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Cooking sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot is the easiest way to enjoy fluffy, creamy, perfectly tender sweet potatoes! Just like my recipe for Instant Pot Baked Potatoes, this Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potato recipe includes tried and true timing based on the size of the sweet potatoes, ensuring perfect results every time.
Kristen's Keys for Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
The process of making baked sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot is SUPER simple, but there are a few key tips I want to share with you before we break the recipe down in detail to help ensure perfect results.
- Select sweet potatoes that are similar in size. This way they will pressure cook in the same amount of time.
- Always add cold water to the inner pot. NEVER use warm water as this will change the amount of time it takes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, which will change the cooking time!
- Always use the trivet to keep the sweet potatoes from sitting in the water. This will keep the sweet potatoes from becoming soggy.
How to "Bake" Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
Whether you are learning how to use your Instant Pot or a seasoned pro, this section will guide you through the process of how to make fluffy, creamy sweet potatoes using the Instant Pot.
- Prepare Instant Pot. Pour 1½ cups of cold tap water into the inner pot and insert the trivet.
- Prepare Sweet Potatoes. Scrub the sweet potatoes well and prick with a fork or knife to allow steam and pressure to escape as they pressure cook--trust me, this is important!
- Pile the sweet potatoes on trivet. Place the prepared potatoes onto the rack inside the inner pot. It will not impact the cooking time if you are cooking 1 or 8 sweet potatoes.
- Pressure Cook. Place the lid on the inner pot and be sure the vent knob is sealed. Set the cooking time to HIGH pressure and adjust the time according to the size of your sweet potatoes (see chart below).
- Let the Pressure Release Naturally. Allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 10 minutes. This just means to DO NOTHING and leave your instant pot alone. If after 10 minutes the pressure has not released fully, you can turn the valve to the venting position to release any remaining pressure.
- Serve. Cut the sweet potato open, dollop with butter and season with and salt and pepper or cinnamon sugar and serve.
Determining Cook Times
Sweet potatoes vary in weight, length, and width. Use the width of the sweet potato for the most accurate timing. In other words, ask yourself, Is my sweet potato fat or skinny? While that sounds silly--it works! Fatter sweet potatoes need longer to cook, while skinnier sweet potatoes need less time--regardless of their length or weight.
- Skinny Sweet Potatoes (Less than 2 inches in width): 16 minutes on high pressure
- Average Sweet Potatoes (2-2.5 inches in width): 22 minutes on high pressure
- Large Sweet Potatoes (2.5-3 inches in width): 26 minutes on high pressure
- Extra Large Sweet Potatoes (3.5 to 4 inches in width) 35 minutes on high pressure
Serving Suggestions
- As a Side Dish: Serve Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes alongside steaks, baked salmon, or bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, etc.
- For Breakfast: Top a warm sweet potato with yogurt, granola, and/or nut butter for a delicious breakfast sweet potato.
- Stuff Away: Ditch the bun or tortilla and top the sweet potatoes with taco meat, Instant Pot BBQ chicken, or pulled pork.
- Make Sweet Potato Puree: Use the flesh of the baked sweet potato to make sweet potato puree and then use that puree to make sweet potato oatmeal, sweet potato pancakes, or sweet potato casserole.
More Favorite Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Video
Ingredients
- 1-8 sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean
Instructions
- Pour 1-½ cups cold tap water into the inner pot. Place a trivet or metal rack inside the inner pot.
- Scrub sweet potatoes and pierce them several times with a fork or knife. Place the sweet potatoes on the trivet, stacking on top of each other if needed.
- Hit the manual or pressure cook button and be sure HIGH pressure is selected. Adjust cook time to 16 minutes for skinny sweet potatoes, 22 for average sweet potatoes, 26 minutes for large sweet potatoes, and 35 for extra large sweet potatoes (see notes for more details on determining size).
- Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes before releasing pressure manually. Then serve
Notes
- Skinny Sweet Potatoes (Less than 2 inches in width): 16 minutes on high pressure
- Average Sweet Potatoes (2-2.5 inches in width): 22 minutes on high pressure
- Large Sweet Potatoes (2.5-3 inches in width): 26 minutes on high pressure
- Extra Large Sweet Potatoes (3.5 to 4 inches in width) 35 minutes on high pressure
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in December 2017 and updated in 2025.
I’m so glad I found your site, when I googled “sweet potatoes in Instant Pot Duo Crisp”! I used your recipe yesterday, as the prep for sweet potato casserole. Once they were done, the skin peeled right off, without losing any of the super tender potato! They were so tender I easily mashed them with a fork. A fork! Thank you!
I am so glad you found my site as well. I hope you find many more recipes to enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving
With your recipe for regular potatoes in the Instant Pot you gave weights. That would be helpful for the sweet potatoes, too. Thanks. I'm trying this recipe today.
Hi Claudia! That is a great suggestion, however, the length and width are much more important for sweet potatoes, as their diameter varies greatly. A 1-pound sweet potato can be either wide (which would need a longer cooking time) or narrow (which would need less cooking time). And that will change the cooking time even though they are the same weight. I hope that explains it. Russet potatoes don't vary quite as much in width.
My husband and I love them with sausage gravy. It sounds strange, but it is delicious. Thank you for another great recipe!
I love sweet potato biscuits with sausage gravy, so that actually makes sense to me. I will have to try it. Thanks for sharing.
Great recipe, I had to pop them back in for 3 more minutes but that probably has more to do with my estimation skills than your cooking times...
I paired it with leftover chili from another instant pot recipe and it was amazing! I love the combination of sweet and spicy!
I LOVE chili with sweet potatoes--such a great combo! In the future, I would recommend noting you cooked for 3 more minutes so you can plan accordingly next time 🙂
2”diameter is 6” circumference, so the directions are a bit confusing, and leave me to trial and error on timing.
Hi Dawn! I think you are getting radius and diameter confused and there is absolutely NO need to worry about complicated Math for this recipe! 😊 There was no mention of circumference and nor do you need to find the circumference of potatoes to determine cooking time. Diameter is the measurement of the width of the potato. You don't need to get out a measuring tape, simply estimate the width and use the suggested cook times.
I needed that cleared up because I
forgot the definitions. It’s been a while. Thanks. I appreciate it.
Dawn, Thank you!
Haven’t tried it yet but plan to. Looks AWSOME
Made these tonight for dinner paired with another recipe i had to put over top soooo yummy! Thank you Kristen for all your great recipes!
You are so welcome Brian! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review.