Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes

Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes are the easiest side dish I make all year. You wash them, drop them in the slow cooker and walk away — no oven, no peeling, no foil, not even any water.

Six sweet potatoes cost about $3.62, or roughly $0.60 a serving, and they come out soft and fluffy every time. I make a batch on Thanksgiving morning so the turkey can have the oven, and again on Sundays so we have sweet potatoes ready for lunches all week.

You may also love Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole or Crockpot Candied Sweet Potatoes.

Why Make this Recipe

• Cheap side dish. Six sweet potatoes run about $3.62, which is roughly $0.60 a serving. You can feed the whole family for less than one sweet potato costs at a restaurant.
• Frees up the oven. This is why I make them on Thanksgiving. The turkey gets the oven and the sweet potatoes take care of themselves on the counter.
• No hot kitchen. In the summer I can have a hot side dish without turning the oven on for an hour.
• 5 minutes of hands-on work. Wash, poke, drop in. That’s it — there’s no chopping, no peeling and no foil.
• Made for meal prep. Cook a batch on Sunday and you have sweet potatoes ready for lunches and dinners all week.

Ingredients

• Sweet Potatoes – Look for medium sweet potatoes around 8 ounces each, roughly the size of your hand. Try to grab ones that are close to the same size so they finish cooking at the same time. Short, plump sweet potatoes cook more evenly than long skinny ones.

Toppings

• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper

Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe and ingredients.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1 – First, you need to wash the sweet potatoes (you don’t need to dry).  Then stab 6-8 times per sweet potato with a fork in various spots throughout the sweet potato.

Step 2 – Place the sweet potatoes in the crock pot.

Step 3 – Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3-3.5 hours. Go toward the shorter end if your sweet potatoes are on the small side and the longer end if they’re large or stacked.

They’re done when a knife slides in and pulls back out with no resistance and the potato feels soft when you squeeze it gently with a towel. If they’re still firm, put the lid back on and check again in 30 minutes — you can’t really overcook them.

Recipe Tips

• Cooking Times – Cooking time will vary based on your crock pot and depending on the size of your sweet potatoes.
• No Water Needed – Don’t add any water to the crock pot. Washing the sweet potatoes and leaving them wet is all the moisture they need — the skins trap steam and the potatoes cook in their own moisture.
• Crock Pot Size – Six medium sweet potatoes fit in a 6 quart crock pot in a single layer. If you have a smaller crock pot, cook 3-4 instead. You can stack them in two layers if you need to, but the ones on top cook slower, so add about an hour and rotate them once if you’re around.
• Poking Holes Is Optional – You’ll see other recipes say to skip this step, and they’re right that a sweet potato won’t burst in a slow cooker the way it can in a microwave. I still poke mine 6-8 times with a fork because it lets a little steam escape and gives me fluffier potatoes instead of wet ones. It takes about 10 seconds, so I keep doing it — but your potatoes will still cook through if you skip it.
• Skip the Foil – There’s no need to wrap the sweet potatoes in foil. They cook the same either way, so save the foil (and the money) for something else. If you want easier cleanup, lay a piece of parchment in the bottom of the crock pot to catch any drips.

Make Ahead and Meal Prep

This is one of the easiest things to prep ahead for the week. Cook a full batch, let them cool completely, then refrigerate them whole with the skins on for up to 4 days. Leave the skins on until you’re ready to eat — they keep the potato from drying out.

To reheat one for lunch, microwave it for 2-3 minutes, or warm a few together in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Cooked sweet potatoes also turn into a fast dinner: split and top one with leftover shredded chicken or chili, or cube and crisp them in a skillet with eggs for breakfast.

Troubleshooting

• Still hard after the full cook time. Almost always a size issue — big sweet potatoes can take 8+ hours on low. Put the lid back on and check every 30 minutes. Leaving the lid off to peek costs you about 20 minutes of heat each time, so check with a knife and close it right back up.
• The bottom ones are done and the top ones aren’t. That’s stacking. Move the top layer to the bottom and give them another hour.
• Watery or soggy. Usually means water got added to the crock pot, or the potatoes sat in condensation after cooking. Don’t add water, and lift them out of the crock pot once they’re tender if you’re not serving right away.
• Stringy inside. That’s the potato, not the method — long thin sweet potatoes tend to be more stringy. Pick short, plump ones next time.

Topping Ideas

Everybody in our house tops theirs differently, which is half the appeal.

Classic: butter, salt and pepper. Simple and always good.

Sweet: butter with cinnamon and brown sugar, or a handful of mini marshmallows melted on top. Pumpkin pie spice works too.

Savory: sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, green onions, shredded cheddar and bacon — the same way you’d load a baked potato.

A little heat: a ¼ teaspoon of cayenne or a spoonful of taco-seasoned ground beef with black beans and salsa.

Make it dinner: pile on leftover shredded chicken, pulled pork or chili. A loaded sweet potato with leftover meat is one of the cheapest dinners we make, and it uses up whatever’s in the fridge.

Make It a Sweet Potato Bar Dinner

When I need dinner to be cheap and easy, I cook a full crock pot of sweet potatoes and set out toppings so everybody builds their own. The picky eaters get butter and cinnamon, everyone else loads theirs up, and nobody complains.

Here’s what I put out:

• Butter, salt and pepper
• Cinnamon and brown sugar
• Shredded cheddar
• Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• Green onions
• Black beans, drained and warmed
• Whatever cooked meat is in the fridge — shredded chicken, taco meat, leftover pulled pork or chili

The sweet potatoes themselves run about $3.62 for six, and once you add the toppings you have dinner for the whole family for well under what one takeout meal costs.

Serving Suggestions

These go with just about any simple main dish. Here’s what we serve them with most:

• The Best Blackened Chicken Recipe
• Easy Grilled Chicken Kabob Recipe
• Baked Pineapple BBQ chicken recipe 

Frequently Asked Questions

More Easy Sweet Potato Recipes

• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Quick and Easy Grilled Sweet Potatoes Recipe
• Easy Turkey Sweet Potato Chili Recipe
• Oven Baked Sweet Potato fries Recipe
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes Recipe

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