Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes – Perfect Every Time!

Instant Pot sweet potatoes come out silky smooth every time. Pressure cooking sweet potatoes may be the best way yet!

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.

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 This Recipe

This 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, like Instant Pot hard boiled eggs or Instant Pot shredded chicken.

It’s 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 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!

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.

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 (I like topping them with a little cinnamon and butter) or try one of the ideas below.

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

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.