How to Cook Perfect Sweet Potatoes

Learn the basics for how to bake, roast and pressure cook sweet potatoes, plus some fun sweet potato recipes!

There are so many reasons to love sweet potatoes! Not only are the plain ol’ delicious, they’re a versatile ingredient with lots of health benefits. They’re a good source of vitamins B6, C,and D and give you a good amount of plant-based iron. Sweet potatoes are also good sources of magnesium and potassium, and they can help control blood sugar spikes. Is there anything this tasty, orange veggie can’t do?

CHOOSING YOUR SWEET POTATO COOKING METHOD

Like with any food, different cooking methods for sweet potatoes yield different results.

A whole, baked sweet potato gives you a crispy outside and a tender inside. That’s perfect for loading up with your favorite toppings, baked potato-style. You can also chop baked sweet potato into salads to give them some sweetness and crispiness.

Roasting is my favorite way to make sweet potatoes. A little bit of oil and salt plus high heat in the oven brings out their natural sweetness. Roasted sweet potato has a robust flavor with plenty of umami. Serve hot as a side dish or cold on top of your favorite salads.

Pressure cooking is the fastest way to cook a sweet potato. The result is tender chunks of sweet potato, perfect for topping salads, stirring into soups or mashing.

Below, I’ve got instructions for these three simple cooking methods. Below that, you’ll find some sweet potato recipe inspiration!