“Baked” Sweet Potatoes
Submitted by Kay A.
Often I use my Instant just because it is convenient, not because it is faster. I can throw these in and leave the house. When I return home hours later worn out and packing a hungry grandchild, lunch is ready and warm.
Ingredients
- 2-3 large sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup water
- Tad of extra virgin olive oil
Each large sweet potato is about 165 calories (without toppings)
Directions
Scrub potatoes, coat very lightly with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil. Pour 1/2 cup of water in pot, add provided trivet, set potatoes on top. Add lid, press steam button and set time to 15 minutes.
Serving suggestion:
Remove foil, cut slit in top of sweet potatoe and enjoy. If you like a topping, add a little of one or two of your healthier favorites: walnuts, ground flax seeds, Greek yogurt, low fat cream cheese, etc. If a child is eating, 3-4 miniature marshmallows on a warm sweet potatoe go over big.
BTW: Since they have aluminum foil, they store well on a plate in the refrigerator to serve in later meals.
I just cooked green lentils (the basic ones) dry. 1 cup lentils and 2 cups crushed tomatoes (these were pretty moist, frozen from the garden, not the canned store kind). 15 mins on high pressure. Voila. I added some sauteed peppers, onions and spices that I did on the stove and the whole dish is fabulous. Now to figure out how to do it in just the pot and without the stovetop sautee.
That said, the guidance provided by Instapot is ridiculously incomplete. I love the Instapot, but geez, does everything have to be an experiment? Why doesn’t Instapot just provide clear instructions so I don’t have to read comments to figure out how to cook things?
[Reply]
Donna Reply:
February 6th, 2016 at 12:30 pm
Hi Dave, there are many variables, and pressure cooking times can vary depending on your elevation, the moisture content of the food, and your personal preferences, just to name a few. Most cooks find their way by keeping some notes initially. You might also find the Community group helpful: https://www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotCommunity/
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For “baking” sweet potatoes without wrapping in foil, should I put foil in the bottom of the pot to catch the drippings? I do this in my toaster oven.
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I found 15 minutes and 1/2 cup of water to not be nearly enough. After 15 minutes they were still hard and all the water was gone. I did quick release and nothing came out. They were three medium sized sweet potatoes too.
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my pot should arrive today. I have never used a pressure cooker. My question is, how do you check for”doneness” if you can’t get the lid off until the steam is gone? Then if it’s NOT done what do you do?
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Instant Pot Staff Reply:
February 8th, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Hi Pegjo,
You’ll need to release the pressure and then check for doneness. Please follow a recipe for timing to avoid underdone or overdone food.
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Beth Reply:
March 6th, 2016 at 1:39 pm
Pegjo – if you open the IP and the food is not yet done cooking, just close it up again and put it back on for a few minutes more. It will quickly get back up to temp since it didn’t really cool down that much. You can check your water levels – in the case of the potatoes for instance – and add more if needed. Hope that helps! We just got ours yesterday and have already made 4 different recipes in it to make sure we liked it and it worked well before we discard the box and packing materials. Have fun! Beth
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Penny,
Great! I love using my Instant Pot!
Anne
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Is there any way to approximate “grilling” on the Instant Pot? Will using the “sear” mode on high do it, maybe with less liquid? Thanks for any help.
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Instant Pot Staff Reply:
May 27th, 2013 at 8:05 am
Instant Pot Saute High mode heats to 175~210°C or 347~410°F. Direct heat grilling often goes over 260 °C (500 °F).
However, according to Wikipedia, “Grilled meat acquires a distinctive roast aroma from a chemical process called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction only occurs when foods reach temperatures in excess of 155 °C (310 °F)”
So you may achieve the taste of grilling without charing the meat with Instant Pot. We haven’t tried it and would love to know how well it goes i f you try.
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Bill Blakeney Reply:
May 28th, 2013 at 4:36 am
Great reply #1, Thank you! I have been able to achieve good browning on beef and pork roasts, but had to sear longer than recommended.
I asked the question because of the HIP recipe for roasted potatoes. I was concerned if “crispyness” could be maintained THROUGH a steaming process. I will try three variations both pre & post sear and let you know what I find.
[Reply]
Kay Anthony Reply:
May 27th, 2013 at 8:11 am
I must admit that I am not clear on your question, but I am going to try to answer it. I use the sauté function to brown food. I admit that I also use the Instant Pot in sauté mode just to cook food because it is so deep, does not splatter and is easy to clean up. I don’t post those recipes, though, because any of them could also easily be cooked in a frying pan on the stove. I have also made recipes where I have only put about a 1/4 cup of water in the recipe with the intent of running low on water during the cooking process, which causes the recipe such as hashbrowns to be quite brown and crunchy on the bottom. The reason I don’t post these recipes is that I then have to soak the pot for a few hours before I can clean it. I expect people would really complain about the cleaning part and the Instant Pot staff might not appreciate my using the pot in this manner. However, it sure is delicious. You have to get the water content and time just right so that the pot safely seals but the contents are nicely browned when the cooking is finished.
[Reply]
Bill Blakeney Reply:
May 28th, 2013 at 4:44 am
Great reply #2, Thanks Kay! I will try some of your hash brown techniques to see if I can get them crispy enough. Normally when I cook hash browns in a fry pan, or oven when I get them super crispy, they usually need no further cooking.
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Hope Reply:
January 8th, 2014 at 8:41 pm
oh- I want to try it. I don’t mind waiting to clean the pot- that is why I have an extra pot!!! am now using the 5liter- waiting for the new duo6liter to arrive. Please can you give me the specifics for how you do the hash browns?? we are 2 people & I usually cook 2 cups of frozen grated potatoes… and hate doing it on the stove top. Thank you in advance
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I’m not sure why, but I cannot get baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes to cook in the time that Instant Pot staff says that they will – with out without foil. My mom also has the Instant Pot (because we love it), and she cannot get large potatoes to cook throughout without putting an hour on the time with the steam function. She does not wrap hers in foil.
[Reply]
Instant Pot Staff Reply:
May 27th, 2013 at 8:00 am
Hello Kay,
I’ve tried whole Yukan Gold potatoes (about 5x3x1.5 inch in size, unwrapped). 12 minutes pressure cooking time is sufficient, with natural release. This may vary depending on the type of potatoes. The natural release adds a few minutes of cooking time.
Please let us know what type of potatoes you used. We’ll experiment.
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If you don’t wrap the potatoes in foil, you only need to steam them for 12 minutes, regardless the size.
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Anne Dovel Reply:
May 18th, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Thank you!
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TR Reply:
December 3rd, 2015 at 11:17 pm
Thanks!
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Is it necessary to wrap in foil? And why 75 minutes?
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Skeet Reply:
May 18th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Instead of foil, you can always do a steaming type of thing with the potatoes. I believe its 75 minutes because its whole potatoes. I did large red potatoes the other day and it took about 40 minutes.
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Anne Dovel Reply:
May 18th, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Thank you.
I did just steam and I put 3 large sweet potatoes and 2 large russets, just washed, no foil on the rack with 1 cup water, on Steam at 22 minutes. We were working outside and they were plenty done when we came in to eat.
Anne
[Reply]
Skeet Reply:
May 18th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Nice. I bet your kitchen smelled lovely! I’m finding that the booklet that comes with the Instant Pot is too low of cooking times. I’m keeping a spreadsheet of the the actual cooking times I had to use for different foods to help me when I pressure cook the second time around.
Penny Reply:
November 27th, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Thank you Anne! I was looking all over for how long to cook my sweet potatoes to mash for casserole for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I just did 4 quite large ones on the rack with one cup water for 25 min on steam. Perfect! When they cool I can just peel and mash!