Steamed Sweet Potatoes

Here’s how to make a steamed sweet potato! This easy method makes most deliciously moist potatoes, ideal for topping and stuffing.

Here’s a way to cook everyone’s favorite root vegetable that might surprise you: Steamed Sweet Potatoes! This easy method is fast and easy, and it results in the most deliciously moist and tender flesh. Don’t get us wrong: we love the oven for vegetables, like these Baked Sweet Potatoes. But steaming this orange vegetable makes it so moist, it might become your new best method.

Best potatoes for steamed sweet potatoes

You can steam any type of sweet potato, but what’s important is the size. Here’s what to know:

• Look for medium-sized sweet potatoes. Try to find potatoes that are about 8 ounces each, which are medium in size. You can also steam small potatoes. Large potatoes work too, but it will take longer.
• This recipe is customized for orange-flesh potatoes. You can use white flesh sweet potatoes in this recipe, but we haven’t tested them! The two main types of orange flesh potatoes you’ll find at the store are Jewel, which has a light brown-orange skin and Red Garnet, which has red skin and is slightly thinner. We’ve tested this recipe with Jewel sweet potatoes.

How to steam sweet potatoes

We always thought the best way to cook a potato was a Baked Sweet Potato. But turns out, steaming is just as delicious! It makes the vegetable incredibly tender, perfect as an easy side dish or loading up with toppings as a main dish. (We’ll get to that later!)

Steamed sweet potatoes are also faster than baked: baking a whole sweet potato takes about 1 hour, whereas steaming takes about 30 minutes total. Here’s how long to steam sweet potatoes:

• Place water in a pot to a level just below the steamer basket and bring it to a boil.
• Add the steamer basket with whole sweet potatoes. Maintain a steady boil and steam for 25 to 35 minutes, depending on the size of the potato, until tender when pierced with a fork. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then slice in half and add toppings.

Toppings for steamed sweet potatoes

Steaming sweet potatoes results in the best moist orange flesh, perfect for topping or stuffing! This recipe is very versatile: you can top them as a side or stuff them as a main dish. Here are some ways we love to top sweet potatoes:

• Sour cream and chives, as a side dish
• Butter, salt and pepper
• Cinnamon and a hint of maple syrup
• Loaded with black beans and salsa, like in these Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Peanut butter sauce and slaw, like Thai-style Sweet Potatoes
• Broccoli & cheese, like sautéed broccoli and cheese sauce
• Nacho-stuffed: Add Vegan Taco Meat or taco meat, refried beans, cheddar cheese, Nacho Cheese or Vegan Nacho Cheese, salsa, chopped lettuce, crushed tortilla chips

Alternate method: Instant Pot sweet potatoes

Got a pressure cooker? You can steam sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot! They come out the same as steaming on the stovetop, incredibly moist and tender. Go to Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes.

Recipes where you can use this method

You can also use steamed sweet potatoes as part of other recipes! Use a fork to remove the flesh, mash it, and use it in recipes. Here are a few sweet potato recipe ideas:

• Use them as a topping for Sweet Potato Salad
• Try them in tasty Sweet Potato Muffins or Sweet Potato Bread
• Make them into a main dish with Sweet Potatoes with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce
• Use them for Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies
• Bake them into Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

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Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies

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Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

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Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

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Sweet Potato Salad

This steamed sweet potatoes recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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