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Fluffy, buttery, and tender sweet potatoes are just under half an hour away with my Instant Pot Sweet Potato Recipe! Using the Instant Pot, these delicious veggies cook in half the time it would take to bake them, with minimal prep work. Plus, I’ve included time adjustments for various sizes of potato!
Jump to:
- Pressure Cooker Sweet Potatoes
- Why You’ll Love Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
- Steamed Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
- Optional Sweet Potato Toppings
- How to Pressure Cook Sweet Potatoes
- How Long to Steam Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes in Instant Pot Tips
- Sweet Potatoes Pressure Cooker FAQ
- Storing Leftover Sweet Potatoes
- Easy Instant Pot Sides
- Pin it for later!
- Recipe
- Reviews
Pressure Cooker Sweet Potatoes
When I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do was ask my grandmother to tell me stories about her childhood. Her life seemed almost impossible to imagine! One of the stories that always stuck out was her habit of going to school each day with a steamed sweet potato packed away for lunch.
This might seem like an odd story to recall, but its joyous simplicity is what made it memorable. It was so easy to picture her carefully cutting open a simple, tender sweet potato in the schoolyard each day, and every time I eat a sweet potato now, I think of her, and how such a simple food can connect us.
But it all starts with successfully cooking a sweet potato to be soft and tender, which, as it turns out, isn’t as easy when baking. That’s where the Instant Pot comes in! It makes perfect, fluffy steamed sweet potatoes in no time, so you can indulge in sweet simplicity with none of the hassle.
Why You’ll Love Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
- It takes just under 30 minutes, whereas baking can take up to an hour.
- Making them is as easy as placing the sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot and letting it do the work for you!
- Instant Pot sweet potatoes turn out soft and fluffy every time, while baking them can have mixed results at bast.
Steamed Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
- Water: If you don’t use some form of liquid in the Instant Pot, your food will burn. Be sure to add cool water to the pot when pressure cooking sweet potatoes. Don’t use hot water!
- Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes come in all different sizes. I used relatively average sized sweet potatoes for this recipe, and I recommend keeping them small so the cook time remains low. However, I’ve included a time chart for larger sweet potatoes!
Optional Sweet Potato Toppings
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar is a classic pairing with sweet potatoes that will make them even sweeter and so delicious. Perfect if you want the sweet taste of a sweet potato casserole, without making the whole casserole!
- Maple syrup: Like brown sugar, maple syrup adds additional sweetness to sweet potatoes, with the bonus of that delicious maple flavor. I like to use a mix of brown sugar and maple.
- Butter: You can’t go wrong with butter. Sweet potatoes are always better served with butter, even if you’re using other toppings!
- Salt and pepper: Simple salt and pepper is often the only seasoning you need for sweet potatoes…
- Cinnamon: …But, I love to add cinnamon, too!
How to Pressure Cook Sweet Potatoes
- Place a trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot, then add 1 cup of cool water.
- Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes without peeling them, then pierce each one a few times with a fork. This prevents them from bursting as they cook.
- Place the sweet potatoes on the trivet, then add the lid. Select Manual, then High Pressure, and cook for 16 minutes.
- Once the cook time is up, natural release the pressure for about 10 minutes (it may take up to 15). Open the lid, then carefully remove the potatoes with tongs.
- Slice the potatoes open or peel off the skin, then serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
How Long to Steam Sweet Potatoes
| Sweet Potato Width | Cooking Time |
|---|---|
| 2 inches (small) | 16 minutes |
| 3 inches (medium) | 30 minutes |
| 4 inches (large) | 50+ minutes |
Not all sweet potatoes are the same! Because they come in such a wide variety of sizes and shapes, it’s important to group together potatoes of roughly the same size. This is critical to a well cooked sweet potato.
Sweet Potatoes in Instant Pot Tips
- Avoid peeling the sweet potatoes before cooking them! The peel acts as a natural barrier, preventing the potatoes from becoming mushy and messy during steaming.
- Make sure you’ve stabbed the sweet potatoes before cooking them! If you don’t, the tough skin can burst under pressure and make a mess.
- Cooking these sweet potatoes in their skin is a fantastic way to create a self-serve experience, catering to everyone’s tastes! Let your loved ones stuff them as they see fit. I recommend butter, black beans, taco toppings, maple syrup, or cinnamon sugar!
- You don’t need to keep them in the skin! Once cooked, feel free to mash them, use them for sweet potato casserole, or use the flesh in baked goods like sweet potato pie.
Sweet Potatoes Pressure Cooker FAQ
In theory, sweet potatoes cook faster than regular potatoes, though this largely depends on the size of the potato. A large sweet potato might take longer to cook than your average russet due to the size difference!
On average, sweet potatoes take 16 minutes of pressure cooking to soften, plus the 10-15 minutes required for natural pressure release. This, compared to the often hour or more they take to cook in the oven, makes pressure cooking sweet potatoes a much faster and more reliable method! If your potatoes are larger, they will take a bit longer to cook.
If you plan on freezing sweet potatoes, always cook them first! They can be fully cooked or cut into sweet potato cubes and blanched. So long as they’re not fully raw, they can be safely frozen and used in recipes later. Fully raw potatoes will suffer in the freezer, losing their structure and becoming wrinkly and dry.
Storing Leftover Sweet Potatoes
- Fridge: Wrap the whole sweet potatoes in plastic or foil and store them in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
- Freezer: You can freeze cooked sweet potatoes! Just wrap the unpeeled potato tightly in foil and they’ll last in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Thawing and Reheating: Leftover chilled sweet potatoes can be reheated in the microwave or oven. I recommend splitting them open and mashing the inside before heating. For frozen potatoes, thaw in the fridge before heating. Or, keep them wrapped in foil and place them in the oven or air fryer at 350°F until warmed through, 30 minutes for the oven or 15 for the air fryer.
Easy Instant Pot Sides
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Green Beans
- Instant Pot Candied Carrots
- Quinoa in Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob
Or serve up the centerpiece right out of the pressure cooker with my mouthwatering Instant Pot Ham recipe!
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Recipe
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes in 30 minutes
Equipment
- Trivet
Ingredients
- 4 Sweet Potatoes
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
- Place a trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot, then add 1 cup of cool water.1 cup Water
- Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes without peeling them, then pierce each one a few times with a fork. This prevents them from bursting as they cook.4 Sweet Potatoes
- Place the sweet potatoes on the trivet, then add the lid. Select Manual, then High Pressure, and cook for 16 minutes.
- Once the cook time is up, natural release the pressure for 10-15 minutes. Remove the lid, then take the sweet potatoes out using tongs.
- Slice the potatoes open or peel off the skin, then serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Notes
- Do not peel sweet potatoes before cooking to prevent them from becoming mushy.
- Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork before cooking to prevent bursting.
- Serve sweet potatoes in their skin for a customizable self-serve experience.
- After cooking, sweet potatoes can be mashed, used in casseroles, or in baked goods like pies!
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