Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mashed Sweet Potatoes are creamy and so naturally sweet it almost tastes like dessert. Amazing enough to serve at your Thanksgiving dinner, but simple enough for a weeknight meal side.

Check out the BEST way to cook sweet potatoes for so many different recipes: Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes

How Do You Make Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes?

Our recipe is so amazingly simple for mashed sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are so flavorful by themselves that we don’t think you need to add a lot to make them amazing! In addition to sweet potatoes, this recipe only has a little bit of honey and salt! Keep reading for our favorite ways to cook sweet potatoes.

What is the Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes?

There are a lot of ways that you can cook sweet potatoes, but in our opinion there are definitely 2 strong winners, and a top winner for cooking them to make mashed sweet potatoes.

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Boiling – this is a traditional way to quickly cook your sweet potatoes.
- Pros: It is simple and you just need a regular pot and some water.
- Cons: You will need to cut up your sweet potatoes before boiling them. Also, boiling can be kind of messy on your stovetop. Definitely not hands-off because you need to make sure the pot doesn’t boil over.
Crockpot – the sweet potatoes come out super soft and creamy with an amazing texture for mashing or just eating.
- Pros: Super easy – just wash the skins and place in your crockpot whole. No water needed and no need to watch them. You really can’t overcook sweet potatoes this way. Literally set it and forget it.
- Cons: It does take a lot longer than other methods so if you don’t have a lot of time, this method won’t work for you.
Instant Pot – a bit faster than the crockpot method with a fairly similar result.
- Pros: Definitely as easy as the crockpot if you are familiar with using a pressure cooker. Come out super creamy and the skins fall right off.
- Cons: You have to add water to the Instant Pot which does make them a little more watery than some of the other methods.
Baking – delicious if you are wanting to eat roasted sweet potatoes. You can leave them whole and poke holes in them and then have a yummy crispy skin on the outside.
- Pros: Taste amazing and mostly hands off when cooking.
- Cons: Baking makes some of the sugar ‘weep’ out of the sweet potato. You need to make sure they are on a pan, or covered in foil, or something is under them if you don’t want your oven to be a mess. You have to poke holes in the sweet potatoes so let the steam out before cooking.

Do I Need to Peel Sweet Potatoes for Mashing?

The answer is that it really depends on your preference. Just like regular mashed potatoes, some people prefer a more rustic mash with bits of the skin providing a different texture and visual appeal. If you decide to leave the skin on, make sure you scrub the potatoes well before cooking. No one likes to crunch tiny pieces of dirt in their mashed sweet potatoes!

If you do decide to peel the skin, the easiest cooking methods to do this are definitely in the crockpot or Instant pot. Both these methods cook the sweet potatoes so that the skin literally falls off.