Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes

Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes are hands down the best way to cook sweet potatoes. Using a controlled water bath, these sweet spuds are evenly cooked with a perfect texture. Great to roast, puree or even season up and eat as is. 

Have you ever tried to cook a sweet potato and it just falls short? That’s because there are MANY ways to cook sweet potatoes and all of them have their flaws in the finished product. This isn’t the case with using a sous vide to cook them because they come out perfect every time.

💭What Is Sous Vide?

Sous vide is a french method of cooking in which your food is sealed in a bag and cooked in a temperature controlled water bath. 

This allows your food to cook slowly and evenly preserving the taste and texture of the food. 

I started cooking with a Sous Vide earlier this year and I am so glad I invested in one. I use it at least 3x per week for meal prep and to cook proteins like a pro.

The Sous Vide I Use: Anova Culinary Sous Vide

🍲Why You Should Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes

No More Dry Sweet Potatoes – cooking low and slow in a sealed bag allows the original moisture in the sweet potato to stay inside the potato as it cooks.

No More Mushy Sweet Potatoes – when a sweet potato is cooked too long with wet heat, it could lose it’s structure and get too mushy. Cooking at the perfect temperature in the sous vide prevents this.

You Get A Sweeter Sweet Potato – because everything is locked in, the sweet potato retains all of it’s nutrients and sweetness. 

⚖Difference Between Sweet Potato and Yam

Yam – although they could look similar, yams are a bit more rough. The skin has a rough texture and inside is more dry and starchy. Yams can be light orange or white on the inside. 

Sweet Potatoes – they are a bit more smoother in skin and texture. They also contain a bit more vitamins and nutrients than yams. 

🍠Ingredients You’ll Need

• 1.5 lbs Sweet Potatoes
• 2 tsp Olive, Coconut or Avocado Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Large Pot
• Vacuum Sealer With Bag
• Immersion Circulator (Sous Vide)

📖How To Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes

1️⃣ Setting The Right Temperature – my sous vide only goes up to 195 in temperature. These sweet potatoes came out perfect at a temperature of 185 which is what you should pre-heat your water bath to. 

2️⃣ Chop Sweet Potatoes – peel sweet potatoes and cut into even ½ inch squares. The bigger they are, the longer they need to be cooked so make sure you add to your cooking time if you’d like them bigger. They also could be cut into half moon or fry shapes for sweet potato fries. 

3️⃣ Season Sweet Potatoes – toss sweet potatoes with oil, salt and pepper or any other desired seasonings. Doing this beforehand will lock in the flavor. 

4️⃣ Vacuum Seal – vacuum seal your sweet potatoes in a single layer letting out as much air as possible. 

5️⃣ Add To Water Bath – add your bag of sealed sweet potatoes to the temperature controlled water bath and let cook at 185 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. 

6️⃣ Remove From Water Bath – Once sweet potatoes are cooked, remove them from the bag and serve hot. If you are not serving right away, add them to an ice bath to cool down for 5 minutes then store in the fridge.

👩🏻‍🍳Chef’s Tips

Use a Vacuum Sealer – in a lot of cases, you could use a freezer safe ziploc bag and use the water displacement method, however in this case it would be difficult to get everything in a single layer. For this reason it is strongly recommended that you use a vacuum sealer for this recipe.

Same Size Cuts – to make sure everything cooks evenly, make sure your sweet potatoes are as close to the same size as possible. 

Using a Sous Vide Weight – since this is a lighter food item, it may float to the top resulting in uneven cooking, make sure you use something to weight down the sweet potatoes or purchase a sous vide weight.

Storage & Freezing – sous vide sweet potatoes will stay fresh in a sealed bag for up to one week. You can freeze cooked sweet potatoes but remember that their cellular structure may change when defrosted making them a bit more on the mushy side.