Wondering how to best cook sweet potatoes in your instant pot/electric pressure cooker? It's incredibly easy and they come out perfectly buttery every time!
5medium-large sweet potatoesabout 9 inches measured around the thickest part; scrubbed clean but do NOT peel!
1cupwater
Instructions
Place the steamer rack in the inner pot of the instant pot. Add the cup of water (check your manufacturer's instructions for minimum liquid requirements and adjust accordingly if you're not using a standard 6 quart instant pot).
Add the sweet potatoes on top of the steamer rack - it's fine to stack them, just don't go past the maximum fill line.
Close the lid and set the valve to the "sealing" position. Choose "pressure cook" and set the timer to 15 minutes.
It will take about 10 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure, then it will start counting down the 15 minutes. Once the cooking time is up, switch off the instant pot and wait around 10 minutes for the pressure to release naturally.
Once the pressure has fully released, open the instant pot (careful, hot steam will emerge!). Carefully remove the sweet potatoes and serve as desired.
Video
Notes
Whatever you do, don't peel the sweet potatoes before adding them to the instant pot. You need their skin to hold them together, or you'll end up with a pot full of watery sweet potato mash.
If your sweet potatoes measure much more or much less than 9 inches around their thickest part, you'll need to adjust the cooking time to cook longer for larger potatoes and shorter for smaller potatoes.
If you're using a different model than the standard 6 quart instant pot, you'll need to check your manufacturer's instructions for minimum liquid requirements and follow those guidelines exactly.
Do NOT skip releasing the pressure naturally. If you're in a hurry and some pressure is remaining after waiting for 10 minutes, go ahead and manually release the remaining pressure. However, it is best to wait until the pressure has fully released naturally, or the sweet potatoes may burst.