Instant Pot Mashed Sweet Potatoes

These Instant Pot Mashed Sweet Potatoes are the perfect side dish for your holiday feast! They’re smooth and creamy, and oh-so-delicious. They’re super easy to make in the Instant Pot, and even better you can make them sweet or savory, depending on your mood.

Why you’ll love Instant Pot mashed sweet potatoes

• Mashed sweet potatoes are creamy and delicious. This recipe is versatile so you can serve them your way.
• They cook a pressure cooker in a fraction of the time it would take to make them on the stovetop. Plus it frees us the stovetop for other dishes.
• They’re easy to make ahead of time and keep warm in your Instant Pot until you are ready to serve them, so they’re perfect for holiday dinners, or just a busy weeknight.

Scroll down for the printable card for this Instant Pot mashed sweet potatoes recipe, or read on for all the details.

What do you need?

Instant Pot or another pressure cooker

I use an Instant Pot to make this recipe, but you can use any brand of electric pressure cooker or a multicooker with a pressure cook function.

Sweet potatoes

You can use any variety of sweet potatoes for this recipe. I like to use a variety with an orange interior (Beauregard, Jewel, or red garnet) as the color of the final mashed sweet potatoes is so wonderful, but you can also use the white or purple varieties.

Water

To get the Instant Pot up to pressure and cook the sweet potatoes, you will need to add some water. Just enough to cover the sweet potato chunks is fine.

Heavy cream and butter

You need a little of something creamy to offset the starch of the potatoes and stop them from being dry. This recipe uses butter and heavy cream, but you could substitute milk for the heavy cream for a slightly lighter version.

How to make mashed sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot

This recipe is so simple to make, but there are a few key steps to getting it just right:

1. Prepare the sweet potatoes. There is no need to peel them unless you want to. Just give them a good scrub before cutting them up into ~1-inch chunks.
2. Pressure cook sweet potatoes. Place the sweet potato chunks in the Instant Pot inner pot, and add water. Pressure cook the sweet potatoes for 8 minutes. They should be soft and tender.
3. Mash sweet potatoes. Drain the water out and discard, and then add the cream and butter and mash or blend the cooked sweet potatoes until smooth.

Serving ideas

Mashed sweet potatoes make for the perfect fall and winter side dish. Serve them alongside roasted turkey, baked ham, or pot roasts.

Top fluffy sweet potato mash with melted butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and toasted chopped pecans for a classic preparation. Or mix things up with one of these fun serving ideas:

• Mix in orange zest and juice for a citrusy twist.
• Sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs then broil to form a crispy crust.
• Top with cheese, sour cream, scallions and bacon bits.
• Make sweet potato casserole – top with marshmallows and pecans, then heat under the broiler until the marshmallows are golden brown.

Storing and reheating

If you have any leftover sweet potato mash, store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and use them within three days. You can also freeze for up to two months.

You can reheat mashed sweet potatoes in the microwave. Microwave on high for around 2-3 minutes until piping hot. Stir and microwave for an extra minute or two if needed.