Instant Pot sweet potatoes come out perfectly fluffy and tender every time – and only take 15 minutes at pressure! These make a great dinner side dish or base for a casserole or complete meal.

I adore sweet potatoes. I roast them, bake them, stuff them and even use them for sweet potato toast.

Normally, baking sweet potatoes can take an hour or more. And many nights, I just don’t have that kind of time. (Or I haven’t gotten a chance to get dinner started that far in advance.)

Plus right now, we don’t have a working oven in my house. It’s been months and months since it broke and GE hasn’t been able to fix it and won’t replace it. I would cry if I wasn’t so frustrated.

Anyway, if I’m in a pinch, I might do some microwave sweet potatoes for a quick way to make them. Or Air Fryer sweet potato fries for a fun twist.

But if I have enough time, or if I want to make more than just a few sweet potatoes, I love making Instant Pot sweet potatoes.

They get so tender and fluffy and that natural sweetness really starts to emerge, just like when you bake them in the oven for mashed sweet potatoes.

Plus, cooking them this way saves time, saves oven space and saves even having to turn on the oven.

That makes this a great option if you’re just doing a couple of potatoes and don’t want to heat up the whole oven for an hour or more.

Or a great option for the holidays when you need to cook up a lot of sweet potatoes for your casserole but might have other things going on in the oven.

Gotta love having some flexibility - and a really hands-off way to make these!

Now, I’ve got some notes and tips coming up on how to make Instant Pot sweet potatoes. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Notes on making Instant Pot sweet potatoes:

• You can use anywhere from 2 to 8 sweet potatoes for this recipe, so long as they will all fit in your Instant Pot insert.
• If your potatoes are extra large or fat or if you have 6-8 potatoes crammed in there, you can kick the high pressure cook time up to 18 minutes to ensure they are done. Otherwise, 15 minutes at pressure will do it.
• The potatoes should have a little give when they are done. Get a towel or oven mitt and gently squeeze the sides of the sweet potato. If it gives without resistance and almost starts to open up, it’s ready.
• If yours still seem firm, return them to the pot, seal and add an additional 3-4 minutes of high pressure cook time, followed by a quick release.

For those of you quickly scanning this post looking for this info (I see you, it’s OK, scroll on), let’s go ahead and call out the timing. It’s the most common question.

How long do you cook sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot?

- Sweet potatoes take 15 minutes at high pressure in the Instant Pot. Place a trivet in the insert of the Instant Pot, add water, then stack up anywhere from 2 to 8 medium sized sweet potatoes on the trivet. Seal the Instant Pot and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes, followed by a natural release.

- For extra large sweet potatoes, or for a full pot, you can cook at high pressure for 18 minutes to ensure they are cooked through.

The sweet potatoes should be perfectly tender with a slight give and softness. You can give them a quick squeeze with a towel or oven mitt to ensure they give a little and start to open up.

Ta-da, tender, cooked sweet potatoes that are totally hands off and easy to make!

Oh, a disclaimer though: Instant Pot recipes often fail to mention the time it takes for the pot to come to pressure or to release it.

I have found it very misleading when trying to plan, so I wanted to be sure to include it here.

I’ve listed “additional time” as 20 minutes to account for the amount of time it will take for the pot to come to pressure and then the time for the natural release. The exact amount of time can vary, but that’s at least a rough estimate.

In case you’re in the market for one, I have and love this 6-quart Instant Pot.

OK, let’s get ready to eat.

You may already know exactly how you want to use this tender “baked” sweet potatoes, but I’ve got some fun toppings and some other ways you can use these.

Topping ideas for sweet potatoes:

• Butter, sour cream or Greek yogurt
• Shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled blue cheese, or feta or goat cheese
• Crumbled cooked bacon
• Chopped chives or fresh herbs
• Guacamole or diced avocado
• Salsa or pico de gallo
• Hot sauce or sriracha
• Sprinkle of paprika or other seasoning

And of course, you can mix and match any of these for fun combinations.

So many options!

Or, you can use these cooked sweet potatoes as the basis for a different dish. Here’s a few ideas.

Casseroles: These tender sweet potatoes would be perfect for my bourbon sweet potato casserole, which is a great Thanksgiving or holiday side dish.

Stuff your sweet potatoes: Taco stuffed sweet potatoes are a favorite in our house, but you could also stuff yours with rotisserie chicken, broccoli and cheese or any other fun combination you come up with.

Make a bowl: Mash and use the sweet potatoes as the base for a potato bowl, like these sweet potato, roast chicken peas, kale and bacon bowls. You could even use them for a breakfast bowl with some sautéed veggies, crumbled sausage and a fried egg.

Total deliciousness. And very little effort needed. That’s a win win!

I hope you give these Instant Pot sweet potatoes a try, whether for the holidays or just the everyday.

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn