To create the best sweet potato dish you need to start with our Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed recipe that is done in under 30 minutes! This is the easiest way to steam your sweet potato cubes for use in casseroles, mashed potatoes, or as a quick and easy side. It's a versatile recipe that is a whole lot of simple and a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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Cubed Sweet Potatoes (Instant Pot recipe)
Making the sweet potato cubes in an Instant Pot seriously makes the holidays so easy! We used this recipe to make our family favorite sweet potato casserole recipe for Thanksgiving and having a pressure cooker to help with the holiday meal prep was such a life saver.
With just two ingredients, your Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, keto-friendly, low-carb, vegetarian, and vegan! It's a recipe that works for just about every healthy-eating lifestyle out there.
How you choose to use your cubed sweet potatoes is completely up to you and your eating preferences. You can easily serve them as-is, whip them up with cream and butter for a tasty mashed sweet potato, or get festive and turn your potatoes into a sweet potato casserole that will wow all of your holiday guests!
However, depending on what you add, you may change the eating plans that cubed instant pot sweet potatoes work with.
Why you'll love Sweet Potatoes in Instant Pot
- Requiring just 2 ingredients, your Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed is the easiest recipe that is perfect for both pressure cooker novices or the most experienced home cook.
- Super versatile, you can use healthy steamed sweet potato cubes in a variety of ways.
- With a cook-time of just 3-10 minutes (depending on your final product), Instant Pot sweet potato cubes can be cooked up quickly - even at the last minute!
Sweet potatoes are a superfood that is, well, super good for you, yet many of us avoid this orange root vegetable because we don't know how to cook it. Not anymore! In addition to steaming sweet potato cubes in your Instant Pot, you can also serve up sweet potatoes in a variety of ways including sweet potato casserole with maple and pecans, roasted fall vegetables, and air fryer sweet whole sweet potatoes.
Sweet Potato Instant Pot ingredients
Your Instant Pot sweet potatoes need just 2 ingredients. Tasty food has never been so easy!
- sweet potatoes - washed, peeled, and cubed
- water
Variations
The same recipe can be used to make your favorite variety of white potatoes including Russet and Yukon Gold.
Equipment
A Pressure Cooker - This is the 6 qt Instant Pot model we used.
Diet Adaptions
Prepared as directed your Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed recipe works for most major eating lifestyles. However, adding ingredients such as butter, cream, sugar, and other items can alter this. As always, read the labels and be sure the items you add are inline with your food plan and goals.
How to Make Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Prep, pressure cook, and present - steamed sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot are as easy at that!
1. Prep Ingredients
Prep the sweet potatoes by washing, peeling, and cubing them into 1 ½" pieces.
2. Assemble
Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
Insert a vegetable steamer. If you don't have a steamer you can use the rack that came with your Instant Pot. The goal is to keep the potatoes out of the water so they can steam.
Place the sweet potato cubes into the Instant Pot and close the lid.
3. Pressure Cook
Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes on high. The pot will take about 10+ minutes to come to pressure beforehand.
Do a quick release of the remaining pressure.
The sweet potatoes will be very soft and ready to use for another recipe such as sweet potato casserole.
Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes (Cubed) recipe tips
- For even steaming, chop your sweet potatoes into uniform chunks.
- To keep your sweet potatoes from getting soggy, be sure to keep them up out of the water using either a vegetable steamer or the rack that came with your Instant Pot.
- The cooking time will be the same whether you need 2 lbs of cubed potatoes or as many as 5 lbs.
- The recipe as written is intended to make the sweet potato cubes soft enough to get pureed into a dish like mashed sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole. If you're wanting to serve these as a steamed and cubed side dish, just cook them on High for 3 minutes until cooked through and they will still hold their shape.
How to serve Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes (Cubed)
Serve your Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed alongside air fryer pork chops and Brussel sprouts casserole for a complete meal that everyone will love!
How to store Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Storing: Transfer cooled sweet potatoes to an airtight storage container and place it in the refrigerator. They should stay fresh for about 5 to 7 days in the fridge.
Freezing: Let the sweet potatoes cool completely. Then, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure they're not touching each other, and freeze until solid. Once they're frozen, transfer the sweet potatoes into freezer-safe bags or containers. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Sweet Potato Instant Pot Recipe FAQs
Whether you're using regular sweet potatoes, Red Garnet yams (aka red sweet potatoes), or other types of yams, you'll cook them the same way in this recipe. The Red Garnet yams/sweet potatoes are our favorite since they have the best flavor.
How long it takes for sweet potatoes to get tender depends on their size, whether you’re cooking them whole or cubed, and also the cooking method you’re using.
Boiling: Boiled Sweet Potatoes If you're boiling sweet potato cubes, they should be tender in about 20-25 minutes.
Air Frying: Roasted Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes If you're using an air fryer, cook the sweet potatoes cubes in a preheated air fryer at 380°F for about 15 minutes, depending on the size of sweet potatoes you’re using.
Baking: A whole baked sweet potato in a 425°F (220°C) oven will typically take between 45 minutes to an hour to become tender.
Microwaving: If you're in a hurry, you can "bake" a sweet potato in the microwave in about 5-8 minutes, depending on the size of the potato and the power of your microwave. Always pierce the sweet potato with a fork a few times before cooking.
Slow-Cooking: If you're using a slow cooker, a whole sweet potato can take between 2-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low to become tender.
Sweet potatoes do become sweeter as they cook since the starches breakdown into maltose, which a type of sugar. This process, known as caramelization, is definitely more noticeable when sweet potatoes are roasted or baked at high temperatures. The heat causes the sugars in the sweet potato to "caramelize," giving them a sweet, slightly nutty flavor. However, overcooking sweet potatoes can result in a mushy texture and can also lead to burnt or overly caramelized sugars.
More Holiday Instant Pot Recipes
Looking for more Instant Pot recipes?
- Pressure cooker mashed potatoes
- Sweet potato casserole Instant Pot recipe
- Instant Pot loaded potato soup
- Instant pot steamed broccoli
- Pressure cooker scalloped potatoes
- Instant pot boiled potatoes (whole baby potatoes)
Cubed Sweet Potato (Instant Pot Recipe)
Make the holidays easier with this Instant Pot sweet potatoes cubed recipe, use the soft steamed potatoes or yams to make pureed sweet potatoes or make a sweet potato casserole.
Ingredients
- 2-5 lb sweet potatoes, washed, peeled, and cubed into 1 ½" chunks.
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Prep the sweet potatoes by washing, peeling, and cubing them into 1 ½" pieces.
- Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker. Insert a vegetable steamer.
- Place the sweet potato cubes into the Instant Pot and close the lid.
- Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes on high, the pot will take about 10+ minutes to come to pressure beforehand.
- Do a quick release of the remaining pressure.
- The sweet potatoes will be very soft and ready to use for another recipe like sweet potato casserole.
Notes
The recipe as written is intended to make the sweet potato cubes soft enough to get pureed into a dish like mashed sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole. If you're wanting to serve these as a steamed and cubed side dish, just cook them on High for 3 minutes until cooked through and they will still hold their shape.
We used 5 lbs for a sweet potato casserole, you can scale that back to as many as you need for a recipe or as a dinner side. You'll still want to put 1 cup of liquid in the bottom of the pot regardless of how many potatoes you're cooking.
If you don't have a recipe in mind, you can mash the sweet potatoes and then add butter or oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
You can use the rack that came with your pressure cooker if you don't have the steamer basket, you just want to make sure to keep the potatoes out of the water so they don't get soggy during cooking.
The cooking time will be the same whether you need 2 lbs of cubed potatoes or even 5 lbs.
This same process can be used with Russet or Yukon potatoes to make mashed potatoes.
Donna says
So, since my Duo has a max pressure time of 4 minutes, I should restart it two more times?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Donna! Yes, I'd do it in increments so 4 mints, then 4 minutes again, and check the potato consistency, and then add a couple more minutes. It'll come back to pressure very quickly.
Leo says
In addition to all the healthy benefits the author mentions there is one other: low glycemic index. Boiled sweet potatoes have a low GI at around 42, the longer you boil the lower the GI, and I see no difference between boiling and steaming. On the other hand, a baked sweet potato has a GI as much as 94, not much difference than white bread which is used in some circles as a reference to scale the index. It's all about starch structure.