This Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potato is so easy and comes out light and fluffy with crisp skin. It is a foolproof recipe with minimal prep and is perfect to enjoy in so many ways!
This air fryer baked sweet potato recipe is one of my absolute favorite! It is quick, straight forward, easy, healthy, packed with nutrition and bursting with earthy flavor.
Roasting them in the air fryer elevates the natural sweetness and they come out perfectly fluffy with a perfectly seasoned crispy skin.
What is baked sweet potato? They are whole sweet potatoes that is oven-baked with skin on, until they become tender and flavorful. It is delicious made into the sweet potato pie.
Baking sweet potatoes brings out their natural sweetness and enhances their flavor, and versatile in both sweet and savory recipes, like casseroles, like sweet potato souffle.
They can also be used as a base for various toppings and seasonings, such as butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, marshmallows, or savory options like sour cream and chives.
Cooking sweet potatoes in an air fryer is faster than traditional oven baking and also the hot air has the ability a produce a crispy skin. It is perfect when you are cooking only a few sweet potatoes for dinner, sparing you the need to heat up the entire oven.
Jump to:
Why you'll love this?
- Cooks quickly in about 40 minutes.
- They come out with a perfectly creamy, soft, and fluffy interior and crackly, crispy skin.
- Serve as a side dish or scoop out the flesh and to make your favorite sweet potato recipe.
Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and amounts.
- Sweet Potatoes - Look for firm sweet potatoes without any wrinkles, cracks, bruises or discolorations. I prefer not to use white or purple varieties because they they tend to be more starchy and do not cook up moist and sweet.
- Olive Oil - Use any neutral oil like olive, avocado or coconut oil.
How to make?
You can find full printable recipe below, but here is a quick overview of the procedure along with step-by-step photos.
1.Wash and dry sweet potatoes and poke holes all over with a fork.
💡 Did you know? Poking holes with a fork or knife allows steam to escape as they cook. This prevents pressure from building up inside, which can cause it to burst open or explode in the air fryer.
2. Brush the outside lightly with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3 & 4. Preheat air fryer to 375°F. When hot, place prepared sweet potatoes in the basket and cook for 40 - 50 minutes or until soft.
💡 How long does it take to air fry sweet potatoes? It depends on the size! Medium-sized sweet potatoes take about 35-45 minutes to cook at 375F degrees. Adjust cooking time when using smaller or larger potatoes.
Pro tip: How to check if they are done cooking? Like for air fryer tilapia with breading, insert the tip of a small knife into the thickest part of a sweet potato and it should go in soft, without any resistance. If it is not soft or has a resistance, then they need a few more minutes of air frying.
How to bake in oven?
If you do not own an air fryer, then here are the instructions to bake sweet potatoes in the oven:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Wash and dry sweet potatoes and poke holes all over with a fork.
- Place them in a foil-lined baking sheet and cook for about an hour, until puffed and soft when pierced with a fork.
Serving suggestions
Air fryer baked sweet potatoes can be served in a variety of delicious ways, both sweet and savory. Here is my favorite method:
5 & 6. Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a knife, carefully slit open the cooked sweet potatoes.
7. Fluff the inside with a fork and top with a sprinkling of salt, softened butter, brown sugar and toasted pecans.
Tip: If your sweet potatoes have cooled down, pop them back into the air fryer after adding the toppings at 375°F for 2 to 5 minutes, until the butter and brown sugar melts.
More serving suggestions
- Mash them - When baked, sweet potatoes yield a moist and creamy texture, making them perfect to making mashed sweet potatoes.
- Top with marshmallows - Split one, add marshmallows on top, pop them back into the air fryer and cook for a minute to melt the marshmallows.
- Sour cream and chives - Serve with a dollop of sour cream and fresh chives.
- Bacon and cheese - Crumble crispy bacon and some shredded cheese and air fryer for a minute or two to melt the cheese.
- Yogurt - Top with Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey for a healthy and satisfying snack.
- Southwest - Top with with black beans, salsa, and a dollop of guacamole or sour cream, for a Southwest kick.
- Chili - Top with chilli for a light meal.
- Meat - Add pulled pork or bbq chicken.
- Add quinoa - Stuff them with cooked quinoa, black beans and roasted Fall vegetables.
- Breakfast - Top with a fried egg and sliced avocado for a healthy breakfast.
How to store?
If you are storing air fryer baked sweet potato for later, it is best to keep them whole along with the skin.
- Fridge - Wrap the air fryer baked sweet potatoes tightly with foil and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
- Freezer - Place them freezer safe bags and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat them in the air fryer or microwave.
- To reheat - Remove any foil and air fry at 350 for 3 to 7 minutes or microwave until warmed through.
Helpful tips
- Cooking time - It depends on the size of the sweet potatoes. Medium sized potatoes cook in about 45 minutes. Adjust cooking time if using smaller or larger ones.
- Poke holes - It helps the steam to escape and cook evenly.
- Use evenly sized sweet potatoes - So, they all cook evenly in the recommended cooking time. Otherwise, you'll have smaller ones cooked before larger ones are done.
- Don’t wrap in foil - Although this is the chosen method for oven roasting, it is not recommended for air frying as it will not make the skin crispy.
- How many sweet potatoes can you cook? You can cook as many as will comfortably fit in a single layer in the basket. I was able to cook 3 medium ones in a 6 quart air fryer.
Recipe FAQs
No, you don't need to soak sweet potatoes before air-frying them. Soaking can be helpful when making fries from regular potatoes to remove excess starch; sweet potatoes do not require soaking before cooking.
Indeed, the skin of a sweet potato is not only entirely edible but also rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making it a nutritious and flavorful part of the vegetable. When air-fried, the skin crisps up, resulting in a delightful textural contrast alongside the tender, fluffy flesh. However, if the skin's texture isn't to your liking, it's easy to peel it away to suit your preference.
Yes, like for most air fryer recipes, preheating the air fryer allows the sweet potatoes to start cooking immediately, promoting even cooking from the beginning. Preheating the air fryer also helps to achieve a crispier exterior, as the hot air readily crisps it as soon as it's placed in the basket.
It's best to cook them without foil because wrapping them in foil would trap moisture and can inhibit this circulation, preventing the outer skin from crisping up.
More air fryer vegetables
Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potato
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes about 2 pounds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Toppings (optional)
- Butter room temperature
- Golden Brown Sugar
- Chopped Pecans toasted
- One pinch salt if using unsalted butter
Instructions
- Wash and dry sweet potatoes and poke holes all over with a fork.
- Brush the outside lightly with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.
- Preheat air fryer to 375°F. When hot, place prepared sweet potatoes in the basket and cook for 40 - 50 minutes or until soft.
- Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a knife, carefully slit open the cooked sweet potatoes.
- Fluff the inside with a fork, then serve it however you prefer.
Serving suggestion
- Season to taste with salt, softened butter, brown sugar and toasted pecans.Tip: If your sweet potatoes have cooled down, pop them back into the air fryer after adding the toppings at 375°F for 2 to 5 minutes, until the butter and brown sugar melts.(Calculated calories are without toppings)
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love your feedback! Please let me know by leaving a comment or review below or snap a photo and share on Instagram.
Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Thank you for supporting kitchenathoskins.com.
All contents and images are my original work, unless and otherwise mentioned. Please do not use my recipes or images without linking back to www.kitchenathoskins.com. If you wish to republish a recipe, please rewrite in your own words and don’t forget to include a link back to the original recipe.
Leave a Reply