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If you've ever struggled to get sweet potatoes fluffy and moist, this Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes recipe is what you've been waiting for! With my favorite recipe for pressure cooker sweet potatoes, you'll have perfect, fluffy sweet potatoes every time, ready for stuffing or mashing!

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Pressure Cooker Sweet Potatoes
When my mother was still in school, she didn't bring lunch boxes with her. Instead, she brought sweet potatoes: roasted fresh and wrapped up in paper or foil to stay warm, just waiting to be peeled open so she could treat herself between classes.
Apparently, she passed on that love of sweet potatoes to me! There's nothing quite like the sweet, buttery flavor of a freshly cooked sweet potato! They're a holiday classic, but in my house, there's no season that isn't made better with sweet potatoes on the table.
And cooking them has never been easier than with this Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes recipe! Sweet potatoes in the pressure cooker are the best yet! They only take 30 minutes to cook and you will never have a dry sweet potato again.
If you like your instant pot sweet potatoes mashed, just remove the skin, mash with a fork, and they'll be perfectly soft!

Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
- Water
- Sweet Potatoes
...And that's it! But if you want to try some fun toppings, I suggest:
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
- Cinnamon
- Brown sugar
- Maple syrup

How to Cook Sweet Potatoes in Instant Pot
- Place a trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot, then pour 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pot.
- Wash the sweet potatoes well, cleaning off any bruises or spots, and then stab each potato multiple times with a fork to prevent bursting while they cook.
- Place the sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot on the trivet. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, then select Manual and High Pressure for 16 minutes.
- After the cook time is up, naturally release the pressure. This will take 10-15 minutes. Remove the lid, and use tongs to remove the sweet potatoes- they will be hot!
- Slice open the skin or remove it entirely, and serve with your favorite toppings!
Sweet Potatoes Instant Pot Tips
- Always make sure to stab the sweet potatoes with a fork before cooking! The tough skin on these potatoes doesn't break easily while cooking and can cause the potatoes to burst under pressure, making a big mess.
- Don't worry about peeling them before cooking, as they'll cook through perfectly in the skin and the skin will easily fall off when they're all done. This is the easiest way to cook sweet potatoes!
- I usually can't resist just cutting them open and digging in, but because these potatoes cook in the skin, they're perfect for all sorts of sweet potato meals! Try stuffing them with black beans and your favorite taco toppings for easy Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes FAQs
While roasting is the classically known way to cook sweet potatoes, it can be an unreliable method that leaves the potatoes dry and fibrous- plus it can take up to an hour! Steaming them, or better yet steaming them in a pressure cooker, ensures that the potatoes are moist and fluffy every time.
The Instant Pot makes cooking sweet potatoes incredibly fast, and you will only need to pressure cook them for 16 minutes for them to be perfectly soft! The natural pressure release will add another 10-15 minutes to the cook time, so plan accordingly.
For roasted recipes, soaking sweet potatoes can remove some of the starches and make the resulting recipe turn out crispier, perfect for fries! However, this recipe does not require soaking the sweet potatoes, making it a super fast sweet potato recipe.
Instant Pot Side Dishes
- Instant Pot Stuffing
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob
- Pressure Cooker Green Beans
- Instant Pot Quinoa
- Instant Pot Rice
Try my Easy Sweet Potato Casserole, Roasted Carrots Recipe, and other Easter Vegetable Side Dishes, too!
This dish is one of the best Sides for Chicken Wings!

Did you try this recipe? Let us know in the comments below, and leave a rating! We love to hear from you.

Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 4 Sweet potatoes
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
- Place a trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot, then pour 1 cup of water in he bottom of the pot.1 cup Water
- Wash the sweet potatoes well, cleaning off any bruises or spots, and then stab each potato multiple times with a fork to prevent bursting while they cook.4 Sweet potatoes
- Place the sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot on the trivet. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, then select Manual and High Pressure for 16 minutes.
- After the cook time is up, naturally release the pressure. This will take 10-15 minutes. Remove the lid, and use tongs to remove the sweet potatoes- they will be hot!
- Slice open the skin or remove it entirely, and serve with your favorite toppings!
Notes
- Always make sure to stab the sweet potatoes with a fork before cooking! The tough skin on these potatoes doesn't break easily while cooking and can cause the potatoes to burst under pressure, making a big mess.
- Don't worry about peeling them before cooking, as they'll cook through perfectly in the skin and the skin will easily fall off when they're all done. This is the easiest way to cook sweet potatoes!
- I usually can't resist just cutting them open and digging in, but because these potatoes cook in the skin, they're perfect for all sorts of sweet potato meals! Try stuffing them with black beans and your favorite taco toppings for easy Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.
Nutrition
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