunk of homemade garlic butter, or enhance their sweetness with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
How To Use Cooked Sweet Potatoes
Stuffed sweet potatoes
Cut a slit in the middle of the potato and open it up. Add any sort of filling you like: chili with all the toppings, scrambled eggs with avocado, black beans and tomato salsa, bacon, salmon, shredded chicken, whatever! Recently we’ve been loving these quick-cooking fried chicken bites.
Mashed sweet potatoes
Scoop the sweet potatoes out of the skins and mash it. Add seasonings like chili powder, curry powder, or taco seasoning. A drizzle of hot honey is so good! Top them with a sprinkle of savory granola, toasted pine nuts, or roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas). Try vanilla bean mashed sweet potatoes.
More ideas
Try handheld sweet potato casserole, sweet potato bread pudding, or twice baked sweet potatoes.
I can’t wait to hear from you : What are you going to do with these Instant Pot sweet potatoes?
FAQs
According to NutritionFacts.org, the healthiest way to cook sweet potatoes is to boil them. It lowers the glycemic index by half and they undergo a cellular change which makes the nutrients more available.
However, sweet potatoes are a very healthy food, whether they are boiled, baked, or roasted. If you like them better baked or roasted, you’ll probably end up eating more sweet potatoes, and that’s going to be great for your health!
Yes, sweet potatoes can be frozen for up to twelve months. Raw sweet potatoes do need to be blanched first because of the high water content. For a good guide on how to freeze sweet potatoes, both cooked and raw, check out HomeCookBasics.
Yes, the peel of sweet potatoes is totally edible and has more antioxidants than the flesh (ten times more!).
Storage & Reheating Tips
Cooked sweet potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. They will keep in the freezer for up to 12 months in a freezer safe container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
To reheat, microwave until heated through.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes (10-12 oz. each), approximately 2 inches in diameter (see note)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Scrub sweet potatoes and trim if necessary. Pour water into Instant Pot. Place wire trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot and place sweet potatoes on top of the trivet.
- Secure the lid and turn valve to seal.
- Select Pressure Cook (or Manual on High) for 15 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure.
- Allow pressure to release naturally (do nothing after the timer goes off) for 15 minutes.
- Release remaining pressure, remove lid, and serve.
Notes
- Serving size: Half of 1 medium sweet potato.
- Sweet potatoes with a diameter much larger than 2 inches cook less evenly, even if you add extra time.
- You can add fewer sweet potatoes or add more. Cooking time is the same but it will take less/more time for the Instant Pot to come to pressure.
- Cooked sweet potatoes can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Cathy says
Just made this a few minutes ago and they turned out extremely soggy. They still taste great, but maybe I’ll try less cook time next time. I’ve only used my Instant Pot a few times though, so I’m still learning. Would ten minutes be enough to make sure they’re still cooked but not soggy?
Rachel Gurk says
It really depends on the size. If they’re smaller sweet potatoes, they may cook in 10 minutes. However, they are more…moist…than traditionally baked sweet potatoes since they are more or less steamed.
Frances says
I keep trying this recipe over and over and it isn’t working. Vent is sealed. They are two larger sweet potatoes this time, and I set it to 22 minutes and it natural released for 20 min. Opened and still very hard. Mine is a 6 quart instant pot with an actual “pressure cook” button vs manual. So I hit that,add sure it was on high, and between “less” and “more”, so. the middle. Not sure what is going wrong and I’m so confused!
Rachel Gurk says
Hmmm…that’s very strange. Does your Instant Pot work for other recipes? Maybe you need a new rubber ring? How old is it?
Mary says
Rachel…thanks for sharing this recipe. It worked great. I have a 6qt IPDUO and I did your instructions exactly….I should have weighed my sweet potatoes just so I know for future reference but I did six with one of those laying on top of the five that fit on the trivet that came with my IP. The only difference was that my value didn’t drop at 10 minutes but at 19 minutes so I’m sure the extra time for my natural release may have made mine come out perfectly. My leftovers are going to be made into sweet potato biscuits. Yum-Oh!
Rachel Gurk says
Oooh sweet potato biscuits sound so yummy! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Pam says
This recipe does not work! I’ve tried it twice. Once with one large sweet potato and again with 2 medium sweet potatoes and both times they were hard in the middle. Had to put them back in the IP for another 10 minutes and natural release for another 5-10 minutes.
Rachel Gurk says
Are you sure your valve is turned to “seal” and not “vent?” That could be the problem.
Becky says
How long should I cook two small sweet potatoes? Should I use the same amount of water?
Rachel Gurk says
Depends on how small – if they’re quite small, try 10 minutes and still do the 10 minute natural release. Same amount of water. :)
Katrina Bowman says
Perfect! The natural release is the key!
Rachel Gurk says
So happy to hear this method worked well for you, Katrina! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Renee E says
These were so easy to do and so soft and delicious when they were done! My potatoes must have been the same size as yours as 15 minutes followed by natural release was perfect!
Rachel Gurk says
So glad to hear this method worked for you! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Susie Simerly says
Came out perfect. Took 15 minutes for pressure to release naturally
Will definitely do forever ;-)
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad you liked this method, Susie! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
CJ says
I will never bake sweet potatoes in the oven again. These are perfect and so easy in the instapot. I love to cook a big batch, cool them, and freeze them. They are ready and so sweet any time I want them.
Sometimes I have to cook white and sweet potatoes at the same time, and just use the sweet potato timing. Also, the green Progressive scrubbing brush truly is better than any other I have used. It feels great in my sometimes arthritic hands and somehow cleans faster and better than any other I have used.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so happy to hear that! Do they freeze well?
Thom says
I’m sure it’s in the comments some where but thickness of potato is crucial to cooking time. 15 min is for very small or thin potatoes.
Rachel Gurk says
Absolutely! If you have particularly thick potatoes, you’ll want to increase cooking time to 18-19 minutes.
Mary Lou says
Just made these in my 8-qt instant pot, and they were wonderful! So creamy and tasty! Thank you for the excellent alternative!
Rachel Gurk says
So happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment, Mary Lou! It means so much to me.
Coreen Pike says
I made my sweet potatoes for the first time in my instapot, they were perfect! Will never cook them again in the microwave or oven. Easy peasy.
Rachel Gurk says
So happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Holly says
burn notice on an 8 quart might be because an 8 quart requires 1.5 cups of water not 1 cup. Alternately, there’s something wrong with the IP.
Rachel Gurk says
Great insight – thank you!
Renee Vergara says
I tried this tonight (twice) in my 8-quart instant pot and got the “burn” message both times. I’m not new to the instant pot, but the 8-quart size is new for me…almost every time I use it, I get this message. I thought there was no way I would get it with these sweet potatoes cause its just water on the bottom and a steam basket (so nothing touching the bottom directly). So frustrating. Not sure what I’m doing wrong and why its different than my 6-quart in this regard.
Any suggestions?
Rachel Gurk says
That’s so strange! I have never gotten a burn message with my Instant Pot and agree with you, no idea why this would cause one. Are there any burned remnants from previous recipes you’ve cooked?
Michelle Rhodes says
Wander if you got a bad pot!
Meredith gavlick says
Is it the same amount of time for 3 sweet potatoes?
Rachel Gurk says
Yes! :) Hope you love them!
Chuck says
Just a comment about sweet potatoes that stay hard in the center. I have found that storing sweet potatoes in the fridge will sometimes result in hard centers even when cooked in the conventional oven or microwave. I always store mine at room temperature now and the problem has never occurred again. I heard this mentioned on Food TV one time as well. Good luck.
Rachel Gurk says
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Lynn says
I grow my own yams and they vary in size from 4oz to over 1 1/2 pounds. For me, a medium yam is about a pound. I just cooked the 4-8 oz yams for 15 minutes according to the recipe. They were perfect and creamy. Thanks for the Instant pot recipe! It’s tough to do timing when the food varies in size so much.
Rachel Gurk says
Thanks for the comment and helpful tips! It is tough to get accurate timing on something that varies so much!