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!)
Table of Contents close
- 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
- 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.
A Sweet Little Scrub Brush
Buy a good brush to scrub the outside of your potatoes. I love this one – it has soft and firm bristles and it’s dishwasher safe. I also love the way it fits in your hand.
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
What is the healthiest way to cook sweet potatoes?
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!
Can you freeze sweet potatoes?
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.
Can you eat the peel of a sweet potato?
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.
More Instant Pot Basics
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Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Recipe
Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes – Perfect Every Time!
4.41 from 254 votesPrep Time: 5 minutes mins
Cook Time: 30 minutes mins
Additional Time to Pressurize: 10 minutes mins
Total Time: 45 minutes mins
8 servings
Print Rate Recipe
Instant Pot sweet potatoes come out silky smooth every time. Pressure cooking sweet potatoes may be the best way yet!
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
Serving: 0.5potato, Calories: 97kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 0.1g, Saturated Fat: 0.02g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.001g, Sodium: 64mg, Potassium: 381mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 16031IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 35mg, Iron: 1mg
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.
© Author: Rachel Gurk
