In 15 minutes, you can make deliciously roasted air fryer sweet potato that is tasty and versatile.
From cubes to sweet potato fries and whole baked sweet potatoes, learn how to use an air fryer for cooking this delicious root vegetable.
Check out our best vegetable sides recipe collection!
Sweet potatoes are delicious in any shape and form: roasted in the oven, added to a salad, microwaved, cut into wedges, turned into muffins, or made into a tasty sweet potato mash.
And the air fryer is the perfect tool to cook the sweet potato quickly while making it super tasty. You can serve it as a side dish or use it for one of many delicious recipes.
Air fryer sweet potato gets brown and slightly charred, naturally caramelized, and super flavorful, just like oven-roasted sweet potatoes, but in half the time.
And so, in 15 minutes, you’ll have perfectly roasted sweet potato cubes with minimal effort.
And while sweet potato cubes are our favorite way of cooking sweet potatoes in an air fryer, by slightly tweaking this recipe, you can make:
Air fryer sweet potato fries
Baked sweet potato in the air fryer
Air fryer sweet potato wedges
This blog post will first show you how to make air fryer sweet potato cubes. Then we’ll briefly go through the other ways of cooking a sweet potato in an air fryer.
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes
We use sweet potatoes with deep orange flesh and brow-reddish peel. They are the most common variety in western supermarkets.
In some stores in the US, sweet potatoes are incorrectly labeled as yams, so you might find them under that name.
Olive oil
The olive oil helps the sweet potato cubes cook evenly and faster as the oil heats up and distributes the heat onto the cubes.
We generally use extra virgin olive oil as it’s tastier and more stable at high temperatures. Regular olive oil or avocado oil work too.
Salt and Pepper
A pinch of sea salt or kosher salt and a twist or two of freshly ground black pepper.
Spices and Herbs
While optional, we like adding paprika and garlic powder to our sweet potato cubes before roasting them in the air fryer.
Instructions
Peel the sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler, then cut them into 1-Inch cubes (2.5 cm) with a sharp knife.
Transfer sweet potato cubes to a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.
Transfer cube into air fryer basket. The cubes can overlap; there’s no need to put them on a single layer.
Air fry at 400°F or 200°C for 13 to 15 minutes. Shake the air fryer basket every four minutes to ensure even cooking.
Transfer onto a serving platter and enjoy as is or with dipping sauces such as vegan sour cream, avocado dip, tahini sauce, freshly squeezed lemon juice, or fresh parsley.
Serving suggestions
Cubed is one of the most versatile ways of cooking sweet potatoes.
You can eat them as a side dish to most mains. Check out our easy dinners for ideas. We love them with our:
- pan-fried tofu with mushrooms
- tofu cacciatore
- vegan fish baked in the oven with lemon, capers, and olives
- savory chickpea crepes with creamy mushroom filling
Alternatively, use the cubes to make other recipes. They are great in salads, such as:
- roasted sweet potato salad
- black bean salad with corn and sweet potato cubes
- lentil sweet potato salad with delicious cumin dressing
- rich and creamy tofu salad with added sweet potato
Variations
Baked sweet potato in the air fryer
Baked sweet potato in the air fryer is quick and tasty, and you can fill it with your favorite topping or eat it as is, with a bit of butter and sage.
Whole sweet potatoes take about 20 minutes to cook in an air-fryer (as opposed to 45 minutes to one hour in the oven).
They get tender throughout, sweet and caramelized, with slightly charred, smokey notes. They are perfect for a nutritious and tasty dinner.
Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork, then place them in the air fryer basket.
Air fry at 400°F or 200°C for about 20 minutes, or until fork-tender inside. Cooking time can vary based on the size of your sweet potatoes.
Cut them open with a knife, then load with your favorite topping. Our favorites are:
Butter and sage
Fry a few sage leaves with a knob of butter (we used dairy-free butter), then drizzle on the baked potato. Add a pinch of sea salt and enjoy.
Black bean and quinoa
We use our black bean quinoa salad to stuff the baked sweet potato. This one makes for a tasty, fulfilling, and protein-packed meal.
Make the salad without the sweet potato cubes and use it to load the sweet potato.
It goes well with a dollop of our avocado spread and vegan sour cream.
Mediterranean Inspired
Filled with our couscous salad, crispy roasted chickpeas, sliced olives, crumbled feta cheese (we used dairy-free feta), and drizzled with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
This recipe is a winner, and we are sure you’ll love it!
Tahini drizzled
Another one packed with Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean flavors, this baked sweet potato in the air fryer is loaded with our couscous with vegetables, topped with crispy air fryer chickpeas, and drizzled with a creamy tahini sauce.
Cinnamon and maple syrup
If you haven’t done so yet, you’ve got to try this cinnamon and maple syrup baked sweet potato. It’s our favorite topping for autumn and winter days; it’s cozy and perfect for the holidays.
For this one, we scoop the baked potato out from its skin. Put it on a plate, and mash it lightly with a fork without completely changing its shape. Add a small knob of butter on top (we used dairy-free butter), and sprinkle with cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
Drizzle with 100% pure maple syrup, add some crushed walnuts and enjoy this delicious treat.
Ps. You can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Air fryer sweet potato wedges
You can make air fryer sweet potato wedges with the peel on or off. If you make them skin on, then scrub the spuds well before cutting them.
Cut the sweet potatoes in half, then into wedges. In a large bowl, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, two crushed garlic cloves, and finely chopped rosemary.
Transfer into the air fryer basket; they can overlap and air fry for about 15 to 20 minutes at 400°F or 200°C or until fork tender. Don’t overcrowd the basket; you might need to cook in batches.
Arrange on a serving platter and enjoy it as a delicious side dish.
Air fryer sweet potato fries
To make sweet potato fries, all you have to do is cut the sweet potatoes into slices first, then sticks, and toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
Add them to the air fryer basket – they can overlap, but don’t overcrowd the basket – and air fry for about 13 minutes at 400°F or 200°C.
Note: sweet potato fries won’t get crispy cooked this way due to the starch turning into sugar while it cooks, making it impossible for the sweet potatoes to get crispy.
We like to serve our sweet potato fries loaded with beans, corn, cilantro, lime juice, avocado, and chipotle sauce.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave. We do not recommend freezing air-fried sweet potatoes.
Questions
No. You don’t have to soak sweet potatoes before air frying them.
That’s normal. It’s impossible for sweet potato fries to get crispy in the air fryer (or in the oven, for that matter) due to their composition; they don’t have enough starch to crisp up.
The starch in the raw sweet potatoes gets converted to sugar, which means that your air-fried sweet potato fries will be sweet but won’t be able to stay crisp.
Yes! Air fryer sweet potatoes are very healthy. They contain antioxidants, vitamin A and C, and fiber, and protect you against inflammation, which can cause many chronic diseases.
Sweet potatoes are a superfood, and air frying them is a great, quick, and tasty way to enjoy them.
Yes. An air fryer is a small oven with hot circulating air, which means it can bake sweet potatoes perfectly and in a fraction of the time compared to a regular oven.
Check out our “variations” chapter to learn how to cook baked sweet potato in an air fryer.
More Air Fryer Recipes
There’s no question that the air fryer is your best ally if you want to eat more veggies. These are some of our super-simple air fryer recipes:
- Air fryer zucchini
- Easy air fryer eggplant
- Air fryer asparagus
- Crispy air fryer chickpeas
- Air fryer tofu
- Tender-crisp air fryer green beans
- Air fryer croutons
- Crispy homemade crostini in the air fryer
Sides
Air Fryer Zucchini
Sides
Air Fryer Eggplant
Sides
Air Fryer Asparagus
Sauces
Air Fryer Chickpeas
Tofu
Air Fryer Tofu
Recipes
Air Fryer Green Beans
Breads
Air fryer croutons
Starters
Crostini Recipe
More Sweet Potato Recipes
Looking for more sweet potato ideas? Check out our:
- Incredible sweet potato gnocchi
- Tasty mashed sweet potatoes
- Oven-roasted sweet potatoes and sweet potato wedges
- Deliciously soft sweet potato muffins with cinnamon
- Microwave sweet potatoes – the easiest sweet potatoes ever!
- Lentil sweet potato salad with Mediterranean cumin dressing
- Mexican-inspired black bean salad with corn and roasted sweet potato cubes
- Air fried or roasted sweet potato salad
Air Fryer Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 medium) peeled and chopped into 1-Inch cubes (2.5 cm)
- 1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler, then cut them into 1-Inch cubes (2.5 cm) with a sharp knife.
- Transfer sweet potato cubes to a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.
- Transfer cube into air fryer basket. The cubes can overlap; there's no need to put them on a single layer.
- Air fry at 400°F or 200°C for 13 to 15 minutes. Shake the air fryer basket every four minutes to ensure even cooking.
- Transfer onto a serving platter and enjoy as is or with dipping sauces such as vegan sour cream, avocado dip, tahini sauce, freshly squeezed lemon juice, or fresh parsley.
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