How long do you boil sweet potatoes before baking

Boiling is easy. But there's a better way.

Fact checked by Jillian Rinehimer

Photo: Robert Braniff / EyeEm

If you can boil a white potato, you can boil a sweet potato. The process is exactly the same:

1. Peel and cut

Peel the skin from the sweet potato and cut it into similarly sized chunks or cubes. This ensures they will cook evenly, with no tough spots.

2. Place in water

Place the potato pieces in a stockpot and cover the potatoes with water by a few inches. Add a generous pinch of salt.

3. Boil

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let the potatoes cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can easily pierce several pieces (always test more than one) with a knife. Potatoes cut into small pieces will take less time to cook.

4. Drain

Drain the potatoes into a large colander and return them to the pot. Use as desired.

Watch: How to Make Oven‐Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

While boiling makes sweet potatoes tender, it doesn't help much with their flavor. Most dishes that call for boiled sweet potatoes would be improved if you used roasted or baked sweet potatoes. Baking whole sweet potatoes in the oven or cutting them into cubes and roasting them caramelizes the potatoes' starchy flesh, making it sweeter and giving it a silky smooth texture. Even if you are making mashed sweet potatoes, they will taste better with oven-cooked potatoes.

To bake sweet potatoes in the oven, preheat the oven to 400˚F. Scrub the potatoes clean and pierce each one all over with a paring knife. Bake on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet until tender, about 45 to 50 minutes. Or cut the potatoes into ½-inch cubes, place them on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil until evenly coated. Roast until tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Learn how long to boil sweet potatoes so they’re that just-right texture, plus the right way to mash sweet potatoes for all your favorite dishes.

Updated on October 12, 2022

Sweet potatoes are delicious any time of the year, but those orange beauties are in peak season in the fall and winter from October through January. It's not a complicated process, but in order to get them ready for your favorite Thanksgiving side dish (hello, sweet potato casserole!), you'll want to know how to boil sweet potatoes. Use our Test Kitchen's best method for prepping and boiling sweet potatoes so you can enjoy mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato pie, and more.

How to Boil Sweet Potatoes

When purchasing, look for small to medium sweet potatoes that have smooth skin and are firm and free of soft spots. Store whole unpeeled sweet potatoes in a cool, dry place for up to 1 week (do not refrigerate or they will dry out). To know how many sweet potatoes you need for your recipe, one medium sweet potato (about 8 ounces) equals approximately 1 ½ cups when peeled and cubed.

Step 1: Prep Sweet Potatoes

Wash sweet potatoes by thoroughly scrubbing with a clean produce brush and rinse with cool water. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to peel sweet potatoes. With a sharp knife cut off any woody portions and ends. Cut into bite-size cubes, keeping pieces as close to the same size as you can for even cooking.

Step 2: Boil the Sweet Potatoes

Select a saucepan or Dutch oven that is large enough to hold the sweet potatoes without crowding them. Add enough cold water to cover potatoes and sprinkle with salt. Bring to boiling, cover, and cook until tender.

How long to boil sweet potatoes: For one pound of sweet potatoes, cover the pan and cook sweet potatoes in the boiling salted water 20 to 25 minutes or until just tender. You should be able to easily pierce the sweet potato with a fork or knife.

Step 3: Drain and Use

Remove the lid from the pan and carefully pour the sweet potatoes into a colanderto drain. Set sweet potatoes aside until cool enough to handle, or run cold water over them to quick-cool if you're not using them right away.

For an easy side dish, you can simply toss cooked sweet potato cubes with butter, salt, and pepper, and serve. Or use the cooked sweet potato (cubed or mashed) in quesadillas, pot pies, and other sweet and savory casseroles.

The easiest, simplest way for how to make the best baked sweet potatoes every time.

Comments

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In my opinion, sweet potatoes are a superfood on many levels. Not only are they incredibly nutritious (a one-cup serving offers 65 percent of our daily requirement for vitamin C and as much as 700 percent of the recommended daily requirement for vitamin A), but they also have a fairly low glycemic index of 17. They’re also easy to find, easy to store, and easy to cook and they can function equally in sweet or savory recipes. But most importantly, they’re delicious.

Baking the sweet potatoes eliminates the prep work of peeling, chopping, boiling, and draining for tender potatoes. While baking takes at least an hour in the oven, this step is completely hands-off and can be done several days in advance. Baking the sweet potatoes until tender also makes them incredibly easy to mash.

What’s the Difference Between Yams and Sweet Potatoes, Anyway?

Of course, the inevitable question arises when discussing sweet potatoes: What’s the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Read our post on this subject for more information, but basically most of the tubers you see marked as yams in the supermarket are sweet potatoes.

Roasting Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are very forgiving and can roast at heats lower or higher than 375°F, so the most efficient way to cook them is to include them in the oven while you are cooking something else. If there isn’t room for a tray, just tuck them in here and there directly on the rack — be sure to wrap them in foil, as they can ooze liquid as they roast.

I like to roast my sweet potatoes to encourage their dense texture to soften and bring out their sweetness. Having a few already-cooked sweet potatoes in my refrigerator is like money in the bank, so I always roast extras while I’m at it. I also will sneak a few into the oven when I’m cooking something else for a more efficient way to roast them up.

The easiest, simplest way for how to make the best baked sweet potatoes every time.

Equipment

• Aluminium foil
• Baking tray
• Fork
• Small knife