How to Use Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes in Recipes - Eat Like No One Else (2024)

Learn the technique for the perfect sous vide sweet potatoes that will save you time on turkey day as well as that all precious oven space. The sweet potatoes can be used to make a filling for a pie as well.

Even if it's not Thanksgiving, this is the best way I have found to cook sweet potatoes.

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It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes.

And why not cook them for Thanksgiving? They are easy to make and super cheap. You can feed a lot of people with them for a little amount of money.

The biggest issue with making them for Thanksgiving may be having the oven space. The turkey is an oven hog that doesn't like to share.

You know what I am thankful for this year - sous vide! As long as you got a water bath, some water and an outlet you can cook sweet potatoes anywhere, even out in the garage (although I would make sure to cover that pot in you use that garage!)

In this post, we are going to show you how to make sweet potatoes via sous vide and then what you can do with them afterward.

🧰 Vacuum Sealer

I cube the potatoes before pulling out the vacuum sealer. Before you seal them for sous vide, try to flatten the bag out a much a you can, so you will reduce any pockets of air that will prevent the bag from fully submerged. Try to get the potatoes into a single layer.

Don't have a vacuum sealer or want to spend the money on one? This set with a hand pump is a nice alternative. Or you could try the water immersion technique, where you stick a large zipper lock bag slowly into the water and seal it up to remove the air before fully submerging. I think this method doesn't work as well with sweet potatoes and they are more likely to float.

Vacuum Seal Bag Tip - I like these really big bags since I can fit anything in them. If they are too big I can cut them down to size and save the excess for another use if there is enough (you can always seal both ends).

🛀 Water Bath

For my sous vide water bath, I often just use a pot that is large enough to fit whatever I am cooking and can make it up to the minimum fill line on the immersion circulator.

❓ What Temperature to Use?

It all starts by knowing what temperature to set your sous vide machine to.

🌡️ For sweet potatoes go with 185 degrees.

You don't want to go too high that could cause them to be overcooked. You also want to go high enough so that you don't have to cook them for more than 1 hour. I think 185 is the sweet spot.

❔ How Long to Cook Them?

Sure you could boil them and they would be done a lot quicker. But when you boil in water you also dilute the flavor with that water. We want to maximize flavor, so it will take some time. How much?

⏲️ Sous vide time - They need at least an 1 hour to cook.

👩‍🍳 How to Use Them

Here are some options for serving the sweet potatoes when they are finished. You could just serve them as it with a drizzle of olive oil and some salt. Or you could try use them in any of these ways -

🔨 Mashed

Just like you would for mashed potatoes, add your butter and milk and mix together for mashed sweet potatoes.

🥘 Casserole

You can take the sweet potatoes and use them to make a casserole super fast. You could do the marshmallow thing - just don't bring it to my house, as I won't eat it! Or you could do what I did:

• Mash up the finished sweet potatoes
• Spread onto an oven safe pan
• Sprinkle a layer of bread crumbs on top
• Place in 450 degree oven until the bread crumbs are toasted.

You could even do this under the broiler to make it really fast, just make sure you are watching at all times, it's easy to burn. Also you would need to be sure your casserole pan can stand that kind of heat.

The nice thing about this dish is that you can do it really fast, right after you pull the turkey out of the oven on Thanksgiving.

Other ingredients to consider for the casserole:

• Brown sugar
• Cayenne pepper
• Maple syrup
• Chopped pecans
• Melted butter
• Smoked paprika
• Gruyere cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Cooked bacon

You could make this a main dish by adding some protein like bacon or ham.

🥧 Pie

Want to make a sweet potato pie? Having sous vide sweet potatoes waiting in the fridge will make your life a lot easier. You can easily do the sweet potatoes a day before and store them in the fridge until you are ready to make your pie filling.

RELATED - How to Know When a Sweet Potato Pie is Done

🍟 Fries

Want to make sweet potato fries? Cut your sweet potatoes into a fry shape. Cook them as you would and then just toss them into some hot oil to quickly crisp them up. Or better yet stick them in the air fryer.

You want your sweet potatoes to be as dry as you can when you (air) fry them. Just dry them with some paper towels before hand.

🛒 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need to make sous vide sweet potatoes.

• Sweet potato (any type)
• Butter
• Salt

You could skip the butter if you don't do dairy products. The main purpose here is to cook them and then you can season them how you want afterward depending on how you plan to use them.

There is no reason you can't eat them as is right out of the bag. Topping them off with some fresh herbs would be nice.

💡 Shopping Tip - Any type of sweet potato will work. Might I suggest you try this recipe with Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes. They are purple inside and out! Or check out 8 different types of sweet potatoes you can find at grocery stores.

📋 Instructions

Let's take you step by step through the process.

Start by peeling the skin off the sweet potatoes. Then cut them into cubes.

Seal the sweet potatoes in a bag or place them into a gallon sized bag with as much air removed as you can and place into a water bath that is set to 185 degrees. Cook for 1 hour.

If the potatoes float too much, you can use something to weight them down. A small pot usually does the trick, just be sure you don't raise the water level above the maximum fill line for your sous vide machine. Or you could clip the bag to the sides of your container.

When time is up, you can remove from the water bath and give a few mintues to cool before opening.

Then eat them as is with some fresh herbs or use them for any of the dishes I mentioned above.

🍠 Sweet Potato Recipes

Here are some other sweet potato recipes to check out:

• Marbled Potatoes (Mashed Sweet + Regular Potatoes)
• Roasted Purple Sweet Potato Fries
• Purple Sweet Potato Gnocchi
• Sweet Potato Pie

📖 Sous Vide Recipes

How about some more sous vide ideas:

• Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Snap Crumble
• Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes
• Creamy Sous Vide Chicken
• Sous Vide Mashed Potatoes
• Flat Iron Steak
• Chuck Eye Steak