If you read our last post, you’ll know: Alex and I were very skeptical of the Instant Pot. Anything that’s trendy turns on our skeptic meter, so we avoided anything Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker for years. We finally decided to give it a try when we found a friend who cooked sweet potatoes in it religiously: and turns out it cooks rice and dried beans too. Perhaps it would give our rice cooker a run for its money? After trying it several times, we found the Instant Pot cooks sweet potatoes in less time than baking and it’s totally hands off. This healthy sweet potatoes recipe with Thai peanut butter sauce is our idea on how to use those Instant Pot sweet potatoes! And don’t worry: if you don’t have any Instant Pot, there’s a baked version as well. Keep reading for the recipe.
How to cook sweet potatoes?
Here’s our method for how to cook sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot! They come out with a moist and velvety interior. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, make our Steamed Sweet Potatoes or Quick Baked Sweet Potato method. (The steamed potatoes are closest in moistness to the Instant Pot method!) How long to cook sweet potatoes? Our method for Instant Pot sweet potatoes takes 35 minutes total, including preheat time and natural release time. Just throw them in the pot, cook on high pressure for 16 minutes, and natural release for 10 minutes. If you’re baking the sweet potatoes, a tip is to cut them in half, which shortens the cooking time! This way, you can bake them for just 25 to 30 minutes at 400F.
This Thai peanut butter sauce recipe
This recipe is simply Thai inspired: there’s nothing authentic Thai about it! You can make the slaw and Thai peanut butter sauce in the time it takes to cook the sweet potatoes. The slaw and Thai peanut butter sauce are a loose inspiration from the flavors of Thai food: cilantro, lime, soy balanced with a touch of sweet (here maple syrup), green onion, and peanut. This recipe is vegetarian, and naturally gluten free and vegan (plant based) as well. It’s healthy, colorful, and delicious — we served it to our neighbors and they couldn’t believe how flavorful it was. This one’s also a great Back to School recipe, since school will be starting up in a few weeks!
What are other vegetarian Instant Pot recipes?
Another hangup about the Instant Pot for us was that we thought it was mainly helpful for cooking meat quickly. Since we eat mainly vegetarian on a daily basis, we were interested in vegetarian Instant Pot recipes. This Instant Pot sweet potatoes with Thai peanut butter sauce recipe is one of our favorite Instant Pot vegetarian recipes — here are a few more of our favorites!
How to Cook Sweet Potatoes in an Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker)How to Cook Chickpeas in an Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker)Chickpea Couscous Bowls with Lemon Tahini DressingInstant Pot Smoky Lentils and Rice (Pressure Cooker)Instant Pot Tacos with Smoky LentilsAll our Vegetarian and Vegan Instant Pot recipes!
Check it out: If you’re in the market for an Instant Pot, here’s the Instant Pot we use.
More healthy sweet potato recipes
Here are a few other healthy sweet potato recipes from A Couple Cooks:
Best Sweet Potato WedgesHealthy Loaded Sweet Potato RoundsBroccoli Cheese Stuffed Sweet PotatoesMoroccan Sweet Potatoes with Lemon Tahini Dressing
Wondering how to cook sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot?
We have you covered! Watch the following video or read more here. No reviews
4 medium to large sweet potatoes (10 to 12 ounces each) 1/4 red cabbage (3 cups shredded) 1/2 red bell pepper 1/2 yellow bell pepper 1 green onion ¼ cup chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 lime) ¼ teaspoon kosher salt Crushed peanuts, for the garnish
For the Thai peanut butter sauce
⅓ cup peanut butter 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons lime juice (1 lime) 1 teaspoon maple syrup 2 tablespoons water
