Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes are such an easy and quick way to cook up sweet potatoes. Delicious, simple, and done in about 30 minutes—the perfect healthy side to any dinner.
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Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are one of our family’s favorite sides for dinner. They are super adaptable, can go sweet or savory and sweet potatoes are an easy thing to keep on hand!
Just one problem. I don’t love the hour or so it takes to bake them in the oven.
Do any of us, though? After a busy day of work and adulting, a quick dinner is a must! I mean, I am HUNGRY! And tired. And I usually have a hungry, tired, and impatient family in the wings.
So, cooking sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot has become my busy weeknight dinner saving hack!
How to cooked sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot
TNNers, cooking up sweet potatoes in your Instant Pot seriously couldn’t be easier.
It is as simple as:
- Washing them. Seriously, scrub them. Those suckers grow in the ground, after all, so make sure you get the dirt off. And if you have a kiddo at home, make this their job! It is a fun, easy way to get kids involved in the kitchen and take one task off your to-do list! TIP: I highly suggest using a veggie brush to make this job a little faster.
- Poking them a few times. That way, the steam can escape as they cook to perfection.
- Putting them in your Instant Pot. Do it in a single layer, otherwise they might not cook through!
- Adding water. Every pressure cooker recipe needs at least a cup of liquid in it, so be sure you don’t forget the water.
- Locking the lid on and making sure the valve at the top is turned to “sealing”.
- Set 20 minutes on HIGH pressure. It’ll take about 10 minutes for your pressure to build up.
- Walk away and relax or make another part of dinner! See? So easy!
Can I cook sweet potatoes in my slow cooker?
If you haven’t hopped on the Instant Pot train yet, no worries! You can make sweet potatoes in your slow cooker too. It just requires a bit of extra planning so they are done in time for dinner.
Follow the recipe as directed as far as washing, poking the potatoes with holes and adding water. But when it comes time to cook, simply set your potatoes to cook in your slow cooker on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
Helpful tips
- Know your potato. Sweet potatoes come in many different shapes and sizes. If you have very skinny or small potatoes, they might cook up much faster. Consider cooking those for just 15 minutes. If your sweet potatoes are on the extra large side, consider cutting them in half OR increasing the cook time to 25 minutes.
- Use this method for other kinds of potatoes! I use this technique for all kinds of potatoes and it works like a dream!
- Turn your cooked sweet potatoes into potato puree. I do this when I have some sweet potatoes that need to be used up. I cook them up according to this recipe, remove the skins and pop them into my blender or food processor with just a little extra water. Or you can mash them into a puree by hand! Sweet potato puree is a great thing to store in your fridge or freezer for easy veggie-loading in recipes like Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Muffins or Blueberry Sweet Potato Bread
Some recipes to serve with your Instant Pot sweet potatoes
- The BEST Slow Cooker Black Beans
- Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
- Veggie-Loaded Chicken Bites
- Chickpea Vegetable Nuggets
- Glorious Green Veggie Chicken Burgers
- Healthy & Easy Turkey Burgers
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Steamer basket
Ingredients
- 6 medium sweet potatoes or 6 small. Or 2 large
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Scrub sweet potatoes clean and use a fork or knife to poke about 6-8 holes in each sweet potato.
- Place steamer basket in your Instant Pot and pour in the water.
- Place sweet potatoes in a single layer in your Instant Pot. If they after on top of one another, they might not cook through.
- Lock lid on your Instant Pot and be sure that the valve on top is turned to sealing.
- Cook on HIGH for 20 minutes. It will take your pressure cooker about 10 minutes to reach pressure. This is normal.
- Once cooking time is up, carefully quick release the pressure.
- Once the pressure has been totally released, carefully unlock and remove the lid.
- Use tongs to carefully remove the hot potatoes. Make sure they are fork tender and are good to go! If the potatoes are still hard (this can happen depending on the size of your potato), pop back into the pressure cooker with a little extra water for an extra couple of minutes.
- Enjoy warm or let cook completely before storing in your fridge for 3-4 days.
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