Instant pot cubed sweet potatoes are a simple and easy way to prepare this versatile vegetable. In under 20 minutes, you will have perfectly steamed sweet potatoes. Enjoy them as a side dish, make a mash, or even add them to your muffin batter.
Whether you are looking for an easy side dish or need sweet potatoes for a holiday casserole, these instant pot sweet potatoes are ready much faster than they do when cooked on the stove. They come out very tender, creamy, and full of flavor every time.
They are similar to our air-fried sweet potato cubes, only the instant pot version is made with no oil or spices so that the potatoes can be customized and used in a variety of ways.
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Ingredients
The recipe requires only 2 ingredients. But you can use different seasonings and flavors to dress up already-cooked sweet potatoes.
- Sweet Potatoes: I used jewel sweet potatoes. Any orange flesh sweet potatoes are great for steaming. You can also use a white Hannah sweet potato. It is a dryer type but still turns out tender and creamy.
- Water: filtered or tap water for steaming.
How to cube sweet potatoes
First, wash and peel sweet potatoes. If you decide to keep the skin on, scrub them well with a brush.
Usually, I peel my sweet potatoes for this recipe.
If you decide to roast them in olive oil after steaming, it's better to keep the skin on for some extra texture and crispiness.
Now, cube them into even pieces. Since the potato is round, some pieces will look like cubes and some like chunks. I try to keep them the same size, around 1 ½ x 1 ½x1 ½ inch cubes.
You can make them smaller or bigger, it's up to you. I do not recommend making them smaller than 1 inch as they might turn out mushy.
How to steam sweet potato cubes in the instant pot
After you wash and cut the potatoes into cubes, they are ready to go into the instant pot.
This recipe is perfect if you need to steam potatoes without an actual steamer. We are going to use only the instant pot and the trivet.
Trivet works perfectly fine. The goal is to keep the potatoes above the water, so they steam and do not boil. Boiling will make them too soggy and watery.
If you use the trivet, the cubes must be at least 1 ½ inches or more, so they do not fall into the water.
Step 1. First, place the trivet in your instant pot and pour one cup of water. It does not matter how many cups of cubes of potatoes you are steaming, always add only one cup of liquid.
Step 2. Carefully (so they do not fall in a water), pile up sweet potato cubes on top of the trivet. Start with the biggest chunks.
Step 3. Close the lid and turn the steam valve in the locking position. Set your instant pot. Press the Manual or Pressure Cook button and set the time to 5 minutes on high pressure. It will take between 8-10 minutes until it builds up pressure. After it does, the timer will start the countdown.
Step 4. After the timer beeps 3 times, the potatoes are cooked. Open the pressure valve to do a quick pressure release. Open the lid and serve the potatoes.
Cooking times
Depending on the size of the cubes, you may need to adjust the cooking time. I recommend different times depending on how you like them - extra tender (great for mashing) or firmer cubes (keep in shape, great as a side dish). See my recommendations below:
2 ½-3 inches cubes (Large) - 6 minutes for extra tender, 5 minutes for firmer cubes.
1 ½ - 2 inches cubes (Medium) - 5 minutes for extra tender, 4 minutes for firmer cubes.
1-inch cubes (Small) - 4 minutes for extra tender, 3 minutes for firmer cubes.
Equipment
Instant Pot - I used the Instant Pot duo.
Steamer or Trivet - if you do not have a steamer, use the rack (trivet) that came with your Instant pot. It is also perfect for making steamed whole white potatoes.
Recipe tips
- keep the potatoes above the water level by using a trivet or a steamer.
- scrub the potatoes well if not peeling.
- always do a quick release after the cooking time elapsed.
- cooking time will be different depending on the size of the cubes (see cooking times recommendations above), but not on the number of potato cubes.
- refrigerate the leftovers in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.
- you can freeze cooked mashed sweet potatoes up to 3 months.
What to serve sweet potato cubes with
It can be served as a breakfast side dish alongside chili scrambled eggs or a carrot omelette.
For dinner or lunch, try it with our marinated chicken drumsticks or beef and turkey meatloaf.
And of course, it can be a great Thanksgiving side dish to go with a whole roasted turkey or something as simple as air fryer turkey thighs.
Other sweet potato recipes you may like
- Air fryer whole baked sweet potato
- Oven baked sweet potatoes
- Sweet potato truffle fries
- Roasted sweet potato rounds
Frequently asked questions
No, they are not the same. Very often people call sweet potatoes yams, but they are not that common in the American grocery store. Yams have brown, woody skin and are more starchy compare to sweet potatoes.
Yes, sweet potatoes do not get dark without water. You can peel, cut the potatoes and store them in the fridge overnight.
You can serve sweet potatoes with any meat. My favorite ones are chicken, turkey, ham and duck.
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Cubed Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- 1 instant pot I used Duo
- 1 trivet or steamer basket rack that came with the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Cut them into 1½ inch cubes or larger (if using the trivet). If you use a steamer you can make cubes smaller and cook them for 3-4 minutes, depending on the firmness desired.
- Place the trivet in your instant pot and pour one cup of water. You can also use a steamer basket.
- Place the cubed sweet potatoes on top of the trivet by piling them up slowly on top of each other starting with the largest ones. We do not want them to fall into the water. Cooking potatoes in water will make them watery and soggy.
- Close the lid and turn the vent knob into sealing position. Set the cook time to 5 minutes at high pressure. (see the note section below for more cook time information). Once the time elapsed, do a quick release.
- Carefully open the lid. The sweet potatoes are ready to serve!
Notes
- you can cube the potatoes and keep them in the fridge overnight.
- 5 minutes of pressure cooking results very tender and creamy potatoes.
- pressure cook them for 4 minutes if you like firmer sweet potatoes.
Carol B says
Thank you! I have to make sweet potatoes every other night for my dogs and this recipe makes it so much easier. My doggos say thank you too!
Nataliia says
You are very welcome 🙂
Suzanne says
I bought some cubed sweet potatoes but couldn’t find a recipe for cubed potatoes. What is a steam pot???
Nataliia says
Hi Suzanne. You can follow this recipe to steam them in the instant pot or if you do not have one, I recommend using the steamer basket that can be used in any regular pot. You can also toss cubed sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt, herbs and roast them for about 20 minutes at 400 F in the oven.
As for steam pot, it is just the pot that usually comes with the steamer insert that has holes.
Mitch says
This was a catastrophe for me. 5 minutes way too long! I got mashed sweet potatoes instead. Still edible, of course, but not at all what I expected.